History of International Law and Western Civilization

2007 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 353-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo Gozzi

AbstractThis paper discusses the origins 19th-century international law through the works of such scholars as Bluntschli, Lorimer, and Westlake, and then traces out its development into the 20th century. Nineteenth-century international law was forged entirely in Europe: it was the expression of a European consciousness and culture, and was geographically located within the community of European peoples, which meant a community of Christian, and hence "civilized," peoples. It was only toward the end of the 19th century that an international law emerged as the expression of a "global society," when the Ottoman Empire, China, and Japan found themselves forced to enter the regional international society revolving around Europe. Still, these nations stood on an unequal footing, forming a system based on colonial relations of domination. This changed in the post–World War II period, when a larger community of nations developed that was not based on European dominance. This led to the extended world society we have today, made up of political systems profoundly different from one another because based on culture-specific concepts. So in order for a system to qualify as universal, it must now draw not only on Western but also on non-Western forms, legacies, and concepts.

2020 ◽  
pp. 95-111
Author(s):  
Punsara AMARASINGHE

The modern international law is considered an offshoot of European intellectual contributions as its basic foundation is deeply imbued with the political and social upheavals took place in European history. As an example, the Westphalian order emerged in the culmination of thirty years war in 1648 was regarded as the most pivotal mile stone in modern history of international law. Yet the European domination and its intellectual contribution to the development of international law systematically excluded non-European nations from international law and its protection, which finally paved the path to use international law in the 19th century as a tool of legitimizing the colonial expansion. This paper seeks to trace the historiography of modern international law and its dubious nature of disdaining non-Europeans and their civilizational thinking. Furthermore, this paper argues how European historical encounters carved the map of international law from a vantage point, which gave an utter prominence upon the European intellectual monopoly. The results emerge from this paper will strongly suggest the need of an alternative scholarship to unveil the history of international law.


2021 ◽  

The Ottoman Empire has long been a marginal subject in both the history and theory of international law. With the imperial turn in historiography and the postcolonial turn to history in legal studies, researchers challenge the stereotype of “the Sick Man of Europe,” paying due attention to the Ottomans’ own understanding of international law and society. Most importantly, throughout its centuries-long existence, the Ottoman Empire did not find itself vis-à-vis a monolithic, stable, and ready-made set of rules and ideas we today refer to as international law. On the contrary, interactions with the Ottomans—the Other par excellence for Christian Europe—helped transform droit public européen into modern international law. Neither the Islamic nor the Christian precepts predetermined this course of events. “Islamic” explanation was of little help in understanding the Ottomans’ relationship with the European powers. Notwithstanding the Islamic ideal of Holy War, the Ottoman Empire was among the key actors in the European balance of power. In the 19th century, however, Europeans increasingly established discrimination against Muslim Ottomans as a rule in international law, rarely perceiving their desire to be a full member of international society. Overall, the Ottoman Empire offers a fresh perspective for a truly universal history of international law.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1948 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 576-577
Author(s):  
BORIE TOTH

The keynote of the book is found in the preface where it is stated that "the central thesis of the authors is the inextricable interweaving of nursing service with all other branches of human culture." The development of nursing is traced through the record of human history starting with primitive times and ending with the problems facing the world at the conclusion of World War II. Up to the middle of the 19th century, nursing was under the auspices of religious orders. After the Protestant revolt, nursing as a profession for lay people began to take root.


2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-18
Author(s):  
Nikola Fabris

Abstract The paper depicts the history of using money in Montenegro covering the period before the Christ until nowadays. Montenegro mostly used foreign currencies throughout its long history, these being Roman, Austro-Hungarian, Turkish, Venetian, and even the Napoleon (French gold coin) money. The first ideas for Montenegro’s own money came from the Bishop Petar Petrovic Njegoš in the 19th century. The first Montenegrin money, the Perper, was minted in 1906. The King Nikola`s Decree as of 11 April 1906 authorized the Ministry of Finance to mint the nickel and bronze coins. Silver and gold coins were minted later. The Perper disappeared from the scene with Montenegro’s joining the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, putting into circulation the Dinar, a currency of the newly established state. Montenegro, being a part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, used the Dinar as its currency after World War II until 1999. Dual currency system consisting of the German Mark and the Dinar was introduced in late 1999, whereby the German Mark became the only legal tender in 2001. With the introduction of the Euro the German Mark was replaced and the Euro became the official means of payment.


2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 428-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devin O. Pendas

The Nuremberg Trial may well be the most famous trial of the twentieth century, which is as it should be. After all, the Nuremberg Trial, while perhaps not as unprecedented as is frequently assumed, did mark a decisive turning point in the history of international law. It marked the first broadly successful attempt to impose the rule of law not just on the conduct of war but also, in a limited way, on domestic atrocities as well. The fame of this single trial has had the unfortunate side-effect of overshadowing the literally thousands of other Nazi trials that took place after World War II, however. These additional trials can be divided into three categories: those that took place in the domestic courts of victim nations, those that took place in occupation courts, and, perhaps least well-known, those that took place inGermancourts.


1971 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-152
Author(s):  
Francois Crouzet

When World War II broke out, the economic history of Modern Europe was largely an underdeveloped and uncultivated field. One country only, Britain, had a well-established school of economic historians, which was already quite prolific. In Germany, there had been a promising start at the end of the 19th century, mostly with the historical school of economists, but it had largely petered out, even before the deadly influence of Nazism set in. In other countries, a number of scholars had done valuable and even brilliant work, but they were few and isolated, and political, diplomatic, religious history remained supreme. This was the case, for example, in France, which had one single chair of economic history in its eighteen universities, despite the passionate campaign which had been waged during the 1930's to promote work in economic and social history by the new journal Annales d'histoire économique et sociale, under the leadership of Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre. Moreover, pre-war economic history was mostly institutional, with a side-line in the study of techniques and innovations. As Professor Herlihy points out in another article for works on the earlier centuries, scholars were “thinking primarily in terms of institutions and of total economic systems based upon them.”


2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 478-495
Author(s):  
German E Berrios ◽  
Johan Schioldann ◽  
Johan Schioldann

Literature on the history of ‘paranoia’ (as a clinical concept) is large and confusing. This is partly explained by the fact that over the centuries the word ‘paranoia’ has been made to participate in several convergences (clinical constructs), and hence it has named different forms of behaviour and been linked to different explanatory concepts. The Classic Text that follows provides information on the internal clinical evolution of the last convergence in which ‘paranoia’ was made to participate. August Wimmer maps the historical changes of ‘ Verrücktheit’ as it happened within the main European psychiatric traditions since the early 19th century. After World War II, that clinical profile was to become reified and renamed as ‘delusional disorder’.


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