The Colonial Origins and the Enduring Imperialist Legacy of International Law: A Critical Study on Imperialism and the Constitution of Contemporary International Legal Order
| Autor | Matheus Gobbato Leichtweis |
| Cargo del Autor | Master in International Law from ufgrs (2018) |
| Páginas | 67-114 |
e Colonial Origins and the Enduring
Imperialist Legacy of International
Law: A Critical Study on Imperialism
and the Constitution of Contemporary
International Legal Order
Matheus Gobbato Leichtweis*
From a critical perspective, it can be said that imperialism and
international law are both part of a wider historical process,
which involves, at the same time, the expansion of the world
capitalist system, and the expansion of the international
society towards the peripheries—or what constitutes, today,
the ird World (Global South). With a view to reect upon
the nature of such historical relation, this paper aims to
demonstrate the existence of intimate link between the inte-
rrelated processes of formation, universalization and institu-
tionalization of international law and the expansive dynamics
of the world capitalist system (the expansion of colonial and
* Master in International Law from (2018); Master () in Environ-
mental Law (obtained with merit) from the University of Dundee (2014); Bachelor
of Laws from the Pontical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (, 2013).
67
neo-colonial political domination and economic inuence
over the peripheral territories of the world economy). e
primary intent of this paper is to assert the existence of inter-
national law’s colonial and imperialist past and foundations.
Secondly, the paper seeks to understand how and to what
extent this past continues to inuence the contemporary
in-
ternational legal order. at is, to what extent this new
inter-
national legal order, established after 1945 around new
institutions and new principles such as cooperation, multila-
teralism, development and self-determination, has transfor-
med the historical relationship between international law and
imperialism. In other words, the paper seeks to comprehend to
what extent the institutionalization of economic and political
relations and the rise of a new set of universal principles in the
aftermath of World War represented a fundamental break
away from 19th century imperialist international law and a
progress towards a new universal and neutral international
legal order. In sum, thus, the paper argues for the existence of
an enduring colonial and imperialist legacy of international
law, a legacy that is still present in the workings of interna-
tional economy, law and society.
is paper is part of a wider counterhegemonic and
critical academic movement which main purpose is to give
new meanings to international law; to understand it from a
historic, social and emancipatory perspective, committed to
the pursue of material equality among peoples, to the genuine
universalization of the discipline and to the well-being and
needs of the world’s poor. It is an interdisciplinary endeavor
that tries to put together a set of critical tools in order to
rethink international law as an instrument of global justice
for the liberation of subaltern classes and peripheral peoples.
68
Derecho internacional: investigación, estudio y enseñanza
Understanding Imperialism
e phenomenon of imperialism can be explained from its
expansionary logics. is need for expansion that characte-
rizes imperialism is driven by a constant search for political
and economic control over peripheral regions and is imple-
mented by means of formal and informal strategies and
practices of power. ese practices and strategies of power, by
their turn, are used to dominate territories, control popula-
tions, expand markets, and explore labor force and to obtain
access to raw materials in the peripheries. In sum, thus, the
political-economic phenomenon of imperialism refers to a
ideological-institutional apparatus that systematizes colonial
and neo-colonial power structures with a view to guarantee, by
means of a systematic exploitation of peripheral peoples and
economic resources, the economic and geographic expansion
of the economic activities of the central countries and their
ruling classes.
Since the 16th century, imperialism has contributed to
the structuring of a global pattern of resource, power and
wealth distribution between the center and the peripheries
of the world system. roughout the centuries, the pheno-
menon has changed and transformed, acquiring diverse and
dierent facets and forms. In the era of formal colonialism,
for example, the main form through which imperialism was
conveyed was the direct (legally formal) political and military
dominium over ird World territories and population. In
this context, the imperialist expansionism was driven by a
territorial, political and military logic, inaugurated by Iberic
imperialism in the 16th century. As capitalism ourished
and developed, soon becoming a world system, imperialism
began to be conveyed, also, by more subtle and sophisticated,
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e Colonial Origins and the Enduring Imperialist Legacy of International Law
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