The 'question of labour' and its exploitation in the Third World has not been given ample conside... more The 'question of labour' and its exploitation in the Third World has not been given ample consideration by contemporary international legal scholars in their historical examinations of the making of the international order. This article revisits the history of the interwar institutions of the League of Nations, particularly the International Labour Organization (ILO), to argue that international law reformulated imperialism through its re-articulation of labour relations, beginning with its quest to suppress slavery and ultimately regulate forced labour in Africa. International institutions contributed to the valorization of 'free wage labour' in Africa and the Third World through its international 'native labour' policies, the development of international labour standards, and especially the passing of the 1930 Forced Labour Convention. The article argues that international institutions safeguarded the processes of capitalist racial/colonial accumulation and labour exploitation by ideologically dis-embedding the violence of slavery and forced labour from 'free wage labour', veiling the structural unity and totality of the international legal order with racial capitalism. Drawing on the 'Black radical/internationalist tradition', I propose an expansive critique of the international order as a form of 'enslavement' to the structures of capitalism, so as to adequately expose international law's structural embeddedness with labour exploitation, white supremacy, and racial capitalism.
Semi-colonialism is a perplexing concept in international legal scholarship that has more often t... more Semi-colonialism is a perplexing concept in international legal scholarship that has more often than not been conflated with colonialism proper. To remedy this analytic confusion, I propose a shift from a focus on the ideological aspects of the imperialism of international law to the semi colonial practices of informal domination on the ground. To do this, I revisit the understudied concept of the ‘protectorate’ in international law, and analyze its geopolitical uses. The geopolitical dimensions of protection illustrate the importance of geopolitics in the history of international law. After examining the connections between geopolitics and international law, the second part of the article looks into the origins of the strategic region of the ‘Middle East,’ focusing on the history of the protected states of the Trucial treaty system in the Persian Gulf. Finally, I turn to the ‘Question of Oman’ at the United Nations (1957-1965) to illustrate how the practices of informal domination operated through semi-colonial techniques of veiling imperial domination, the legal obfuscation of power relations, the legitimization of unilateral treaty breaking and geopolitical maneuvering with international legal arguments.
To cite this article: Ali Hammoudi (2016) The conjunctural in international law: the revolutionar... more To cite this article: Ali Hammoudi (2016) The conjunctural in international law: the revolutionary struggle against semi-peripheral sovereignty in Iraq, Third World Quarterly, 37:11, 2028-2046, ABSTRACT This article will detail an event of revolutionary action in the historiography of anti-colonial and anti-imperial struggle in Iraq, namely al-Wathba ('the leap') of 1948, utilising it as an example to address the limitations of the methodology and analysis of Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) scholarship. I will argue that there is a disconnect between notions of agency and structure in TWAIL analyses and that therefore TWAIL scholars should consider studying the conjunctures that allowed certain movements ample room to struggle against the imperialism of international law in the first place. I will use the example of the Wathba to illustrate how a conjunctural analysis may be undertaken, analysing its implications for the international legal order. I will then move to highlight the significance of labour to the conjuncture in question. Finally, I will demonstrate how events like the Wathba illuminate the transient and provisional nature of the foundations of international law, while emphasising its structural constraints.
Abstract: This essay will analyze William Twining’s work from a post-colonial perspective. It wi... more Abstract: This essay will analyze William Twining’s work from a post-colonial perspective. It will be argued that Twining is constrained by the structural limitations inherent in his ‘general jurisprudence,’ reflected in three aspects of his analysis: firstly, Twining appears to disregard the imperialistic historical roots of the Western legal tradition. Secondly, Twining’s definition of globalization, which marginalizes the economic dimensions of globalization, fails to grasp the important historical role of capitalism in the emergence of globalization, and how this affects his very understanding of 'space' and 'proximity'. Finally, this essay will end with an examination of the relationship between the attainment of knowledge and power relations in the context of the Third World. It will be shown that Twining disregards how Western representations of non-Western legal traditions could eventually develop into a discourse that ultimately perpetuates new forms of domination.
