The Battle for International Law

The so-called ‘decolonization era’ witnessed a fundamental challenge to (legalized) Western hegemony through a new vision of the institutional environment and political economy of the world. It is during this era, arguably couched between classic European imperialism and a new form of US-led Western hegemony, that fundamental legal debates took place over a new international legal order for a decolonized world. These debates consist in essence of a battle that was fought by diplomats, lawyers and scholars over, in particular, the premises and principles of international law. In a moment of relative weakness of European powers, ‘newly independent states’ and international lawyers from the South fundamentally challenged traditional Western perceptions of international legal structures engaging in fundamental controversies over a new international law. This book argues that international legal structures in many areas of international relations, including international economic law, the use of force, international humanitarian, the law of the sea, and human rights have been transformed during this era. The effect of this transition, however, was enabling the change from classic European imperialism to new forms of US-led Western hegemony. It draws on Koselleck’s Sattelzeit concept—bridging two different forms of global Western dominance—in which fundamental concepts of international law were re-imagined, politicized, and transformed. All aspects of this battle are of vital importance for any future project aiming to address and alter the relationship between international law and fundamental inequalities in this world.