Boundaries of the International

Law and Empire

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Politics, History & Theory, History, European General
Cover of the book Boundaries of the International by Jennifer  Pitts, Harvard University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Jennifer Pitts ISBN: 9780674986299
Publisher: Harvard University Press Publication: March 16, 2018
Imprint: Harvard University Press Language: English
Author: Jennifer Pitts
ISBN: 9780674986299
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Publication: March 16, 2018
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Language: English

It is commonly believed that international law originated in relations among European states that respected one another as free and equal. In fact, as Jennifer Pitts shows, international law was forged at least as much through Europeans’ domineering relations with non-European states and empires, leaving a legacy still visible in the unequal structures of today’s international order. Pitts focuses on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the great age of imperial expansion, as European intellectuals and administrators worked to establish and justify laws to govern emerging relationships with non-Europeans. Relying on military and commercial dominance, European powers dictated their own terms on the basis of their own norms and interests. Despite claims that the law of nations was a universal system rooted in the values of equality and reciprocity, the laws that came to govern the world were parochial and deeply entangled in imperialism. Legal authorities, including Emer de Vattel, John Westlake, and Henry Wheaton, were key figures in these developments. But ordinary diplomats, colonial administrators, and journalists played their part too, as did some of the greatest political thinkers of the time, among them Montesquieu and John Stuart Mill. Against this growing consensus, however, dissident voices as prominent as Edmund Burke insisted that European states had extensive legal obligations abroad that ought not to be ignored. These critics, Pitts shows, provide valuable resources for scrutiny of the political, economic, and legal inequalities that continue to afflict global affairs.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

It is commonly believed that international law originated in relations among European states that respected one another as free and equal. In fact, as Jennifer Pitts shows, international law was forged at least as much through Europeans’ domineering relations with non-European states and empires, leaving a legacy still visible in the unequal structures of today’s international order. Pitts focuses on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the great age of imperial expansion, as European intellectuals and administrators worked to establish and justify laws to govern emerging relationships with non-Europeans. Relying on military and commercial dominance, European powers dictated their own terms on the basis of their own norms and interests. Despite claims that the law of nations was a universal system rooted in the values of equality and reciprocity, the laws that came to govern the world were parochial and deeply entangled in imperialism. Legal authorities, including Emer de Vattel, John Westlake, and Henry Wheaton, were key figures in these developments. But ordinary diplomats, colonial administrators, and journalists played their part too, as did some of the greatest political thinkers of the time, among them Montesquieu and John Stuart Mill. Against this growing consensus, however, dissident voices as prominent as Edmund Burke insisted that European states had extensive legal obligations abroad that ought not to be ignored. These critics, Pitts shows, provide valuable resources for scrutiny of the political, economic, and legal inequalities that continue to afflict global affairs.

More books from Harvard University Press

Cover of the book Baghdad by Jennifer  Pitts
Cover of the book Moving toward Integration by Jennifer  Pitts
Cover of the book The Rise of the Right to Know by Jennifer  Pitts
Cover of the book Bone Rooms by Jennifer  Pitts
Cover of the book Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language by Jennifer  Pitts
Cover of the book The Fight for Interracial Marriage Rights in Antebellum Massachusetts by Jennifer  Pitts
Cover of the book Gropius by Jennifer  Pitts
Cover of the book Eros and Illness by Jennifer  Pitts
Cover of the book Religious Freedom in an Egalitarian Age by Jennifer  Pitts
Cover of the book What Unions No Longer Do by Jennifer  Pitts
Cover of the book Sea of the Caliphs by Jennifer  Pitts
Cover of the book Hitler's Shadow Empire by Jennifer  Pitts
Cover of the book Mere Civility by Jennifer  Pitts
Cover of the book Elusive Alliance by Jennifer  Pitts
Cover of the book Apollo in the Age of Aquarius by Jennifer  Pitts
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy