Book contents
- Demystifying Treaty Interpretation
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law: 188
- Demystifying Treaty Interpretation
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- 1 The Province of the Rules of Treaty Interpretation
- 2 The Interpreter’s Self
- 3 The Genealogy of the Contemporary Regime of Treaty Interpretation
- 4 Textualism
- 5 Intentionalism
- 6 What’s the Purpose of ‘Object and Purpose’?
- 7 Supplementary Means
- 8 The Magic of Systemic Integration
- 9 Inferential Reasoning and Its Consequences
- 10 Time and Treaty Interpretation
- 11 Text, Author, and Interpretive Control
- 12 Power, Persuasion, and Authority
- Annex Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law
12 - Power, Persuasion, and Authority
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 March 2024
- Demystifying Treaty Interpretation
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law: 188
- Demystifying Treaty Interpretation
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- 1 The Province of the Rules of Treaty Interpretation
- 2 The Interpreter’s Self
- 3 The Genealogy of the Contemporary Regime of Treaty Interpretation
- 4 Textualism
- 5 Intentionalism
- 6 What’s the Purpose of ‘Object and Purpose’?
- 7 Supplementary Means
- 8 The Magic of Systemic Integration
- 9 Inferential Reasoning and Its Consequences
- 10 Time and Treaty Interpretation
- 11 Text, Author, and Interpretive Control
- 12 Power, Persuasion, and Authority
- Annex Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law
Summary
This chapter looks at interpretation as a game aimed at persuading an audience and securing its adherence to a given interpretation. Like the other chapters, it analyses certain elements that cannot be traced back to or explained by the rules of interpretation of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Its focus is on the broader concepts of persuasion, audience, and interpretive acceptability. It argues that the acceptability (or unacceptability) of a certain interpretation is not inherent in the interpretation itself, but rather hinges on the social environment where the interpretation is articulated or received. This is why the success of a certain interpretation can be measured, to a large extent, by its ability to persuade the relevant audience. The latter, in turn, is dependent on the interpretive authority wielded by the actors involved in the process and on the latent power structures underlying the interpretative game. Interpretation constitutes a fight to speak authoritatively in and for the discipline, a process in which not all voices carry the same weight, and where different interpretive strategies can be framed as tools to control the discursive politics of interpretation in international law.
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- Demystifying Treaty Interpretation , pp. 252 - 283Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024