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EVOLUTION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AND WIDELY PERVASIVE EUROCENTRIC
APPROACH
The evolution of international law has been claimed to be owed to the Western legal
players. It is because of this belie...
International law is the law that governs relations between states. It is also the law that
governs relations between states and international organisations as well as, between
international organisations.
EVOLUTION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AND WIDELY PERVASIVE EUROCENTRIC
APPROACH
The evolution of international law has been claimed to be owed to the Western legal
players. It is because of this belief that the historical evolution of international law is an
integral part of the phenomenon of state formation. This process owed its influence to
the conditions that started to prevail towards the end of the 1500s in parts of Europe
and which account for what is usually referred to as the Eurocentric nature of ‘early’
international law.
The appearance of international relations thus coincided with the rise of several
sovereign states as they entered into external relations with one another or when they
sought the formation of alliances between themselves for the protection of their own or
collective interests.
The period from 1500 to 1648
This period is known for the emergence of modern Europe and was characterised by
vigorous economic expansion, followed by social, political and cultural transformations.
After two centuries of decline, most areas in Europe now experienced an expansion in
population growth with commercial activities becoming stronger and more closeknit
within Europe. Geographic discoveries and expansion helped integrate Europe into a
kind of world economic system.
This period saw the emergence of Westphalian model. This is an international order
consisting mainly or exclusively of independent sovereign States which exercised
untrammeled authority within their respective territories and freely coordinated their
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, mutual relations in accordance with their perceived self-interest on the basis of equality.
It is a model which upholds state sovereignty and its major role in being a role player in
international law. The sovereign equality of states and respect for their independence,
ideas that developed between this period are still part of the fundamental principles of
international law, and are enshrined in the UN Charter.
The period from 1648 to 1815
This event, described as the ‘most important event in modern history’, called into being
a new form of state referred to as the nation state. It was based on a set of rules that
were entirely different from those applicable in the colonial motherland at the time that
the colonial émigrés started to settle in the new world. What emerged here was the
concept of the nation as a political entity that was a voluntary association of a people
under a common set of laws and represented by the same government. Connected to
this historical notion of state formation were the aspirations of peoples or nations to
independent statehood in the political and legal sense of the word. This led to the often
interchangeable use of concepts such as ‘nation’ and ‘state’ in international law and in
international relations.
The developments in this section provided the foundation for the establishment of a new
international order based on a European balance of power. International law became
the preserve of the European Christian states. Therefore, by the end of this epoch the
new international order reflected European values. Access to this order by foreign
states and overseas possessions was possible only with the consent of the Western
powers and on conditions determined by them.
The nineteenth century was also the age of the European conferences between the
major powers. These contributed significantly to the development of rules governing the
waging of war and the settlement of disputes. Through a network of international
relations, the application of international law principles expanded and necessitated the
academic study of state practice at institutions of higher learning.
The period from 1815 to 1914
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