The Third World, History and International Law

• Author: Henrique Weil Afonso - José Luiz Quadros de Magalhães
• Position: Ph.D. candidate, Pontifical Catholic Universiy of Minas Gerais - Ph.D., Professor of International Law at Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais
• Pages: 107-125

107

The Third World, History and International Law

The Third World, History and International Law

Henrique Weil Afonso1

José Luiz Quadros de Magalhães2

Abstract

This article interrogates the role of the Third World in international legal

affairs vis-à-vis contemporary debates related to the history of the discipline. It

examines the liberal legacy in present International Law and proposes a critical sur-

-

toricism. It develops an argument according to which the Third World represents a



of present-day projections of colonial relations and imperial agendas. After engag-

ing with Indian Subaltern incursions in history along with critical Latin American



of the methodology of history and the viability of emancipation discourses it fore-

closes.

Key-words

TWAIL; History and Subaltern Studies; post-colonialism and Internation-

al Law

1. Introduction

One prominent consensus within mainstream international legal scholar-

ship became evident in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War. The old Bipolar





to set the road ahead. Whatever meaning the Cold War period had to the Third

     

would

     

         -



1 

br

2   



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108 VIII ANUÁRIO BRASILEIRO DE DIREITO INTERNACIONAL

to the interests of less economically developed States.

        

to surpass the old dichotomy First vs Third -



-



          

      



      

3

 -



capable of writing such history. This study intends to examine the intricate relation-







particular understanding of the historical phenomena that posits present-day devel-

   

    





th Century Spanish theologian

 th  

to the understanding of this intricate and complex relationship. It should be argued



     

   -



voice. The Third World today materializes the outcomes of colonial and imperial

practices upon which the discipline is so intrinsically connected. Confronting the

      st    

academic movements engaged with new designs of the international plane that are

more inclusive when it comes to diversity and more receptive of plural forms of the

legal and the historical narratives.

2. Universalism and International Law: historical views in debate

  

3 ZOELLICK, Robert. e End of the ird World? Modernizing Multilateralism for a Multipolar World.

Speech at Woodrow Wilson Centerfor International Scholars, April 14, 2010. Available at: <http://

go.worldbank.org/MI7PLIP8U0> Access: March 4, 2013.

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