4 - Aiding and Abetting in Theorizing the Increasing Softification of the International Normative Order: A Darker Legacy of Jessup’s Transnational Law?

Summary

The chapter intends to shed some light on the contribution of Jessup’s ordering idea of transnational law to the conceptualization of an international normative order that is at present increasingly shaped by processes of informal law-making. The first part describes the more recent emergence of different areas of “transnational (…) law” as an important strand in the scholarly discussions on the concept of transnational law. Based on the findings made in this section, the subsequent second part will be devoted to the question whether this trend and its underlying conceptual approach can rightly be regarded as a notable legacy of Jessup’s work. Finally, the third and main section of this contribution will be devoted to an assessment whether this terminological and conceptual trend to theorize the softification of the international normative order on the basis of emerging areas of “transnational (…) law” – first and foremost perceived to be characterized by an increasing blurring of the boundaries between hard law and non-binding steering instruments – can legitimately be regarded as, first, an approach adequately reflecting the normative realities in the present international system, and, second, as a desirable guiding idea for the future evolution of transboundary steering regimes.