18 research outputs found
International law and capitalist logic of exploitation: On the political economy of corporate responsibility
Criminal trials, economic dimensions of state crime, and the politics of time in international criminal law : a German-Argentine constellation
In the past thirty years, International Criminal Law (ICL) has established itself
as an influential framework through which claims for justice in relation to the
past can be mediated. This thesis offers a critique of the particular way in
which ICL links history, law and justice. To this end, it contrasts a transitional
justice perspective on trials in response to state crime, with one that looks at
such trials as sites of competing politics of time. While the former focuses on
the stabilisation of political authority, the later privileges its destabilisation.
This perspective is then brought to bear on two sets of trials. These are, on
the one hand, the trials of German industrialists conducted by the Allies in
the wake of World War II (1939-1945) and, on the other hand,the ongoing
trials in Argentina which seek to address the economic dimensions of the last
Argentinian dictatorship (1976-1983).
Through the reading of these trials, ICL is shown to be a liberal concept of
historical justice, not (merely) because it focuses on individual responsibility
or because it seeks to foster the liberal rule of law, but, more importantly,
because it understands the economic dimensions of state crime according to
the ontological separation of the state and the economic which is inherited
from political liberalism. As a consequence, ICL tends to authorise a liberal
democratic order, while sidelining other political imaginaries and related claims
to justice, especially those that would involve a reshaping of the political
economy on which liberalism rests.
This argument is developed in two parts. The first part, consisting of three
chapters, contrasts what has become the predominant perspective from which
to study trials in response to state crime, namely transitional justice, with a
theoretical framework inspired by the work of Walter Benjamin – in particular,
his philosophy of history and his critique of violence. The central difference
between these approaches, this thesis will argue, lies with the way in which
each conceives of the promise of justice that comes with the memory of past
violence. Transitional justice literature links the duty to remember past
violence to the promise of fostering a particular juridico-political order, namely
the liberal rule of law. Walter Benjamin, by contrast, is interested in the past’s
ability to expose the foundational violence of the present juridico-political
order. Against this backdrop, the promise of trials in response to state crime
can be located only at the place, where they unearth ‘rags of history’ that, if read, expose not only the the violence of the past, but also that of the present,
thereby opening it anew for contestation.
Chapters Four, Five and Six put this theoretical framework to work in close
readings of several criminal trials which deal with the economic dimensions
of state crime conducted in post-World War II Germany and contemporary
Argentina. These readings bring into relief the way in which the ontological
underpinnings of political liberalism – such as the separation of the economic
from the political, and the categorisation of violence according to sanctioned
and non-sanctioned manifestations – structures the way that ICL makes sense
of the economic dimensions of state crime
Internationales Recht und kapitalistische Verwertungslogik: Zur politische Ökonomie der Unternehmensverantwortung
Criminal trials, economic dimensions of state crime, and the politics of time in international criminal law : a German-Argentine constellation
In the past thirty years, International Criminal Law (ICL) has established itself
as an influential framework through which claims for justice in relation to the
past can be mediated. This thesis offers a critique of the particular way in
which ICL links history, law and justice. To this end, it contrasts a transitional
justice perspective on trials in response to state crime, with one that looks at
such trials as sites of competing politics of time. While the former focuses on
the stabilisation of political authority, the later privileges its destabilisation.
This perspective is then brought to bear on two sets of trials. These are, on
the one hand, the trials of German industrialists conducted by the Allies in
the wake of World War II (1939-1945) and, on the other hand,the ongoing
trials in Argentina which seek to address the economic dimensions of the last
Argentinian dictatorship (1976-1983).
Through the reading of these trials, ICL is shown to be a liberal concept of
historical justice, not (merely) because it focuses on individual responsibility
or because it seeks to foster the liberal rule of law, but, more importantly,
because it understands the economic dimensions of state crime according to
the ontological separation of the state and the economic which is inherited
from political liberalism. As a consequence, ICL tends to authorise a liberal
democratic order, while sidelining other political imaginaries and related claims
to justice, especially those that would involve a reshaping of the political
economy on which liberalism rests.
This argument is developed in two parts. The first part, consisting of three
chapters, contrasts what has become the predominant perspective from which
to study trials in response to state crime, namely transitional justice, with a
theoretical framework inspired by the work of Walter Benjamin – in particular,
his philosophy of history and his critique of violence. The central difference
between these approaches, this thesis will argue, lies with the way in which
each conceives of the promise of justice that comes with the memory of past
violence. Transitional justice literature links the duty to remember past
violence to the promise of fostering a particular juridico-political order, namely
the liberal rule of law. Walter Benjamin, by contrast, is interested in the past’s
ability to expose the foundational violence of the present juridico-political
order. Against this backdrop, the promise of trials in response to state crime
can be located only at the place, where they unearth ‘rags of history’ that, if read, expose not only the the violence of the past, but also that of the present,
thereby opening it anew for contestation.
Chapters Four, Five and Six put this theoretical framework to work in close
readings of several criminal trials which deal with the economic dimensions
of state crime conducted in post-World War II Germany and contemporary
Argentina. These readings bring into relief the way in which the ontological
underpinnings of political liberalism – such as the separation of the economic
from the political, and the categorisation of violence according to sanctioned
and non-sanctioned manifestations – structures the way that ICL makes sense
of the economic dimensions of state crime
On the critical potential of law – and its limits: Double fragmentation of law in Chevron Corp. v. Ecuador
Postkoloniale Studien und kritische Sozialwissenschaft
The article explores the relevance of postcolonial studies for critical social analysis. It introduces core themes of postcolonial studies as well as their critique as a basis for an exploration of postcolonial perspectives on resistance and transformation, feminism and globalisation. The authors demonstrate the thematic variety of postcolonial studies and the ways in which they combine investigations of material and discursive aspects in their analyses of colonial inflections in past and present power relations. Drawing on foundational anticolonial as well as current postcolonial literature, the article points out the implications of epistemological and methodological innovations/ reconceptualisations within postcolonial studies for critical social inquiry
Gegenrechte: Recht jenseits des Subjekts
Subjektive Rechte stehen sowohl für die Potentiale als auch die Selbstüberschätzungen des Rechts. In der transnationalen Konstellation werden die Limitationen subjektiver Rechte besonders offensichtlich: Klima- und Umweltgerechtigkeit, die Ermächtigung indigener Lebenszusammenhänge sowie der Schutz von Privatheit vor staatlicher und ökonomischer Überwachung können nicht allein subjektivrechtlich durchgesetzt werden. Obwohl die Figur subjektiver Rechte bereits seit ihrer Herausbildung stets auch kritisch betrachtet wurde, ist sie weitgehend alternativlos geblieben. Mit dem Vorschlag eines Rechts der Gegenrechte hat Christoph Menke der Debatte um die subjektiven Rechte grundlegende neue Impulse gegeben. Die Beiträge in diesem Band führen die Idee der Gegenrechte weiter, indem sie aktuelle theoretische Auseinandersetzungen und rechtstatsächliche Entwicklungen aufnehmen und Elemente eines Rechts jenseits subjektivrechtlicher Formen akzentuieren