On the Symbolic Force of International Law: the Case of Gaza

What is it about?

This forum on the right to protest extreme violence in Gaza and international court cases instigated against Israel includes reflections from perspectives spanning international human rights law, international law and international political sociology to analyse the symbolic and ‘paradoxical’ power and limitations of international law. To what extent can it compel various voices – such state actors, judges or activists – to speak in a certain way? What is its capacity to settle disputes and to enact equality, justice and peace, to be a safety net for victims, and to lay the conditions for peace in international relations, as expressed by its proponents? And finally, can we describe the symbolic force of international law as “compelling”, “constraining”, or “coercive”? As the debate on this last question between William Schabas and Alain Pellet, appended to this forum, shows, semantic issues pertaining to translations between languages are closely linked to symbolic power relations.

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