International Law and Universality

Abstract This book takes a hard and unflinching look at the multitude of roles and functions played by universality in international legal discourses as well as its associated narratives of progress and virtues. In doing so, it provides a critical appraisal of the mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion that come with international law and its universalist discursive strategies. This requires that universality is not reduced to the question of the geographical outreach of international law, but instead is understood in terms of boundaries. This also entails examining how the idea of universality—which does not lend itself to a translation in all languages—was developed in some of the dominant vernaculars of international law—primarily English and French—before being universalized and imposed upon international lawyers from all traditions. This simultaneously offers an opportunity to revisit the ideologies that constitute the identity of international lawyers today, as well as the socialization, reproduction, and legal educational processes which they undergo to become international lawyers. Special attention is paid to the place which Europe has secured for itself by virtue of the progress and historical narratives built around the idea of universality.