Suchergebnisse

Austria's status as a 'permanently neutral' country has changed significantly ever since it joined the European Union back in 1995. More than ever, the country is still maneuvering between solidarity within the EU and participating in its common foreign policy and upholding a long-standing tradition of remaining uninvolved in foreign wars. Yet, Russia's attack on Ukraine shows that there are certain inconsistencies in this search for striking a balance: While the Austrian government has condemned the invasion, implemented EU sanctions, and allowed the transport of weapons through its territory, it refrained from providing arms or military training to the Ukrainian military. In so doing, it is not always clear whether these actions (or omissions) are justified with legal or political arguments. The present article will try to fill this gap.

Using Stanley Fish's description of interpretive communities, this paper examines the impact of Social Media as an additional tool in international law scholarship. On the one hand, it might work against Western-centrism as debates could become more open and accessible for academics from different backgrounds and regions. On the other hand, there is a real risk that some of the downsides we may observe in political online debates – polarisation and a decline of basic decency – could also extend to the academic realm. It is about time to ask ourselves whether and how we can ensure that the benefits outweigh the costs. The following article is divided into two main parts: The first will refer to Stanley Fish's notion of 'interpretive communities' to outline how Social Media may influence the pre-existing special and distinctive features of international law scholarship. The second, then, will show how the benefits of blogging and tweeting outweigh justified worries: Social Media increases participation in and readership of international law-related debates and allows qualified commentary to be published (almost) instantly.