국제기구법 연구방법론에 대한 소고

Rethinking Methodology of the Law of International Organizations -On the Basis of Recent Publications-

This paper is aimed to address issues as to whether the law of international organizations faces difficulties in maintaining its independence and generality due to prevalence of multiplication of international organizations and institutions. Such proliferation and fragmentation make contributions to two kinds of evolutionary development in the law of international organizations. Firstly, the formalism of the law of international organizations has been threatened. Given current international society, it seems necessary for the law of international organizations to extend its scope ratione personae beyond 'international organizations' as subjects of international law. Issues as to interstate cooperative institutions without international legal personality need to be discussed in the context of the law of international organizations because they have substantial influence on international relations. Research on such kinds of institutions can be considered as a study on 'soft international organizations'. Secondly, the law of international organizations has come to go beyond its beginning stage. So-called 'ontologistic' questions have been mainly studied in the law of international organizations which started relatively late compared to other fields of international law. In fact, many scholars in that field have paid more attention to finding and describing administrative rules in international organizations. However, diversity of international organizations has allowed more opportunities for legal scholars to deal with various issues ranging from general theory to case-study of each international organization. Furthermore, as international organizations play more important roles in the world, relevant studies should cover not only procedural rules of international organizations, but also their substantive norms. In addition, it is also needed to study more comprehensive issues on to what extent international organizations have influenced international legal system. In conclusion, it is unavoidable that legal scholars reconsider the postulations of the law of international organizations and the scope and methods of its related research. In this context, this paper suggests more active interdisciplinary study between the law of international organizations and international relations. Such approach is recommended in order to take into account global governance in relation to international organizations and to adopt empirical methods of international relations.