Call for Papers: Georgetown Journal of International Law, Volume 58 Special Issue on Governance Without Consensus: International Law in an Increasingly Multipolar and Legally Pluralistic World

The Georgetown Journal of International Law (GJIL) is the international law journal of Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law), Washington, D.C. The journal is currently publishing Volume 57 (Issue 1, Fall 2025) and now invites submissions for a special issue that will appear in Volume 58.

The special issue explores how international law can function amid shifts in the global distribution of power and authority. GJIL puts forward this central inquiry: how can international law adapt to provide effective means of coordination, dispute resolution, and meaningful constraints on power amidst a broader distribution of power and greater legal pluralism? Simply put, how can international law function effectively when consensus is limited and power and authority are more distributed?

The Editorial Board is seeking papers that take up the central inquiry within any of the four areas below through the lens of a specific institutional or technological challenge, and consider what meaningful adaptation might look like.

• International trade and development: how trade law might better reflect countries' different economic realities and development priorities while preserving common ground for coordination and legal constraint (for example, the weakening of formal multilateral adjudication, reliance on national-security exceptions, or regional, bilateral and softer forms of coordination).
• International security: how international law can provide meaningful accountability and respond to acts of aggression amidst more distributed power (for example, alliances and coalitions, regional or domestic institutions, civil society, or other less centralised mechanisms).
• International financial regulation: how regulatory coordination and institutions should adapt as authority shifts to networks, protocols and financial infrastructure that may lack an identifiable intermediary or clear jurisdictional home.
• Emerging technology governance: how international law can facilitate experimentation and innovation while supporting baseline protections and cross-border functionality, accommodating local preferences without a race to the bottom.

The call is addressed to authors generally and states no restriction on nationality, institution or career stage, so authors based in India may submit. The call states: "Authors may submit either a completed manuscript or an abstract (500-750 words) by October 31, 2026."

• Submit either a completed manuscript or an abstract of 500 to 750 words by 31 October 2026.
• Authors whose abstracts are selected for further consideration will be invited to submit a full manuscript by 31 December 2026.
• Manuscripts should be less than 20,000 words (excluding footnotes) and follow standard academic formatting.
• Citations must conform to the Bluebook, 22nd edition.
• All publication decisions will be made following editorial review of the completed manuscript.

Selected manuscripts will be published in Volume 58 of GJIL. Authors whose papers are selected will be invited to present their work at GJIL's biannual symposium, to be hosted at Georgetown Law in April 2027. The call does not give an exact symposium date or say whether travel is funded.

The call does not mention any submission or publication fee.

Email your abstract or manuscript to lawgjil@georgetown.edu with the subject line "GJIL Symposium Submission", or submit it through Scholastica. The abstract or manuscript deadline is 31 October 2026 (the call gives no closing time).