BOOK: Konstantinos POULIOS, The Congress of Carlowitz (1698/99). Supra-cultural Diplomatic Norms and Practices of Peacemaking at the End of the Seventeenth Century [Legal History Library, eds. Dirk HEIRBAUT, Michelle MCKINLEY, Matthew C. MIROW & C.H. VAN RHEE, 82; Studies in the History of International Law, ed. Randall LESAFFER, 29] (Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff/Brill, 2025), ISBN 978-90-04-45611-2

 

(image source: Brill)

Abstract:

This book delivers the first comprehensive analysis of the Peace Congress of Carlowitz (1698/99), challenging traditional Eurocentric views on early modern diplomacy. It demonstrates that peacemaking norms and practices were largely ‘supra-cultural’—transcending cultural and religious divides across Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Carlowitz emerges as a significant multi-religious congress that introduced pioneering practices, particularly in ceremonial regulations. By confronting cultural essentialism, provincialising the Westphalian congress-model paradigm, and demythologising Carlowitz as a decisive political turning point—notably marking the adoption of a Western European-style diplomacy by cultural ‘outliers’ such as the Ottoman Empire and Muscovy—this study offers fresh insights into the complexity and polycentric nature of early modern multilateral diplomacy.

On the author:

Konstantinos Poulios, Ph.D. (2024), European University Institute, is a postdoctoral researcher at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He specialises in early modern diplomatic history and peacemaking practices. His research interests encompass early modern conflict resolution mechanisms, with a focus on peace congresses and third-party mediation in southeastern Europe, the diplomatic relations between the Ottoman Empire and Christian European states, early modern diplomatic archival practices, and the intersection of diplomatic and intellectual history.

Read more here: DOI 10.1163/9789004458499. 

BOOK: Loqman RADPEY, Towards an Independent Kurdistan: Self-Determination in International Law [Routledge Research in International Law] (London: Routledge, 2023), 324 p. ISBN 9781032543222

(image source: Routledge)

 Abstract:

Kurdistan is among the world’s most notorious cases of self-determination denied, and the reasons why this outcome remains unachieved reveal as much about the biases of international law as they do about the merits of the case for Kurdistan. On the centenary of the Treaty of Lausanne, 24 July 1923, the last of the international instruments establishing the new international order after World War I, this book explores the potential blind spots of international law regarding its differential application in the Middle East. Tracing self-determination over the past century, the work explores how the law applies to Kurdish aspirations and to what extent the Kurds can rely upon the current law of self-determination to achieve internationally recognised statehood.

The book offers an exhaustive historico-legal analysis of changing international legal concepts and geopolitical upheaval, providing a blueprint for Kurdish self-determination in international law. Shedding light on the law’s structural biases, it represents a comprehensive historico-legal account of Kurdish aspirations for territorial independence within international law literature, offering a guide to relevant legal problems. It will be of interest to students and academics focused on international law, specifically, peoplehood, statehood, secession, human rights law, political science, and anthropology. Moreover, policymakers, government officials working in peace and conflict, research and advocacy institutes, think tanks, as well as scholars of international relations, historians, political scientists, regional specialists, diplomats, and non-governmental organisation activists will find it a useful reference. The book also illuminates the human rights status of the Kurds in their host states, making it relevant to scholars and activists. Its findings have implications extending beyond Kurdistan to self-determination struggles in Scotland, Catalonia, Ukraine, and elsewhere.

On the author:

Loqman Radpey, holding a PhD in International Law from the University of Edinburgh, is an independent researcher based in Scotland. Over the course of the past decade, his primary focus has been the thorough exploration and analysis of facets pertaining to the legal status of the Kurdistan question. His pursuits have delved into the nuanced application of international law concerning the right to self-determination of the Kurdish nation. 

Table of contents:

List of Maps ix Foreword xList of Abbreviations xiiAcknowledgements xviii1 Introduction 12 Self-Determination in International Law 132.1 Historical Metamorphosis 132.2 General Principle and Customary Law 312.3 As Erga Omnes and Jus Cogens 322.4 Modalities of Implementing Self-Determination 352.5 Self-Determination and Other Rights and Principles 372.6 The Expression of Self-Determination 382.7 Summary 423 What Is a ‘People’ in International Law? 453.1 Minorities 453.2 Nation 503.3 Peoples 513.4 Peoples as Self-Determination Units 693.5 Summary 764 Kurdistan: The Historical Background of Kurdish Self-Determination 794.1 Pre-Twentieth-Century Kurdistan 814.2 Twentieth-Century Kurdistan 844.3 Modern Nation-States’ Rejection of Sovereign Kurdistan 1124.4 Summary 1165 Are the Kurds a ‘People’? 1185.1 Substantive Criteria (National Ties) 1215.2 The Kurds in Legal Documents 1455.3 A Territorially Fragmented People 1495.4 Summary 1536 The Right to Internal Self-Determination 1556.1 Effective Participation in Public Affairs 1556.2 Internal Self-Determination and Effective Participation 1596.3 International Human Rights Law on Political Rights 1626.4 The Legal Basis of Effective Participation of Minorities in Public Affairs 1646.5 Constructs to Implement Internal Self-Determination 1696.6 Summary 1787 Secession: Implications for Kurdistan 1807.1 Secession in Legal Scholarship 1807.2 Secession under International Law 1847.3 The Threshold for Secession 1907.4 Non-Colonial Secession 1957.5 Failed Cases 2027.6 The Secession of Kurdistan 2067.7 Summary 2378 Kurdistan Statehood 2408.1 The State 2408.2 Tests of Statehood 2418.3 Self-Determination, Statehood, and Recognition 2438.4 Attributes of a State in International Law 2448.5 Statehood Models Achieved via Self-Determination 2568.6 Kurdistan’s Statehood 2658.7 Summary 2739 Conclusion: Decolonising Kurdish Self-Determination 276Appendix 285Index 289 

Read more here. 

BOOK: Miriam GASSNER, Der Vertrag von Sèvres. Vertragstext und Analyse des Friedenschlusses mit der Türkei vom 10. August 1920 im Kontext der Pariser Vorortverträge [Studien zur Geschichte des Völkerrechts, eds. Anne PETERS, Bardo FASSBENDER, Milos VEC & Jochen VON BERNSTORFF; vol. 42] (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag, 2023), ,281 p. ISBN 9783848788538. OPEN ACCESS

 

(image source: Nomos)

Abstract:

The 1920 Treaty of Sèvres between the Allied Powers and Turkey can undoubtedly be described as one of the most significant international treaties of the 20th century. Aiming at reshaping the Middle East, it laid the foundation for the British Empire to reach the peak of its territorial expansion shortly after it was signed. The fact that the treaty has been little noticed in the German-speaking world is probably also due to the fact that until now there has been no complete translation of the treaty into German. The aim of this work is now to provide such a translation and to place the Treaty of Sèvres in the context of the Paris Peace Treaties.

 Read the full book in open access: DOI 10.5771/9783748934110.