About The Workshop
SW 54-Understanding Law in a Changing World: Continuing William Twining’s Project
Convenors: Raymundo Gama Leyva; Nadire Özdemir
Contact: understandinglawivr@gmail.com
What does it mean to understand law in a changing world? This question lies at the heart of William Twining’s lifelong intellectual project. Twining consistently challenged narrow, state-centred, and doctrinally confined conceptions of law, urging scholars to rethink jurisprudence in light of globalization, social change, and the plurality of legal experiences across the world.
In the wake of his recent passing, this workshop invites contributions that continue and critically engage with Twining’s project by revisiting its core insights and extending them to contemporary debates in legal and social philosophy. Proposals should engage, directly or indirectly, with themes, questions or projects related to Twining’s work.
Suggested topics include (but are not limited to):
- A broader agenda for jurisprudence.
- Building bridges between analytical jurisprudence, empirical inquiry, socio-legal studies, and comparative perspectives.
- Jurisprudence in the context of global and planetary transformations and challenges (i.e. economic interdependence, transnational governance, climate change, natural resources, migration, and technological developments).
- Rethinking existing fields of legal philosophy and framing new ones where necessary.
- Critical analysis of the adequacy of concepts and families of concepts across borders and at planetary scales (i.e. responsibility, causation, authority, legitimacy, and proof).
- Southern voices and the extension of our legal canon.
- Varieties of pluralism (i.e. value pluralism, legal and normative pluralism).
- Legal education in a changing world.
- Global and planetary perspectives.
Submit a provisional paper title and abstract (350–500 words) to understandinglawivr@gmail.com
Deadline: April 15, 2026.
