JOURNAL: Journal of the History of International Law/Revue d'histoire du droit international XXVII (2025), nr. 2 (Jun)

 

(image source: Brill)

Towards Comparative International Legal History? (Ignacio de la Rasilla)
DOI 10.1163/15718050-bja10112
Abstract:

The great rejuvenation known by the history of international law and, in its wake, the recent engagement with its national dimensions begs the question of whether they and comparative international law are providing the hitherto missing building blocks for the often invoked yet never realized emergence of comparative international legal history. Section I examines the recent revival of study of the national dimension of the history of international law with reference to three main categories: national histories of international law of great Western powers; of semi-peripheral Western countries and of non-Western countries. Section II then examines some of the normative, sociological, methodological and historiographical arguments in favor of the complementary use of the national lens in researching the history of international law from the perspective of its epistemological completeness but also some of its possible dark sides. Section III explores the potential development of comparative international legal history as an embryonic field by retracing the intellectual development of comparative international law in a historical perspective and examining its most recent revival. The article concludes by arguing that existing scholarship already offers the building blocks for the materialization of comparative international legal history as an interdisciplinary field and by illustrating some of its features.

Theories of State Development at the Dawn of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Pádraig McAuliffe) [OPEN ACCESS]
DOI 10.1163/15718050-bja10116
Abstract:

There is a significant temporal gap between the finalisation of the text of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1966 and its doctrinal elaboration from the late 1980s onwards. This article shows how the Covenant was imagined at the height of the 50s and 60s era of decolonisation, modernisation theory and development planning. This was a time when there was a widespread hope that states of the Third World could soon replicate the socio-economic, industrial and stateness levels of the developed North. The Covenant was a decidely teleological mix of Western social democracy, Soviet-inspired social provision and Third World developmentalism. The Preamble and the provisions therein represented a confidence about the role that developmental, state-consolidating politics could play in the Global South. Before the doctrinal implications of these assumptions could be played out, the Covenant went into abeyance as it waited for the requisite numbers of ratifications through the 1970s and the elaboration of doctrinal machinery in the 1980s. As such, the context of drafting was distinctly different from the neoliberal milieu in which the Covenant was interpreted after the foundation of the Committee Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the late 80s. This doctrinal elaboration whittled away and narrowed the Covenant’s Article 2(1) bedrock principle of progressive realisation. This process occurred with little reference to the history of the Covenant. It has meant that a somewhat defensive approach to the principle, one in which aspects like justiciability, non-retrogression, minimum core and a violations approach have grown from marginal to defining features, while the teleology implicit in the drafting process has shifted in the opposite direction from pivotal to peripheral. The doctrinal elaboration of these aspects is presented as an essentially timeless, organic emanation from the text. This presentation and understanding of the Covenant elides not only the extent to which other interpretations are possible, but the extent to which other, more expansive, less legalistic interpretations of Article 2(1) were latent at the time the Covenant was agreed.

The Enduring Influence of the Late Medieval Conception of Universal Monarchy on the Theories of Governance in the International Community (Niccolò Lanzoni)
DOI 10.1163/15718050-bja10124
Abstract:

This article explores the enduring influence of the late medieval conception of universal monarchy on the theories of governance in the international community. It argues that, despite shifts in vocabulary and institutions, the core idea that a supranational politico-legal authority governing international affairs is necessary for the pursuit of peace, justice, and the welfare of humankind has ‘haunted’ international legal thought and remains central to debates on governance. The analysis begins by examining 14th century writings on universal monarchy, highlighting both commonalities and divergences among authors. It then investigates how the discovery of the New World and the rise of Habsburg Spain shaped discussions on global governance and the role of universal monarchy. The article traces the evolution of this concept in the post-Westphalian period, where it adapted to new vocabularies and ideas. Additionally, it examines the revival of universal monarchy, particularly through the work of Hans Kelsen, and with reference to Dante’s De Monarchia, in the first half of the 20th century. In conclusion, the article argues that the essence of the late medieval idea of universal monarchy, centred on the notion of community through hierarchy, is still relevant today and continues to resonate in the discussion on theories of global governance (and their balance with state sovereignty).

Book reviews

• Pax Economica: Left-Wing Visions of a Free Trade World, written by Marc-William Palen (Christopher A. Casey)
• Le Saint-Empire face au monde. Contestations et redéfinitions de l’impérialité XV e–XIX e siècle, written by Indravati Félicité (Elisabetta Fiocchi Malaspina)

Read the full issue here.