This book addresses the themes of praxis and the role of international lawyers as intellectuals a... more This book addresses the themes of praxis and the role of international lawyers as intellectuals and political actors engaging with questions of justice for Third World peoples. The book brings together 12 contributions from a total of 15 scholars working in the TWAIL (Third World Approaches to International Law) network or tradition. It includes chapters from some of the pioneering Third World jurists who have led this field since the time of decolonization, as well as prominent emerging scholars in the field. Broadly, the TWAIL orientation understands praxis as the relationship between what we say as scholars and what we do – as the inextricability of theory from lived experience. Understood in this way, praxis is central to TWAIL, as TWAIL scholars strive to reconcile international law’s promise of justice with the proliferation of injustice in the world it purports to govern. Reconciliation occurs in the realm of praxis and TWAIL scholars engage in a variety of struggles, including those for greater self-awareness, disciplinary upheaval, and institutional resistance and transformation. The rich diversity of contributions in the book engage these themes and questions through the various prisms of international institutional engagement, world trade and investment law, critical comparative law, Palestine solidarity and decolonization, judicial education, revolutionary struggle against imperial sovereignty, Muslim Marxism, Third World intellectual traditions, Global South constitutionalism, and migration. This book was originally published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly.
Table of Contents
1. Richard Falk ~ Foreword: Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) special issue
2. Usha Natarajan, John Reynolds, Amar Bhatia & Sujith Xavier ~ Introduction: TWAIL - On Praxis and the Intellectual
3. Georges Abi-Saab ~ The Third World Intellectual in Praxis: Confrontation, Participation, or Operation behind Enemy Lines?
4. Muthucumaraswamy Sornarajah ~ On Fighting for Global Justice: The Role of a Third World International Lawyer
5. Nesrine Badawi ~ Regulation of Armed Conflict: Critical Comparativism
6. Reem Bahdi & Mudar Kassis ~ Decolonisation, Dignity and Development Aid: A Judicial Education Experience in Palestine
7. Ali Hammoudi ~ The Conjunctural in International Law: The Revolutionary Struggle against Semi-Peripheral Sovereignty in Iraq
8. Vanja Hamzic ~ Mir-Said Sultan-Galiev and the Idea of Muslim Marxism: Empire, Third World(s) and Praxis
9. Adil Hasan Khan ~ International Lawyers in the Aftermath of Disasters: Inheriting from Radhabinod Pal and Upendra Baxi
10. Zoran Oklopcic ~ The South of Western Constitutionalism: A Map ahead of a Journey
11. John Reynolds ~ Disrupting Civility: Amateur Intellectuals, International Lawyers and TWAIL as Praxis
12. Adrian A Smith ~ Migration, Development and Security within Racialised Global Capitalism: Refusing the Balance Game
This book addresses the themes of praxis and the role of international lawyers as intellectuals a... more This book addresses the themes of praxis and the role of international lawyers as intellectuals and political actors engaging with questions of justice for Third World peoples. The book brings together 12 contributions from a total of 15 scholars working in the TWAIL (Third World Approaches to International Law) network or tradition. It includes chapters from some of the pioneering Third World jurists who have led this field since the time of decolonization, as well as prominent emerging scholars in the field. Broadly, the TWAIL orientation understands praxis as the relationship between what we say as scholars and what we do – as the inextricability of theory from lived experience. Understood in this way, praxis is central to TWAIL, as TWAIL scholars strive to reconcile international law's promise of justice with the proliferation of injustice in the world it purports to govern. Reconciliation occurs in the realm of praxis and TWAIL scholars engage in a variety of struggles, including those for greater self-awareness, disciplinary upheaval, and institutional resistance and transformation. The rich diversity of contributions in the book engage these themes and questions through the various prisms of international institutional engagement, world trade and investment law, critical comparative law, Palestine solidarity and decolonization, judicial education, revolutionary struggle against imperial sovereignty, Muslim Marxism, Third World intellectual traditions, Global South constitutionalism, and migration. The book was originally published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly.
Contents 1. Foreword: Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) Richard Falk
2. Introduction: TWAIL - on praxis and the intellectual Usha Natarajan, John Reynolds, Amar Bhatia and Sujith Xavier
3. The Third World intellectual in praxis: confrontation, participation, or operation behind enemy lines? Georges Abi-Saab
4. On fighting for global justice: the role of a Third World international lawyer M. Sornarajah
5. Regulation of armed conflict: critical comparativism Nesrine Badawi
6. Decolonisation, dignity and development aid: a judicial education experience in Palestine Reem Bahdi and Mudar Kassis
7. The conjunctural in international law: the revolutionary struggle against semi-peripheral sovereignty in Iraq Ali Hammoudi
8. Mir-Said Sultan-Galiev and the idea of Muslim Marxism: empire, Third World(s) and praxis Vanja Hamzic
9. International lawyers in the aftermath of disasters: inheriting from Radhabinod Pal and Upendra Baxi Adil Hasan Khan
10. The South of Western constitutionalism: a map ahead of a journey Zoran Oklopcic
11. Disrupting civility: amateur intellectuals, international lawyers and TWAIL as praxis John Reynolds
12. Migration, development and security within racialised global capitalism: refusing the balance game Adrian A. Smith
The 'question of labour' and its exploitation in the Third World has not been given ample conside... more The 'question of labour' and its exploitation in the Third World has not been given ample consideration by contemporary international legal scholars in their historical examinations of the making of the international order. This article revisits the history of the interwar institutions of the League of Nations, particularly the International Labour Organization (ILO), to argue that international law reformulated imperialism through its re-articulation of labour relations, beginning with its quest to suppress slavery and ultimately regulate forced labour in Africa. International institutions contributed to the valorization of 'free wage labour' in Africa and the Third World through its international 'native labour' policies, the development of international labour standards, and especially the passing of the 1930 Forced Labour Convention. The article argues that international institutions safeguarded the processes of capitalist racial/colonial accumulation and labour exploitation by ideologically dis-embedding the violence of slavery and forced labour from 'free wage labour', veiling the structural unity and totality of the international legal order with racial capitalism. Drawing on the 'Black radical/internationalist tradition', I propose an expansive critique of the international order as a form of 'enslavement' to the structures of capitalism, so as to adequately expose international law's structural embeddedness with labour exploitation, white supremacy, and racial capitalism.
Semi-colonialism is a perplexing concept in international legal scholarship that has more often t... more Semi-colonialism is a perplexing concept in international legal scholarship that has more often than not been conflated with colonialism proper. To remedy this analytic confusion, I propose a shift from a focus on the ideological aspects of the imperialism of international law to the semi colonial practices of informal domination on the ground. To do this, I revisit the understudied concept of the ‘protectorate’ in international law, and analyze its geopolitical uses. The geopolitical dimensions of protection illustrate the importance of geopolitics in the history of international law. After examining the connections between geopolitics and international law, the second part of the article looks into the origins of the strategic region of the ‘Middle East,’ focusing on the history of the protected states of the Trucial treaty system in the Persian Gulf. Finally, I turn to the ‘Question of Oman’ at the United Nations (1957-1965) to illustrate how the practices of informal domination operated through semi-colonial techniques of veiling imperial domination, the legal obfuscation of power relations, the legitimization of unilateral treaty breaking and geopolitical maneuvering with international legal arguments.
To cite this article: Ali Hammoudi (2016) The conjunctural in international law: the revolutionar... more To cite this article: Ali Hammoudi (2016) The conjunctural in international law: the revolutionary struggle against semi-peripheral sovereignty in Iraq, Third World Quarterly, 37:11, 2028-2046, ABSTRACT This article will detail an event of revolutionary action in the historiography of anti-colonial and anti-imperial struggle in Iraq, namely al-Wathba ('the leap') of 1948, utilising it as an example to address the limitations of the methodology and analysis of Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) scholarship. I will argue that there is a disconnect between notions of agency and structure in TWAIL analyses and that therefore TWAIL scholars should consider studying the conjunctures that allowed certain movements ample room to struggle against the imperialism of international law in the first place. I will use the example of the Wathba to illustrate how a conjunctural analysis may be undertaken, analysing its implications for the international legal order. I will then move to highlight the significance of labour to the conjuncture in question. Finally, I will demonstrate how events like the Wathba illuminate the transient and provisional nature of the foundations of international law, while emphasising its structural constraints.
Abstract: This essay will analyze William Twining’s work from a post-colonial perspective. It wi... more Abstract: This essay will analyze William Twining’s work from a post-colonial perspective. It will be argued that Twining is constrained by the structural limitations inherent in his ‘general jurisprudence,’ reflected in three aspects of his analysis: firstly, Twining appears to disregard the imperialistic historical roots of the Western legal tradition. Secondly, Twining’s definition of globalization, which marginalizes the economic dimensions of globalization, fails to grasp the important historical role of capitalism in the emergence of globalization, and how this affects his very understanding of 'space' and 'proximity'. Finally, this essay will end with an examination of the relationship between the attainment of knowledge and power relations in the context of the Third World. It will be shown that Twining disregards how Western representations of non-Western legal traditions could eventually develop into a discourse that ultimately perpetuates new forms of domination.
This book addresses the themes of praxis and the role of international lawyers as intellectuals a... more This book addresses the themes of praxis and the role of international lawyers as intellectuals and political actors engaging with questions of justice for Third World peoples. The book brings together 12 contributions from a total of 15 scholars working in the TWAIL (Third World Approaches to International Law) network or tradition. It includes chapters from some of the pioneering Third World jurists who have led this field since the time of decolonization, as well as prominent emerging scholars in the field. Broadly, the TWAIL orientation understands praxis as the relationship between what we say as scholars and what we do – as the inextricability of theory from lived experience. Understood in this way, praxis is central to TWAIL, as TWAIL scholars strive to reconcile international law’s promise of justice with the proliferation of injustice in the world it purports to govern. Reconciliation occurs in the realm of praxis and TWAIL scholars engage in a variety of struggles, including those for greater self-awareness, disciplinary upheaval, and institutional resistance and transformation. The rich diversity of contributions in the book engage these themes and questions through the various prisms of international institutional engagement, world trade and investment law, critical comparative law, Palestine solidarity and decolonization, judicial education, revolutionary struggle against imperial sovereignty, Muslim Marxism, Third World intellectual traditions, Global South constitutionalism, and migration. This book was originally published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly.
Table of Contents
1. Richard Falk ~ Foreword: Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) special issue
2. Usha Natarajan, John Reynolds, Amar Bhatia & Sujith Xavier ~ Introduction: TWAIL - On Praxis and the Intellectual
3. Georges Abi-Saab ~ The Third World Intellectual in Praxis: Confrontation, Participation, or Operation behind Enemy Lines?
4. Muthucumaraswamy Sornarajah ~ On Fighting for Global Justice: The Role of a Third World International Lawyer
5. Nesrine Badawi ~ Regulation of Armed Conflict: Critical Comparativism
6. Reem Bahdi & Mudar Kassis ~ Decolonisation, Dignity and Development Aid: A Judicial Education Experience in Palestine
7. Ali Hammoudi ~ The Conjunctural in International Law: The Revolutionary Struggle against Semi-Peripheral Sovereignty in Iraq
8. Vanja Hamzic ~ Mir-Said Sultan-Galiev and the Idea of Muslim Marxism: Empire, Third World(s) and Praxis
9. Adil Hasan Khan ~ International Lawyers in the Aftermath of Disasters: Inheriting from Radhabinod Pal and Upendra Baxi
10. Zoran Oklopcic ~ The South of Western Constitutionalism: A Map ahead of a Journey
11. John Reynolds ~ Disrupting Civility: Amateur Intellectuals, International Lawyers and TWAIL as Praxis
12. Adrian A Smith ~ Migration, Development and Security within Racialised Global Capitalism: Refusing the Balance Game
This book addresses the themes of praxis and the role of international lawyers as intellectuals a... more This book addresses the themes of praxis and the role of international lawyers as intellectuals and political actors engaging with questions of justice for Third World peoples. The book brings together 12 contributions from a total of 15 scholars working in the TWAIL (Third World Approaches to International Law) network or tradition. It includes chapters from some of the pioneering Third World jurists who have led this field since the time of decolonization, as well as prominent emerging scholars in the field. Broadly, the TWAIL orientation understands praxis as the relationship between what we say as scholars and what we do – as the inextricability of theory from lived experience. Understood in this way, praxis is central to TWAIL, as TWAIL scholars strive to reconcile international law's promise of justice with the proliferation of injustice in the world it purports to govern. Reconciliation occurs in the realm of praxis and TWAIL scholars engage in a variety of struggles, including those for greater self-awareness, disciplinary upheaval, and institutional resistance and transformation. The rich diversity of contributions in the book engage these themes and questions through the various prisms of international institutional engagement, world trade and investment law, critical comparative law, Palestine solidarity and decolonization, judicial education, revolutionary struggle against imperial sovereignty, Muslim Marxism, Third World intellectual traditions, Global South constitutionalism, and migration. The book was originally published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly.
Contents 1. Foreword: Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) Richard Falk
2. Introduction: TWAIL - on praxis and the intellectual Usha Natarajan, John Reynolds, Amar Bhatia and Sujith Xavier
3. The Third World intellectual in praxis: confrontation, participation, or operation behind enemy lines? Georges Abi-Saab
4. On fighting for global justice: the role of a Third World international lawyer M. Sornarajah
5. Regulation of armed conflict: critical comparativism Nesrine Badawi
6. Decolonisation, dignity and development aid: a judicial education experience in Palestine Reem Bahdi and Mudar Kassis
7. The conjunctural in international law: the revolutionary struggle against semi-peripheral sovereignty in Iraq Ali Hammoudi
8. Mir-Said Sultan-Galiev and the idea of Muslim Marxism: empire, Third World(s) and praxis Vanja Hamzic
9. International lawyers in the aftermath of disasters: inheriting from Radhabinod Pal and Upendra Baxi Adil Hasan Khan
10. The South of Western constitutionalism: a map ahead of a journey Zoran Oklopcic
11. Disrupting civility: amateur intellectuals, international lawyers and TWAIL as praxis John Reynolds
12. Migration, development and security within racialised global capitalism: refusing the balance game Adrian A. Smith
Uploads
Papers by Ali Hammoudi
Books by Ali Hammoudi
Table of Contents
1. Richard Falk ~ Foreword: Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) special issue
2. Usha Natarajan, John Reynolds, Amar Bhatia & Sujith Xavier ~ Introduction: TWAIL - On Praxis and the Intellectual
3. Georges Abi-Saab ~ The Third World Intellectual in Praxis: Confrontation, Participation, or Operation behind Enemy Lines?
4. Muthucumaraswamy Sornarajah ~ On Fighting for Global Justice: The Role of a Third World International Lawyer
5. Nesrine Badawi ~ Regulation of Armed Conflict: Critical Comparativism
6. Reem Bahdi & Mudar Kassis ~ Decolonisation, Dignity and Development Aid: A Judicial Education Experience in Palestine
7. Ali Hammoudi ~ The Conjunctural in International Law: The Revolutionary Struggle against Semi-Peripheral Sovereignty in Iraq
8. Vanja Hamzic ~ Mir-Said Sultan-Galiev and the Idea of Muslim Marxism: Empire, Third World(s) and Praxis
9. Adil Hasan Khan ~ International Lawyers in the Aftermath of Disasters: Inheriting from Radhabinod Pal and Upendra Baxi
10. Zoran Oklopcic ~ The South of Western Constitutionalism: A Map ahead of a Journey
11. John Reynolds ~ Disrupting Civility: Amateur Intellectuals, International Lawyers and TWAIL as Praxis
12. Adrian A Smith ~ Migration, Development and Security within Racialised Global Capitalism: Refusing the Balance Game
Contents
1. Foreword: Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL)
Richard Falk
2. Introduction: TWAIL - on praxis and the intellectual
Usha Natarajan, John Reynolds, Amar Bhatia and Sujith Xavier
3. The Third World intellectual in praxis: confrontation, participation, or operation behind enemy lines?
Georges Abi-Saab
4. On fighting for global justice: the role of a Third World international lawyer
M. Sornarajah
5. Regulation of armed conflict: critical comparativism
Nesrine Badawi
6. Decolonisation, dignity and development aid: a judicial education experience in Palestine
Reem Bahdi and Mudar Kassis
7. The conjunctural in international law: the revolutionary struggle against semi-peripheral sovereignty in Iraq
Ali Hammoudi
8. Mir-Said Sultan-Galiev and the idea of Muslim Marxism: empire, Third World(s) and praxis
Vanja Hamzic
9. International lawyers in the aftermath of disasters: inheriting from Radhabinod Pal and Upendra Baxi
Adil Hasan Khan
10. The South of Western constitutionalism: a map ahead of a journey
Zoran Oklopcic
11. Disrupting civility: amateur intellectuals, international lawyers and TWAIL as praxis
John Reynolds
12. Migration, development and security within racialised global capitalism: refusing the balance game
Adrian A. Smith
Table of Contents
1. Richard Falk ~ Foreword: Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) special issue
2. Usha Natarajan, John Reynolds, Amar Bhatia & Sujith Xavier ~ Introduction: TWAIL - On Praxis and the Intellectual
3. Georges Abi-Saab ~ The Third World Intellectual in Praxis: Confrontation, Participation, or Operation behind Enemy Lines?
4. Muthucumaraswamy Sornarajah ~ On Fighting for Global Justice: The Role of a Third World International Lawyer
5. Nesrine Badawi ~ Regulation of Armed Conflict: Critical Comparativism
6. Reem Bahdi & Mudar Kassis ~ Decolonisation, Dignity and Development Aid: A Judicial Education Experience in Palestine
7. Ali Hammoudi ~ The Conjunctural in International Law: The Revolutionary Struggle against Semi-Peripheral Sovereignty in Iraq
8. Vanja Hamzic ~ Mir-Said Sultan-Galiev and the Idea of Muslim Marxism: Empire, Third World(s) and Praxis
9. Adil Hasan Khan ~ International Lawyers in the Aftermath of Disasters: Inheriting from Radhabinod Pal and Upendra Baxi
10. Zoran Oklopcic ~ The South of Western Constitutionalism: A Map ahead of a Journey
11. John Reynolds ~ Disrupting Civility: Amateur Intellectuals, International Lawyers and TWAIL as Praxis
12. Adrian A Smith ~ Migration, Development and Security within Racialised Global Capitalism: Refusing the Balance Game
Contents
1. Foreword: Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL)
Richard Falk
2. Introduction: TWAIL - on praxis and the intellectual
Usha Natarajan, John Reynolds, Amar Bhatia and Sujith Xavier
3. The Third World intellectual in praxis: confrontation, participation, or operation behind enemy lines?
Georges Abi-Saab
4. On fighting for global justice: the role of a Third World international lawyer
M. Sornarajah
5. Regulation of armed conflict: critical comparativism
Nesrine Badawi
6. Decolonisation, dignity and development aid: a judicial education experience in Palestine
Reem Bahdi and Mudar Kassis
7. The conjunctural in international law: the revolutionary struggle against semi-peripheral sovereignty in Iraq
Ali Hammoudi
8. Mir-Said Sultan-Galiev and the idea of Muslim Marxism: empire, Third World(s) and praxis
Vanja Hamzic
9. International lawyers in the aftermath of disasters: inheriting from Radhabinod Pal and Upendra Baxi
Adil Hasan Khan
10. The South of Western constitutionalism: a map ahead of a journey
Zoran Oklopcic
11. Disrupting civility: amateur intellectuals, international lawyers and TWAIL as praxis
John Reynolds
12. Migration, development and security within racialised global capitalism: refusing the balance game
Adrian A. Smith