Abstract:

The history of international law begins with the works of Spanish theologian Francisco de Vitoria in the 1530s, who laid the foundation for the “law of peoples” when discussing Spain’s right to possess American lands and defending Spain’s imperial conquest. Subsequently, a system of justification for European imperial expansion was formed by the end of the 17th century after the arguments of Hugo Grotius, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and others from different perspectives. The Congress of Vienna in 1815 introduced a hierarchy of states, leading to the emergence of the “Concert of Five Powers”. After 1873, civilization became the standard for dividing the world, and the doctrine of “the standard of civilization” categorized countries into civilized, barbaric, “semi-civilized”, senile, or incapable groups, with respective treatments for each category. Although international law has been fully institutionalized, it remains discriminatory. For instance, liberal powers like the United States often violate international law without suffering from punishment. Overall, while containing some universally applicable elements (such as diplomatic immunity), international law is neither international nor legal from a realist perspective, and it is essentially an opinion or ideology, serving as a tool for powerful entities. Finnish scholar Martti Koskenniemi argues that international law is a hegemonic technique in the Gramscian sense and it is subject to appropriation and subversion. While defenders believe that international law is better than nothing, critics consider it an evil tool in the disguise of good.

Key words: international law, standard of civilization, international order, hegemonic tool, ideology