From a pluralization of international norm-making processes to a pluralization of the concept of international law

This chapter aims to warn us that international legal scholars studying the normative activities taking place outside the traditional remit of international law are often induced to loosen their concept of international law with a view to broadening the span of their discipline. In the view expressed in this chapter it is not needed or even preferred to attempt and encompass all ‘new’ normativity in legal terms. ‘[W]hy not com[e] to terms with the interdisciplinarity of such an endeavour and recognize that, even as international legal scholars, we can zero in on non-legal phenomena without feeling a need to label them law’. It is argued that the aim of the informal international lawmaking (IN-LAW) project should not be to stretch the boundaries of law.