The Gentle Civilizer of Nations : The Rise and Fall of International Law 1870-1960 (Hersch Lauterpacht Memorial Lectures)

Rating:
Summary: An exuberant review of the history of the discipline.
Review: Koskenniemi is certainly one of the most prominent international legal theorists of the world. In a extreme erudite fashion he is trying to show - especially since 1990, when one of his first books, From Apology to Utopia, was published - how inconsistent and incoherent international law is.
In The Gentle Civilizer of Nations, Koskenniemi analyses the history of International Law focusing on the development of the international legal discourse in four different traditions (German, French, British and American). The main thesis of the book is that modern international law did not start with the writings of the Spanish School (Vitoria, Suarez) or even the writings of Grotius or Vattel; the roots of the modern international are found in the creation of The Institut de Droit International and the Revue de Droit International et de législation comparée.
Highly recommended as a exuberant review of the history of the discipline.