In searching for SWAIL, this project takes as its point of departure that Eastern Europe occupies a liminal space within the discipline of international law. Neither of the ‘core’, nor of the ‘periphery’, the region occupies a liminal, semi-peripheral, and largely invisible mental space, that results in its ‘dual exclusion’ from both mainstream Western and non-Western approaches to international law. In recovering Eastern Europe’s place and role in international law, this project not only aims to develop a more nuanced understanding of international law’s past, present and future, and to unsettle some mainstream and critical narratives that have come to dominate the discipline in the last two decades; it aims also to foster bridges with scholars from other regions and is geared to countering imperialism by addressing epistemic injustice in international law vis-à-vis Eastern Europe.

Part of a larger project on Eastern Europe’s place and role in international law, this first workshop is organized by the Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Law Studies with the generous support of the ‘Memocracy’ project (Volkswagen Stiftung grant no. 120221), Central European University, Department of International Relations and Legal Studies, and the University of Łódź.

The workshop will take place at Central European University in Vienna, Austria, on 21-22 February 2025.

WORKSHOP PROGRAMME