Regulating Speed: Social Acceleration and International Law

This chapter examines some consequences of social acceleration, the ‘speeding up of time’, for international law. The first part of the chapter outlines some leading theories on social acceleration, in particular the theory developed by Hermut Rosa. According to Rosa, social acceleration is to be understood as a self-propelling process which ties together three spheres: technology, social structures, and the pace of life. Moreover, as the chapter makes clear, social acceleration is not taking place evenly across societal sectors. Some sectors change at an increasing speed (e.g. communication or the economy), with other sectors lagging behind (e.g. ecological systems). The second part studies some of the impacts of social acceleration on international law. Using the UN global counterterrorism regime as an illustration, the chapter sets out how the enhancement of speed has led to new forms of law, which seek to combine accelerated decision-making with an increased capacity to adapt to rapidly changing situations (stasis and change).