How Interpretation Makes International Law: On Semantic Change and Normative Twists Book

Table of Cases xi

List of Abbreviations xvii

I In the Beginning was the Deed 1

Problématique 2

Agenda 10

Programme 14

II The Practice of Interpretation: A Theoretical Perspective 16

A Lawmaking in communicative practice 18

1 On the sources of international law 19

2 Sovereignty, sources, and semantic change 27

3 From sources to communicative practice 29

B Semantic struggles in the practice of legal interpretation 37

1 Practice between agency and structure 38

2 On the form and substance of legal interpretation 46

3 Power and authority in semantic struggles 57

C Actors in the practice of interpretation 64

1 Private norm entrepreneurs 65

2 The disaggregated state 67

3 International institutions: Bureaucracies and judicial bodies 69

III UNHCR and the Making of Refugee Law 72

A International bureaucracies as actors in legal discourse 76

1 Delegation from principals to agents 77

2 The authority of international bureaucracies 82

B The expansion of UNHCR's Statute 87

1 Expectations and concerns 90

2 International protection and humble beginnings 95

3 Material assistance, good offices, and displaced persons 98

4 Humanitarian aid and voluntary repatriation 104

C UNHCR and the meaning of the Convention 109

1 UNHCR's role in developing the Convention 110

2 Semantic change at work: Shifting elements in the meaning of 'refugee' 122

D Conclusions: Change and contexts 130

IV Adjudication in the GATT/WTO: Making General Exceptions in Trade Law 135

A International adjudicators as actors in legal discourse 139

1 Historiography: Longing for international adjudication 140

2 Judicial decisions and precedents 144

3 The GATT/WTO context 147

B Article XX in the era of the GATT 150

1 General exceptions: A general prologue 150

2 The creation of a high threshold 157

3 A territorial limitation? 163

C Article XX in the era of the WTO 167

1 Institutional changes and the working of precedents 167

2 A new beginning with the Appellate Body 172

3 Proportionality, interpretation, and legitimacy 180

D Conclusions: Adjudication, precedents, and legitimacy 190

V Creative Interpretations: Normative Twists 196

A The bittersweet taste of justice in legal discourse 198

1 Narratives of progress and advents of justice 200

2 Scepticism and realism 207

3 The practice of interpretation and communicative action 214

B The centrality of law: Dissonances and developments in legal doctrine 223

1 The appeal and futility of soft law 225

2 Intertemporal law and subsequent practice: shortening the leash? 230

3 Global administrative law and international public authority 240

C Evasive foundations: Semantic authority in a normative pluriverse 245

1 Principles of democracy and ultimate authority 248

2 Architectural renovation and institutional design 252

3 Attitudes and interpretation at critical junctures 256

VI Epilogue: In the End there is Eternity 262

Bibliography 266

Index 313