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17 LJIL 271 (2004)
The Commodity-Form Theory of International Law: An Introduction

handle is hein.journals/lejint17 and id is 278 raw text is: Leiden Journal ofinternational Law, 17 (2004), Pp. 271-302 Q Foundation of the Leiden Journal of tnternational Law Printed in the United Kingdom DOI: IOICI7/So922I5650400827 The Commodity-Form Theory of International Law: An Introduction CHINA MIEVILLE Abstract The New Stream of critical international legal theory has been a welcome corrective to theory- blindness in international law, but it is limited by its philosophical idealism. The materialist philosophy of Marxism, by reference to political-economic contexts and conflicts, can better explain many of the New Stream's insights. The pioneering jurisprudence ofEvgeniiPashukanis shows that many 'traditional' Marxist theories of law are limited and limiting. A reformulation of Pashukanis's 'commodity-form' theory shows that contra claims that the rule of law is characterized by peaceful coexistence, the unequal political violence of imperialism is intrinsic to the international system and to international law. Key words commodification/commodity; imperialism; indeterminacy; Marxism; Pashukanis i. THE NECESSITY OF (MARXIST) THEORY i.i. The blight of managerialism International law has notoriously and accurately been described as a 'wasteland' for theory.' Of course the tsunami of managerialist writing2 is informed by theories of law, international law, and the world, but mostly unexamined and the more ideological for that. In this context the rise of what has been called the 'New Stream' of radical international law scholarship has been of immeasurable importance, with its project to 'dislodge the discipline... from its stagnation... and rejuvenate the field as an arena of meaningful intellectual inquiry'.3 Ph.D. in international relations (London School ofEconomics); editorialboard, HistoricalMaterialism: Research in Critical Marxist Theory. This paper was presented at the symposium 'Marxism and International Law', organizedby the Leiden JournaloflnternationalLaw and held inThe Hague on 12-13 Sept. 2003. 1 am extremely grateful to the Leiden Journal of International Law for their invitation to take part in this symposium, and in particular to Susan Marks and Miklos Redner for their encouragement. This essay represents much- condensed material from my Ph.D. thesis, 'A Historical-Materialist Analysis of International Law and the Legal Form', London School of Economics, 2001, forthcoming as a book, Between Equal Rights: A Marxist Theory ofInternational Law (2004). 1. B. S. Chimni, International Law and World Order(1993), at r5. 2. It is estimated that 8o,ooo books on international law had been published by 1967, and that currently 700 books and 3,000 articles on international law are published annually (P. Malanczuk, Akehurst's Modern Introduction to International Law (1997), 8). 3. D. Kennedy, 'A New Stream of International Legal Scholarship', (1988) 7 Wisconsin International Law Journal i, at 6. Useful introductions to and overviews of the New Stream include N. Purvis, 'Critical Legal Studies in Public International Law', (1991)32 Harvard InternationalLaw Journal8r; A. Carty'Critical International Law: Recent Trends in the Theory of International Law', (1991) 2 EJIL 66; H. Charlesworth,'Subversive Trends in the Jurisprudence of International Law', (r992) 86 American SocietyforInternationalLaw Proceedings 125; D. Cass, 'Navigating the Newstream: Recent Critical Scholarship in International Law', (1996) 65 Nordic Journal

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