Журнал «Вопросы государства и права»

IMPERIALISM AND INTERNATIONAL LAW: HISTORICAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS

Author: Mohammed Sankah

The article is devoted to the consideration of the imperialist roots of international law, since the imperialist realities of international law have not received due attention in international legal science. The author has made an attempt to outline the history of the relationship between imperialism and international law from the XV-XVI centuries to the present. With the establishment of positivism as the main legal science of international law in the 19th century, positivist lawyers developed some formal doctrines that used explicitly racial and cultural criteria to define some States as civilized and, consequently, sovereign, and other States as uncivilized and insecure. Non-European societies were excluded from the sphere of international law. The mutual rivalry between the European superpowers at the end of the nineteenth century required the collective efforts of these Powers to preserve colonial rule. An important step in this direction was the containment of the "struggle for Africa" at the Berlin Conference (1884-1885), the purpose of which was "to introduce the aborigines of Africa into the limits of civilization, opening the interior of the continent to trade. The consequences of the First World War led to numerous changes in international law and international relations. The most important among the changes was the denunciation of the denunciation of international law of the XIX century, which allowed colo-nial exploitation. The League of Nations tried to formulate a new approach to the colonies, which were now called "backward territories". The author believes that imperialist language and behavior persist in modern times.

Key words:
international law; international legal relations; historical and legal facts