International Law

Social Hierarchies in Catastrophic Times: International Law, Critique, and Structural Change

Edited by Tor Krever · lys Kulamadayil · Praggya Surana
Coming Soon Hart Publishing Available December 2026

Specifications

ISBN-13
9781509993215
Publisher
Hart Publishing
Publication
December 2026
Format
Hardback
Jurisdiction
U.K. ? Countri(es) for reference only

Details

This book brings together scholars primarily from the Global South, rooted in critical legal traditions, who reflect on international law and its role in (re-)producing social hierarchies in times of crisis and catastrophe.

How should legal scholars articulate critique in catastrophic times? Should critical voices tone it down, in favour of pragmatism, when faced with deteriorating social conditions, growing inequality, protracted violence, planetary collapse, authoritarianism, and xenophobia? Or are they more urgently needed than ever? Critical scholarship has long warned of the limits of international law and its complicity with structures and relations of domination and the (re)production of social hierarchies. Yet, contemporary catastrophes have led to its revitalisation as a language of both expert counsel and political demand, drowning out calls for structural change for the sake of realism and stability.

This book was inspired by two distinct, yet related, developments. One is the mobilisation of, and against, law by social movements representing the interests of distinct socially constructed groups facing crisis or catastrophe. The other is the reception of, and response to, such mobilisation by international law scholars and practitioners.

Table of Contents

Part I: Critique and Critical Praxis
1. Introduction: Social Hierarchies in Catastrophic Times
Lys Kulamadayil (Geneva Graduate Institute, Switzerland), Tor Krever (University of Cambridge, UK) and Praggya Surana (Geneva Graduate Institute, Switzerland)
2. Critical Praxis in Catastrophic Times: Reflections of a former UN Special Rapporteur
Tendayi Achiume (Stanford Law School, USA) and Tor Krever and Lys Kulamadayil (Geneva Graduate Institute, Switzerland)

Part II: Critique and the 'Other'
3. Let's Bring Race to the Table: China as a Disqualified Influencer in International Law
Yilin Wang (University of Macau, China)
4. Law and the Political Economy of Gender Pricing
Suzana Radhe Gerchmann (Geneva Graduate Institute, Switzerland)
5. Could there be a Minority Approach to International Law?
Mohd Imran (OP Jindal, India)

Part III: The Emancipatory Potential of Gazing Back Critically
6. Corporation, Crown, and Colony: The East India Company and the Colonial Foundations of International Law via India
Aman Kumar (Australian National University)
7. Asian Women's Legal Praxis and Structural Change: Third World Feminist Interventions
Maha Ali (Leiden University, the Netherlands)
8. Starvation on Trial: The Bengal Famine through the Lens of Colonial Law
Kalika Mehta (Humboldt University, Germany) and Riley Linebaugh (University of Potsdam, Germany)

Part IV: Critique and Catastrophe
9. International Law's 'Others': Right to Sanitation and the Marginalised in the Global South
Sujith Koonan (Jawaharlal Nehru University, India)
10. The Unequal Distribution of the Future: Climate Catastrophe and International Law
Matheus Gobbato Leichtweis (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)
11. The Legacy of the International Health Regulations - Fortress Europe
Dena Kirpalani (Geneva Graduate Institute, Switzerland)
12. At Whose Cost? EU Industrial Policy, the Pursuit of Critical Raw Materials
Ioannis Kampourakis (University of Rotterdam, the Netherlands)

< dd="">
Part V: Last Words
13. International Law and Social Hierarchies in Our Times: Epistemic and Material Dimensions
BS Chimni (OP Jindal, India)
HKD 1,235.00

Inclusive of HK delivery

Pre-order now
Delivery Time: around 4-5 weeks
Not yet published? ?
Extra 2-10 working days if shipping address outside Hong Kong
  • Free HK shipping over HK$1,000
  • International shipping to 35+ countries
Order Form
Save

Recommended

You may also be interested in these books:

More titles from International Law

View all