International Law and the Politics of History (Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law)

As the future of international law has become a growing site of struggle within and between powerful states, debates over the history of international law have become increasingly heated. International Law and the Politics of History explores the ideological, political, and material stakes of apparently technical disputes over how the legal past should be studied and understood. Drawing on a deep knowledge of the history, theory, and practice of international law, Anne Orford argues that there can be no impartial accounts of international law's past and its relation to empire and capitalism. Rather than looking to history in a doomed attempt to find a new ground for formalist interpretations of what past legal texts really mean or what international regimes are really for, she urges lawyers and historians to embrace the creative role they play in making rather than finding the meaning of international law. -- Offers a new vision of the place of history in international legal argument -- Explores the ideological, political, and economic stakes of the turn to history in international law -- Will appeal to readers interested in international law, legal history, legal theory, global history, intellectual history, and international relations "As the future of international law has become a growing site of struggle within and between powerful states, debates over the history of international law have become increasingly heated. International law and the politics of history explores the ideological, political, and material stakes of apparently technical disputes over how the legal past should be studied and understood. Drawing on a deep knowledge of the history, theory, and practice of international law, Anne Orford argues that there can be no impartial accounts of international law's past and its relation to empire and capitalism. Rather than looking to history in a doomed attempt to find a new ground for formalist interpretations of what past legal texts really mean or what international regimes are really for, she urges lawyers and historians to embrace the creative role they play in making rather than finding the meaning of international law"--Back cover 01.0_pp_i_ii_International_Law_and_the_Politics_of_History 02.0_pp_iii_iii_International_Law_and_the_Politics_of_History 03.0_pp_iv_iv_Copyright_page 04.0_pp_v_viii_Contents 05.0_pp_ix_xii_Acknowledgements 06.0_pp_1_17_Neoformalism_and_the_Turn_to_History_in_International_Law 07.0_pp_18_69_Situating_the_Turn_to_History_in_International_Law 08.0_pp_70_104_History_and_the_Turn_to_the_International 09.0_pp_105_177_Historys_Lawyers 10.0_pp_178_252_The_Past_in_the_Practice_of_International_Law 11.0_pp_253_284_The_History_of_What 12.0_pp_285_320_Why_Study_the_Past_of_International_Law 13.0_pp_321_372_Bibliography 14.0_pp_373_382_Index As the future of international law has become a growing site of political struggle within and between powerful states, debates over the history of international law have become increasingly heated. Anne Orford explores the political stakes of these debates over international law's past and its relation to empire and capitalism.