Theorising the Turn to History in International Law

Craven, Matthew

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the question of what was required for the productive representation of the past of international law as ‘history’ to become a meaningful activity, given the need for historical discourse and practice to be organized in temporal terms, and its past ‘found’ or ‘uncovered’. This historical consciousness fundamentally reshaped the conceptualization of what would become known as ‘international law’, and placed at centre-stage the problem of the historical method. Furthermore, not only did the emergence of this historical consciousness have specifiable theoretical and practical dimensions, it would become, as Foucault puts it, a ‘privileged and dangerous’ site, both providing theoretical sustenance to the discipline, and a space for critical engagement.

Citation

Craven, M. (2016). Theorising the Turn to History in International Law. In A. Orford, & F. Hoffman (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Theory of International Law (21-37). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/law/9780198701958.003.0002

• Online Publication Date: Nov 1, 2016
• Publication Date: Jun 2, 2016
• Deposit Date: Dec 11, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 3, 2025
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Pages: 21-37
• Series Title: Oxford Handbooks
• Book Title: The Oxford Handbook of the Theory of International Law
• ISBN: 9780198701958
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/law/9780198701958.003.0002
• Keywords: Responsibility of international organizations, Customary international law, General principles of international law, Relationship of international law and host state law, Sources of international law
• Publisher URL: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-the-theory-of-international-law-9780198701958?cc=gb&lang=en&#