Oceania and International Law: On a Recently Invented Relationship
Title: Oceania and International Law: On a Recently Invented Relationship
Guest: Géraldine Giraudeau (Université Paris-Saclay-UVSQ / Institut universitaire de France)
Moderators: Coralie Klipfel (INALCO, CESSMA) and Martial Manet (Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique)
Abstract:
Oceania has long been overlooked in studies of international relations and international law. Yet the interactions between the Blue Continent and the international legal order are both intense and decisive, not only with regard to the issues of the so-called “Indo-Pacific” region but also to the world’s environmental and security challenges. These interactions are unique for historical reasons and are also linked to the significance of insularity, which entails specific legal issues. Furthermore, these interactions reflect a two-way dynamic. International law has helped shape Oceania; it facilitated its decolonization, and the law of the sea has brought vast maritime areas under national jurisdiction, thereby transforming the region’s geopolitical map. But Oceania is also a driving force, whose participation in the development of international law—already historically rooted through its cooperative institutions—has become particularly visible in the context of current climate justice issues, thus illustrating a new strategic use of international law by island states.
Date, time: Wednsday may 27th 2026, 3:00-5:00 p.m (CEST).
Place, room: Sciences Po, CERI, salle Pierre Hassner
Format: hybrid (Zoom link will be sent the day before the event)
Coordination of the Indo-Pacific axis (WP4): Rémi Castets (Université Bordeaux Montaigne, D2iA), Jérôme Doyon (Sciences Po, CERI), Jean-François Huchet (Inalco, IFRAE), Christophe Jaffrelot (Sciences Po, CERI). Avec Alexandre Gandil, postdoctorant, programme DÉCRIPT (Université Bordeaux Montaigne, D2iA).