International law, scholarship and practice in international law mainly evolved in Universities and in Government. Most of the work done related to professors and practionners, diplomats and government lawyers, Judges were instrumental and lawyers arguing cases, albeit to a lesser degree with a number of exceptions active on the international stage.
Category Archives: H. Institutional landscape
Graduate Institute
‘The Graduate Institute (known by its Geneva abbreviation of HEI – Hautes Eâtudes Internationales) was founded in 1927. The moving spirits behind its creation were William Rappard, a friend of Woodrow Wilson, and Paul Mantoux, a friend of Lloyd George and of Clemenceau – both scholar-diplomats. They worked side by side and in friendship as senior officials in the secretariat at the first headquarters of the League of Nations in the building, later (and still) known as the Palais Wilson. Their shared vision, at the peak of faith in internationalism associated with the League, was for a graduate school to help prepare statesmen and secretariat staff by studying, in complete impartiality, the new and distinct subject of international relations.
Institut de Droit International
The Institute of International Law was founded on 8 September 1873 at the Ghent Town Hall in Belgium. Eleven international lawyers of renown had decided to join together to create an institution independent of any governmental influence which would be able both to contribute to the development of international law and act so that it might be implemented.
University of Bern: World Trade Institute
The World Trade Institute (WTI) is a centre of excellence of the University of Bern, Switzerland entailing some 50 staff members. Established in 1999 by Thomas Cottier, Petros Mavroidis and economists Jaime de Melo, Damien Neven and Jean-Louis Juvet, it is one of the world’s leading academic institutions dedicated to international trade. The WTI transcends boundaries fusing law, economics and international relations in interdisciplinary research, training, advisory work and technical assistance in Switzerland and abroad.
University of Zurich: Menschenrechtszentrum
The University of Zurich hosts the Centre of Human Rights established in 2009 which is dedicated to study the role and implications of the private sector in advancing human rights in business and economic relations. Corporpate Social Responsibility has been at the center of attention as well as issues relating to commodity trading.
Master Programmes in International Law
Next to the master programmes at the Graduate Institute and the executive Master of International Law and Economics at the World Trade Institute, Master programmes with a particular focus on public international law and components of it are offered by the University of Lausanne, the University of Zurich and the University of St. Gallen, the later particularly focusing on the relationship of law and economics. The Universities of Bern, Fribourg and Neuchâtel are active in the field of international migration law and are about to offer a certificate of advanced studies in the field.