Book Review: Capitalism as Civilisation: A History of International Law
| Author | JEENA SHAH |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/09646639221111475 |
| Published date | 01 February 2023 |
| Date | 01 February 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Book Reviews
NTINA TZOUVALA, Capitalism as Civilisation: A History of International Law. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2021, ISBN 9781108739559, $29.99.
In 2021, lawyers representing Guantanamo detainees sparred with a scholar on the role of
their lawyering in legitimizing endless war-making. The scholar claimed that by challen-
ging the US’s detentions at Guantanamo as violations of international humanitarian law,
the lawyers “enable[d] a novel, sanitized version of permanent war”(Margulies and
Azmy, 2021). In defence of their work, the lawyers raised not only the material benefits
to their clients –release from detention –but also the tactical role of their representation
as part of a broader anti-war strategy. By representing those disappeared in Guantanamo,
they challenged the war makers’efforts to dehumanize entire peoples thereby naturaliz-
ing perpetual war against them (Margulies and Azmy, 2021).
This debate was not new, but the latest in the ongoing discourse concerning the eman-
cipatory potential of international law. If international law “is an integral part of our
exploitative and oppressive reality,”as TWAIL and Marxist scholars contend, can it
be deployed in pursuit of emancipation “without reinforcing the very legalism which
needs to be undermined”(Knox, 2010: 228)? While one response is legal nihilism
(Rasulov, 2008: 277), even those most critical of international law “do not necessarily
advocate for [its] abandonment”(Kiyani et al., 2016: 917). For one, engagement with
international law is inescapable, given that every act is “enmeshed in juridical relations
and will have inevitable juridical consequences”(Knox, 2010: 223–24). For another,
subordinated peoples may not have the luxury of legal nihilism, particularly given the
current strength of the Global Right’s political capital (Crenshaw, 1988:1386; Rasulov,
2008:277).
The first task for international lawyers seeking social change then must be to reflect on
whether theirengagement is grounded in reformist or revolutionary theory.Reformist strat-
egies –as the scholar viewsthe Guantanamo representation–reflect “‘a quiet confidence in
the idea of law as a weapon of the weak that would work better if only it could be imple-
mented more effectively’” (Reynoldsand Xavier, 2016: 976–77). In contrast,revolutionary
strategies –in which the Guantanamo lawyers situated theireffort –view such engagement
as a “purely tactical intervention, an instrumental move that feeds into a broader anti-
imperial strategy”(Reynolds and Xavier, 2016: 976–77). In a revolutionary strategy, any
use of the existing legal framework is in an effort to “create conditions where it’sharder
for the existing social order to reproduce itself”and to “expand[ ] the bargaining and pol-
itical power of oppressed groups…” (Rana, 2022).
Book Reviews
Social & Legal Studies
2023, Vol. 32(1) 159–173
© The Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/09646639221111475
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