Informalized International Law and Foreign Relations Law: Doctrine, Empirics, Reform (RE_INFORM)

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Helmut Philipp Aust; Professor Dr. Thomas Kleinlein
• Subject Area: Public Law
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 564336925

The contemporary international legal order is characterized by constant tendencies towards informalisation. Despite a growing consensus on the phenomenon, there is a lack of clarity regarding the exact extent, forms and background, as well as the consequences for national legal systems. The Federal Republic of Germany makes considerable use of informal instruments in its external relations; however, the exact scope and subject areas have not yet been researched. The central doctrinal categories of German foreign relations law are not geared to the forms of cooperation in an increasingly informalized international legal order. They require additional reflection and analysis and, in some cases, further development. Our project therefore aims to analyze the consequences of informalisation for German foreign relations law (forms of action, participation requirements, legal protection). This requires empirical work: through archival research and semi-structured interviews with practitioners, we aim to contribute to a better empirical understanding of the extent and significance of informalisation in German international law practice. On this basis, we want to identify reform perspectives for the design and handling of the rules of foreign relations law in dealing with informal instruments. Our results should contribute to a methodologically and conceptually renewed research on foreign relations law, which adapts to the practice of informalized external relations.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants