Introductory description

Recent theorisations of law have posited the emergence of a global legal consciousness and practice that challenges conventional understandings. We witness today the state transcended in many areas of political, economic and social relations where identities, interests, aspirations and languages of normative understanding derive from non-state sources. From transnational economic relations to global security policies, from environmental consciousness to human rights discourses, from cross-border conversations of regulatory and bureaucratic agencies to globally connected anti-systemic movements, social interaction at the local, national and transnational arenas are now influenced less and less by the hegemonic discourses and control mechanisms of statist law. State sovereignty, thus it would seem, stands challenged as the foundational principle of legal imagination.

The course examines this emergent legal reality through an examination of both the theories and practices of divergent consciousnesses of ‘global law’. Global law, in this respect, is not taken as an un-contentious terrain of imagination. Through the lenses of competing visions – those of globalising elites and those of subjects/objects of ordering - various histories and narratives of global regulation will be considered, as will the tensions and confrontations between them examined.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

BASIC ISSUES ON GLOBALISATION AND LAW: The aim of this session is to consider, by way of introduction, what we understand by such terms as globalisation, global governance and global society in relation to law.

FROM COLONIAL INTERNATIONAL LAW TO THE UNITED NATIONS CONCEPTION OF WORLD ORDER: Global law purportedly marks a departure from the national-international duality of the conception of law in society. We will trace the evolution of global law through the world ordering phases of colonialism through to the United Nations Charter system and identify the key features of the transition from the ‘rights to conquest’ to the ‘duties of cooperation’.

GLOBALISED (B)ORDERINGS: THE PLACE OF THE STATE: In this session we will examine the role of the state under conditions of ‘globalisation’. We will examine the ways in which the state functions 1) as a conduit of ‘supraterritoriality’ and 2) as a space for protection and belonging. Particularly of concern will be our understandings of constitutionality and democracy that underpin the ‘modern’ statist order as it operates as ‘cunning states’ within a global order.

GLOBALISED (B)ORDERINGS: THE SUBJECT OF CITIZENSHIP: The ‘citizen’ stands as the ubiquitous subject of politics and law. The focus of this session will be to interrogate the theory and practice of citizenship and political belonging under the pervasive realities of globalisation. What does it mean to be a ‘citizen’? Are we witnessing the emergence of a ‘global citizenship’? How do we understand the differentiated regimes of bordering that enable global movement for some but not for others? To what extent does ‘citizenship’ provide a meaningful conception of belonging and non-belonging, inclusion and exclusion?

THEORIES OF GLOBAL LAW: The idea of Global Law directly challenges the presumed fixity of the national-international duality in mainstream political-legal conceptualisations of order. To what extent do the realities of ‘global/transnational’ relations find explanation and expression in such theories of global law? What role the bordered ‘state’, and the ‘citizen’, in this conception of global political-legal relations?

MOVEMENTS FOR SUBALTERN LAW: We will examine the ‘subaltern’/’activist’ conceptions of the world we live in, and the prospects that these provide for a different possibility of imagining the ‘political’ and the ‘legal’.

THE LAW AND POLITICS OF PEOPLES’ TRIBUNALS: In this session, we consider the theory and practice of peoples’/citizen’s tribunals? How might a theorisation of these rebellious ‘doings’ challenge the dominant conceptions of politics/law? We will consider various examples of peoples’ tribunal initiatives in this light.

LOCATIONS AND SPACES WITHIN GLOBAL LAW WORLDS: The concluding session will provide for an opportunity for reflection on the implications and possibilities for individual and collective action in the light of our discussions. We will consider the implications of our locations of thought and directions of action. Ultimately, this is about how we locate ourselves in the ‘world’.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the distinctions between ‘national’, ‘international’ and ‘global’ law, of the histories of global ordering structures, the significance and impact of ‘globalisation’ on the role and functioning of the state and international institutions, and on the imaginations and practice of law and politics.
• Examine and understand legal, economic, political and social materials on issues of ‘global law’.
• Examine and critically evaluate the spaces and possibilities of ‘subaltern’ political-legal praxes.
• Demonstrate an ability to work effectively in groups to examine specific topics related to the module
• Demonstrate an advanced ability to deliver effective written and oral presentation skills
• Demonstrate an advanced ability to assess critically the legal, political and activist texts relating to the subject of global law and political practice.
• Demonstrate high quality research, interpretation and drafting skills in relation to various genres of political and legal texts.

Indicative reading list

Esteva, Gustavo and Prakash, Madhu Suri (1998) Grassroots Post-Modernism: Remaking the Soil
of Cultures, (London, Zed Books), Chap.2

Scholte, Jan Aart (2000), Globalization: A Critical Introduction, (London, MacMillan), Chap. 2

Bauman, Zygmunt (2003) “Utopia with no Topos”, History of the Human Sciences, Vol. 16, (11)

Beck, Ulrich (trans. Cross, Kathleen) (2005), Power in the Global Age: A new Global Political
Economy, (Polity, Cambridge), Chaps. 1 and 2.

