History of International Law and Western Civilization

Gozzi, Gustavo

doi:10.2139/ssrn.996239

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 7 publications

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“…International law occupies a prominent place in academic scholarship and policy in the post-WW2 era. Dominant scholarship on the history of international law sees the development of international law as an extension of European law to the rest of the world, a movement from being the law of Christian nations to becoming the law of humanity (Gozzi 2007). There is a growing body of scholarship in recent times challenging the dominant European narratives of international law from diverse standpoints and ideological orientations (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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D'Souza¹

2017

ICJ

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Abstract. Contemporary world order rests on a fault-line. On the one hand it is an interstate system founded on the legal equality of all states. On the other hand it establishes institutions that privilege a small number of states in economy and politics. This article examines the fault-line, which has widened in recent times and threatens to destabilise the order established after the end of World War II. The 'world' in World wars is because of the global scope of the inter-European wars. The world wars were fought over colonies, in colonial territories, with the manpower and material resources of the colonies. Yet dominant narratives about the world wars speak about the wars as a European war between European nations and write-out colonial questions, colonial contributions and more importantly for this article the colonial impulses in the writing of contemporary international law and establishment of international organisations. This paper examines the human, monetary and material contributions of India in World War II. Britain was the preeminent Empire during the world wars and India the 'jewel in the British Crown'. India was crucial to British conduct of the world wars. At the same time racism and repression during the interwar period fuelled powerful anti-colonial movements in India. Those struggles ended the British Empire. The irony of racism against millions of people who fought and died for Britain presents many perplexing questions about the legacies of World War II for racism and international law. This article examines the responses of different European powers to the independence movements in India during the world wars and argues that the responses of different Empires of the time to the anti-colonial struggles holds the cues to understanding the widening fault-line in the international order today.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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D'Souza¹

2017

ICJ

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Imperial Colonialism in the Genesis of International Law – Anomaly or Time of Transition?

Starski

Kämmerer

2017

J Hist Int Law

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Drawing on the works of Alexandrowicz and Grewe, this article intends to illustrate the relevance of colonialism to the evolution of present, universal international law. The central question addressed is as follows: Do we have to regard the exclusionist international law of the imperial era (culminating in the late 19th century) as an anomaly, or ‘accident’ in international relations and hence the achievement of universal participation half a century later as a ‘return to normalcy’, or was colonialism, alongside the law that governed it, a period of transition from international law as a genuinely European order to the universal order it is today? Alexandrowicz’s and Grewe’s answers to these questions appear to be diametrically opposed. More important than judging who of them is right is understanding why these scholars arrived at such diverging conclusions.

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History of International Law and Western Civilization

Cited by 2 publications

References 7 publications

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Imperial Colonialism in the Genesis of International Law – Anomaly or Time of Transition?

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