(Re)Framing the Historiography of the Hiatus

Abstract

The book “Cold War and International law” represents a great effort in presenting a different view in the historiography of international law about this important period of the 20th Century. The purpose of this paper is to engage with the proposal of the editors and reflect upon the issues arising from the traditional portray of the “Cold War”, although offering what could be a fourth perspective on the subject: that of the establishment of “development” as an argumentative pattern in international law. In a dialog with another recent work with special relevance to the history of International Law – Ntina Tzouvala’s “Capitalism as Civilisation” – we revisit some of the essays presented in the book to illustrate the thesis that an attention to the uses of the concept of “development” can be central to an account of this period that goes beyond the East-West feud, leaving a profound legacy in contemporary accounts of Law. By shedding light on perspectives once overlooked, the book shows how the Cold War can be analyzed as a moment of prolific development of standards of domination. The struggle for the Global South was much more than a dispute for military sway or political influence through international institutions, it also encompassed a refined project of creating concepts and a new perspective in international law that permitted the consolidation of political asymmetry through juridical institutions. KEYWORDS: Cold War. International Law. Global South.