Mieville, China (2005), Between Equal Rights: A Marxist Theory of International Law, (Leiden,
Brill), Chap. 6

Anghie, Antony (2000), “Civilization and Commerce: The Concept of Governance in Historical
Perspective”, Villanova Law Review, Vol 45, pp. 887-911

Rajagopal, Balakrishnan (2003), International Law From Below: Development, Social Movements
and Third World Resistance, (Cambridge, CUP), Chap. 4

Mutua, Makau (2000), “What Is Twail”, American Society of International Law Proceedings 94, 31-
40

Benhabib, Seyla, “Twilight of Sovereignty or the Emergence of Cosmopolitan Norms? Rethinking
Citizenship in Volatile Times”, at http://www.clb.ac.il/workshops/2007/articles/benhabib.pdf Slaughter, Anne-Marie (2004), A New World Order (Princeton, Princeton Uni. Press), Introduction. Chimni, B.S (2004) “International Institutions Today: An Imperial Global State in the Making”, European Journal of International Law 15, 1-37. Fischer-Lescano, Andreas and Teubner, Gunther, “Regime-Collisions: The Vain Search for Legal Unity in the Fragmentation of Global Law”, Michigan Journal of International Law 25, 999-1046. De Sousa Santos, Boaventura and Rodriguez-Garavito, Cesar A. eds. (2005) Law and Globalization from Below: Toward a Cosmopolitan Legality, (Cambridge, Cambridge Uni. Press) Randeria, Shalini (2003), “Between Cunning States and Unaccountable International Institutions: Social Movements and Rights of Local Communities to Common Property Resources”, in Zentai, Violetta, Krizsán, Andrea (eds.), (2003), Reshaping globalization: multilateral dialogues and new policy initiatives, (CPS Books, New York), pp 101-34 Christodoulidis, Emilios (2009), ‘Strategies of Rupture’, Law and Critique, Vol. 20, 2009, 3-26, p. 19 Van Den Hemel, Ernst (2008), “Included But Not Belonging: Badiou and Ranciere on Human Rights”, Krisis: Journal for Contemporary Philosophy, Issue 3, at http://www.krisis.eu/content/2008-3/2008-3-03-hemel.pdf Nayar, Jayan (2013), “Thinking from the Ban”, in Kumar, Corinne (Ed), Asking, We Walk: South as New Political Imaginary, (Bangalore, Streelekha Pub), available also at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1693827 Borowiak, Craig (2008), “The World Tribunal on Iraq: Citizen’s Tribunals and the Struggle for Accountability”, New Political Science, Vol. 30 (2), 161-86 Nayar, Jayan (2006), ‘Taking Empire Seriously: Empire’s Law, Peoples’ Law and the World Tribunal on Iraq’, in Bartholomew, Amy (ed), Empire’s Law (London, Pluto), pp. 313-39 Conversations on the Courts of Women, Kumar, Corinne et.al (2007), “Our Memories are Our Histories”, in Kumar, Corinne (ed.), Asking We Walk: The South as New Political Imaginary, (Sreelekha Publications, Bangalore), pp. 183-214 Freire, Paolo (1974), Pedagogy of the Oppressed, (Penguin, London), Chap. 1 Esteva, Gustavo “Back From the Future”, at http://www.gustavoesteva.com/english_site/back_from_the_future.htm Shiji, Issa (2001), “The Life and Times of Babu: The Age of Revolution and Liberation”, Law, Social Justice & Global Development (LGD), Vol. 2 at http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/elj/lgd/2001_2/shivji/

Research element

Students are expected to formulate their essay topics based on independent research from the thematics covered in the course.

Interdisciplinary

The module is substantively interdisciplinary, utilising literature and analysis derived from diverse social science perspectives.

International

The module is by definition, design and intent substantively focussed on international issues, specifically with a focus on the global south.

Subject specific skills

Subject knowledge and understanding
Demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the
distinctions between ‘national’, ‘international’ and
‘global’ law, of the histories of global ordering
structures, the significance and impact of ‘globalisation’
on the role and functioning of the state and international
institutions, and on the imaginations and practice of law
and politics.

Examine and understand legal, economic, political and
social materials on issues of ‘global law’.

Examine and critically evaluate the spaces and
possibilities of ‘subaltern’ political-legal praxes.

Cognitive Skills

Demonstrate an advanced ability to assess critically the
legal, political and activist texts relating to the subject
of global law and political practice.

Subject-Specific/Professional Skills
Demonstrate high quality research, interpretation and
drafting skills in relation to various genres of political
and legal texts.

Transferable skills

Key Skills
Demonstrate an ability to work effectively in groups to
examine specific topics related to the module

Demonstrate an advanced ability to deliver effective
written and oral presentation skills