Working group Legal construction of common humanity: human agency in a cosmopolitan war crimes law Add to calendar 2026-01-26 10:00 2026-01-26 12:00 Europe/Rome Legal construction of common humanity: human agency in a cosmopolitan war crimes law Sala dei Levrieri Villa Salviati - Castle YYYY-MM-DD Print Share: Share on Facebook Share on BlueSky Share on X Share on LinkedIn Send by email Scheduled dates Jan 26 2026 10:00 - 12:00 CET Sala dei Levrieri, Villa Salviati - Castle Organised by Department of Law Organised by the International Working Group, this event features a presentation by Dr. Tianying Song (CILRAP). 'Legal Construction of Common Humanity: Human Agency in a Cosmopolitan War Crimes Law' (Tianying Song, TOAEP, 2025) examines what happens when the ideals of cosmopolitan morality are built into the structure of war crimes law. Based on the doctoral research that received the 2024 EUI Cassese Prize, the book shows how universalist and rationalist assumptions about human beings—assumptions that underpin cosmopolitan legal projects—strain under the realities of war. Cosmopolitan values must be narrowed during criminalisation to remain relevant on the battlefield, and their legitimacy is weakened by social distance, institutional pressures, and the emotional and unconscious forces that shape human agency in conflict. By tracing how these forces unsettle the notion of a stable, impartial moral actor, the book argues that the normativity of a cosmopolitan war crimes law is necessarily conditional rather than absolute, and that its future depends on integrating empirical insights about human behavior and cultivating social environments that support, rather than erode, cosmopolitan commitments. The launch will feature the author in conversation with four discussants, exploring the book’s core arguments and reflecting on the writing process that brought them together. Register