Decolonization and Postcolonialism in West Germany’s International Law Scholarship (1949–1990) - Thomas Kleinlein
Location:
Virtual Event
Date/time
Thu 11 February 2021
14:00-15:30
The Edinburgh Centre for International and Global Law presents
Decolonization and Postcolonialism in West Germany’s International Law Scholarship (1949–1990)
Professor Thomas Kleinlein, Professor of International Law, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Law Faculty
About the seminar
German-speaking international law scholarship today has not yet caught up with the so-called second generation of TWAIL, postcolonial theories, or the growing interest in international law in the periphery. Gradually, however, the “postcolonial turn”, with the criticism of the continuing asymmetry in North-South relations and the order of the world economy as a leitmotif, is also finding interest in German-speaking international law. At the same time, German colonialism has become a political and public issue as a result of difficult reconciliation processes and restitution debates, the historical reappraisal of colonial injustice and legal disputes. German international law scholarship may possibly find here its connection to an international academic debate. In the "old" Federal Republic, by contrast, interest in the practical questions of international law concerning the special situation of West Germany dominated. The gradual integration of the Federal Republic of Germany into the (Western) world community, which led to its accession to the United Nations in 1973, ran parallel to the major disputes over international law in the age of decolonization between 1955 and 1975. This paper analyses the focal points of West German international law scholarship at a time when international law experts – including the first generation of TWAIL – and diplomats from the West, East, and South argued about the international law of the future. In order to understand the approach of West German international law scholarship, we will first situate its development in its contemporary context. We will then study the positions that West German international law scholarship takes on issues of decolonization, postcolonialism, and their effects on international law. Here, we will focus on the relevant fundamental and structural questions of the international legal order and on frequently discussed individual questions ranging from the prohibition of violence to maritime law. This analysis demonstrates a rather abstract interest of West German international law scholars in the structural effects of decolonization on the international legal order and the functioning of international law in view of the new diversity in the international community of states.
This event is free and open to all but registration is required.
Image Credit: Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash