Writing about Empire: Remarks on the Logic of a Discourse

Abstract

A new genre of scholarly writing has emerged in recent years in the field of what one can broadly call critical international theory. Its principal defining feature is an intense preoccupation with the phenomenon of the so-called ‘new world order’, which it tries to explain and describe through an analytical lens constructed primarily around two ideas: the idea of ‘empire’ and the idea of ‘imperial law’. In this article I attempt to provide a brief overview of this genre, which for the sake of simplicity I shall call henceforth the ‘new imperial law’ or NIL genre, and to reflect critically on its underlying ideological dynamics.

The Special Responsibility of Government Lawyers and the Iraq Inquiry

“…The hazards of 'valorising the currency' was expressed by several scholars who argued that the Iraq War was unlawful, 131 but who later maintained that there should be careful reflection on why 'all it would have taken to make the war legal was Security Council authorisation'. 132 Moreover, the assumption that an allegiance to Security Council authority serves counter-hegemonic ends is an 'unwarranted lionisation of the UN project', 133 neglecting to scrutinise the ways that hegemonic power can be exercised at the multilateral level through, rather than against, international law. 134 It is here that individual conscience might come back in, assuming a residual role that is distinct from the special responsibility of international lawyers, in recognition of the fact that a myopic focus on legal technique can short-circuit appropriate moral deliberation.…”

Concerning Violence: A Post-Colonial Reading of the Debate on the Use of Force

“…49 Yet this comparison is problematic, as it vehicles the image of 'old Europe' as a post-historical entity sitting above interstate struggles, promoting human rights and the rule of law, and devoid of imperial ambitions. 50 In other words, we cannot hope to circumvent the expansive reading of the exceptions to use force by suggesting that Europe (as the 'law's helper' 51 ) only reluctantly carries on forcible action whereas the US unashamedly does so.…”

‘The Life of Individuals as well as of Nations’: International Law and the League of Nations’ Anti-Trafficking Governmentalities

“…There is a substantial literature regarding international law and the influence of America, spanning historical writings on the absent presence of America's 'global Monroe Doctrine' 53 to contemporary analysis of the American 'Empire'. 54 But, in the interwar years, America also began to exert its influence over global biopolitics. In particular, the Rockefeller Foundation in New York used its vast wealth to inflect the emerging trajectory of international health.…”