On 17 November 2023, Niels Blokker and Ramses Wessel, in close cooperation with August Reinisch, organized the 20th anniversary conference of the International Organizations Law Review on “The Love for International Organizations”. In four panels members of the editorial board of the International Organizations Law Review took stock of why they study international organizations as a separate field of international law.
The first panel started off with a presentation by Jean d’Aspremont on “The Love for International Organizations”, based on his article with the same title. This was followed by Kristina Daugirdas’ talk on “Misidentifying the Source of the Love for International Organizations” and Jan Klabbers’ presentation titled “Love is Just a Four-Letter Word”.
In the second panel, Jacob Katz Cogan covered the topic “The Flexibility of International Organizations”, Ian Johnstone discussed “Informal Intergovernmental Organizations: How Lovable are They?”, August Reinisch discussed the definitions and characteristics of international organizations in his presentation “Do I Know What I Love When I Say That I Love International Organizations?” and finally Niels Blokker gave a presentation titled “The Love for International Organizations is not so much Logic; it is Experience”.
The third panel started with Kirsten Schmalenbach “Can International Organizations Turn ‘Rogue’?”, followed by Catherine Brölmann discussing “For the Love of Structure”, Gian Luca Burci presenting on “Patterns of Governance and Institutional Development in International Organizations – Reflections from a Former Practitioner” and Elisabetta Morlino on “Studying (and Loving) International Organizations to Understanding Public Power and its Changes”.
In the fourth panel Namira Negm gave a presentation on “Distinctively African: The Unique Appeal of the African Union to international Lawyers of African Origin”, Anmol Gulecha’s provided an Asian perspective on the “Love-Hate Relationship with International Organizations” and finally Ramses Wessel discussed “Our Love for the EU (but is it an International Organization?)”.
