Book contents
- Repetition and International Law
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law: 162
- Repetition and International Law
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Eternal Return of Not Quite the Same: Repetition and the Sources of International Law
- 2 The Law of Receding Origins: Repetition and the Identification of Customary International Law
- 3 “Once Upon a Time, There Was a Story That Began”: Repetition in Security Council Resolutions
- 4 Say That Again, Please: Repetition in the Tallinn Manual
- 5 Rehearsing Rehearsing: Repetition in International Moot Court Competitions
- 6 The Unimaginable on Screen: Repetition in Documentary Films on Trauma and Atrocities
- The End
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law
3 - “Once Upon a Time, There Was a Story That Began”: Repetition in Security Council Resolutions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2022
- Repetition and International Law
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law: 162
- Repetition and International Law
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Eternal Return of Not Quite the Same: Repetition and the Sources of International Law
- 2 The Law of Receding Origins: Repetition and the Identification of Customary International Law
- 3 “Once Upon a Time, There Was a Story That Began”: Repetition in Security Council Resolutions
- 4 Say That Again, Please: Repetition in the Tallinn Manual
- 5 Rehearsing Rehearsing: Repetition in International Moot Court Competitions
- 6 The Unimaginable on Screen: Repetition in Documentary Films on Trauma and Atrocities
- The End
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law
Summary
Chapter three starts from the surprise I felt when I first read a Security Council resolution. What does it mean to begin a resolution by recalling, reiterating, reconfirming or recognizing previous resolutions? In order to make sense of such beginnings, I compare preambles of Security Council resolutions to prologues in theatre plays as well as to preambles in Babylonian codes. Acts of recalling, I argue, are radically different from the decision that follows. The decision constitutes a cutoff in time, a break with the past and a pointer to the future. Decisions, in other words, present a new beginning, a lack of continuity. To recall, reiterate, recognize or reaffirm is to do the opposite: to indicate that resolutions have begun well before they were adopted. In that sense, acts of recalling seek to fill the gap that is created by a beginning, not unlike prologues do. However, preambles to Security Council resolutions cannot escape the dialectics of repetition. They do not innocently present the past as it is, but rather retake it in light of what is to follow. This means they come with their own breaks and gaps, which are filled by yet further acts of repetition.
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- Information
- Repetition and International Law , pp. 72 - 94Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022