Dossier: International law, dependency, and (de)colonization

Yes, it would be worthwhile to study clinically, in detail, the steps taken by Hitler and Hitlerism and to reveal to the very distinguished, very humanistic, very Christian bourgeois of the twentieth century that without his being aware of it, he has a Hitler inside him, that Hitler inhabits him, that Hitler is his demon, that if he rails against him, he is being inconsistent and that, at bottom, what he cannot forgive Hitler for is not the crime in itself, the crime against man, it is not the humiliation of man as such, it is the crime against the white man, the humiliation of the white man, and the fact that he applied to Europe colonialist procedures which until then had been reserved exclusively for the Arabs of Algeria, the "coolies" of India, and the "niggers" of Africa.

And that is the great thing I hold against pseudo-humanism: that for too long it has diminished the rights of man, that its concept of those rights has been – and still is – narrow and fragmentary, incomplete, and biased and, all things considered, sordidly racist (Aimé Césaire, Discourse on colonialism).

 

The generic normative discourse of international law is full of progressive and emancipatory commonplaces, such as common humanity, peace, sustainable development, international cooperation, human rights, and fundamental freedoms. However, it coexists with the global reality of the State’s closed border to poor immigrants; the refugee crises; the news and social networks which are only concerned with the conflicts that victimize white people; the violence, domination, and people’s exploitation, and states that are independents only in the legal sphere.

The announcement of the State’s sovereign equality got lost, from the beginning, especially due to the United Nations Charter veto power given only to the victorious States of the Second World War: states that are more equal than the others.

Under modern liberal discourse – which is linked to the rhetorical affirmation of human rights, free trade, and representative democracy – we find the colonial and imperialist configuration of international relations.

Most of the world’s population has a specific place and precarious horizon of possibilities. After three centuries of colonization by Europeans, Latin America experiences independence as a nation-state – an invention of European modernity – without decolonization. In the sequence, it experiences US imperialism. Under the violent praxis of conquest, the Latin-American integration into world history is forged in economic dependence and colonization of ways of being, thinking, and living together.

In this peripheral place – also called the Third World and the Global South – class, race, and gender oppression are deeply and violently intertwined. But it doesn't break down at all. It opens up critical horizons, theory, and praxis, (de)construction and change, sometimes reformist, step by step, within the strict limits of the legal-institutional horizon; in others, beyond it, seeking to attack its structures, transforming it.

From the most diverse perspectives, anticolonial, postcolonial, and decolonial thoughts, dependency theories and “third world” approaches, in their profound differences, have an origin’s common trait. And allow approximations with Law, specifically International Law, through radical (or not radical) antitheses, revisiting theories, authors(es), doctrines, and reviewing categories and institutions.

In this context, under these international law’s approaches and revisitation, from critical perspectives from Latin America, Africa, Asia, and others “damned of earth”, we call for articles for the Dossier International Law, dependency, and (de)colonization.

The articles can focus on different fields and institutions of international law (human rights, international organizations, development, international trade, immigration, and refuge, etc.) and several places that form the global periphery. It is also expected that interdisciplinary research to overcomes merely dogmatic and “manualist” analyses. From “peripheral” authors, critical theories and perspectives, the works may, in this line, question (by themselves) the sufficiency of European and North American perspectives to deal with our problems.

To check the submission conditions and submit the work, go to: https://seer.sis.puc-campinas.edu.br/direitoshumanos/about/submissions

Deadline for paper submission: July 30, 2022.: July 30, 2022.