Once a region shaped by external powers, Latin America is now reshaping the global conversation on international law. Its jurists, activists, and scholars are redefining what fairness, solidarity, and sovereignty mean in the 21st century.
That transformation is at the core of Latin American International Law in the Twenty-First Century, co-edited by EUI Professor Sergio Puig, recently honoured with the 2025 ABILA Edited Volume Book of the Year Award. The prize will be presented at Fordham Law School on 25 October 2025 in New York. Judith Bauder, a researcher at the EUI Law Department, will also be recognised this year for her book Women’s Property Rights Under CEDAW (OUP, 2024).
In an interview, we talk to Professor Puig about Latin American International Law in the Twenty-First Century and its global impact. The book explores how the region’s thinkers have generated doctrines, practices, and institutions that continue to shape global norms, from human rights and environmental law to trade, digital governance, and postcolonial sovereignty. It captures a region deeply rooted in its history yet boldly experimenting with new paths for international law.
In Latin American International Law in the Twenty-First Century, you and your co-authors make the case that Latin America has contributed original doctrines and practices to international law, even if they are often overlooked globally. From your perspective, why is it important to recover and showcase these approaches today?
There is growing interest in regional approaches to international law, partly as a response to disappointment with what international law has failed to achieve in recent years. Many perceive the rise of authoritarianism and the inability to constrain powerful or rogue states—and even non-state actors that affect vulnerable communities—as symptoms of those shortcomings.
Revisiting Latin America’s original doctrines and traditions helps us recover a more normative and value-driven understanding of international law. The Latin American canon offers tools to reimagine international law not as a static set of rules, but as a moral and political project grounded in solidarity, justice, and equality among nations.
The book points out that today, international law in Latin America is shaped not just by diplomats and elites but also by judges, Indigenous activists, NGOs, and others. How do you see this broader range of actors influencing the way the region engages with international economic law?
International law in the region has become far more pluralistic, reflecting the voices and priorities of a wider array of actors. It is no longer confined to the relations among states, but increasingly engages with issues that arise within states and affect different communities—Indigenous peoples, minorities, and civil society more broadly.
This expansion has made international law a mechanism for accountability in contexts where domestic institutions may fall short. The involvement of diverse actors brings richer perspectives and helps align international law with social needs, human rights, and sustainable development.
In your chapter, you argue that Latin American scholars are uniquely positioned to move beyond a strictly formalist approach and bring interdisciplinary perspectives to international economic law. How so?
Latin American legal thought has long viewed law as a social instrument rather than a self-contained system of rules. This perspective acknowledges that law is shaped not only by formal institutions but also by social forces, political dynamics, and economic interests. There’s a healthy skepticism toward seeing law as an unquestionable solution—paired with an awareness of its potential for both empowerment and abuse. This tradition encourages scholars to engage with law through interdisciplinary methods, drawing on data, history, sociology, and economics. In doing so, Latin American scholars can make international economic law more responsive to real-world contexts and social objectives.
Looking ahead, what kinds of new ideas or practices from Latin America do you see as most promising for reshaping international law in the 21st century?
One immediate goal is to disseminate the book more widely—it will soon be available in Spanish as well. Looking ahead, as multilateralism weakens, regional initiatives are becoming increasingly significant. Latin America, much like Europe, has pursued regional integration, though in a more decentralised way. In a multipolar world, this regional cooperation becomes essential for exercising sovereignty and promoting common interests.
Latin America has much to learn from Europe’s experience, but also much to offer: its success in institutionalising a human rights system, in challenging nuclear powers, and in using international law to hold domestic actors accountable all stand as powerful examples of how international law can serve justice and balance in the global order.
Sergio Puig De La Parra specialises in international economic law, with a focus on investment and trade law, business and human rights, and empirical legal methods. He holds the joint Chair in International Economic Law at the EUI, where he is affiliated with both the Law Department and the Robert Schuman Centre. Since March 2025, he has also served as the Director of the Max Weber Programme at the EUI.