The Family of Nations as an Element of the Ideology of Colonialism

What is it about?

This article shows the close interconnectedness between the late nineteenth-century theory of international law and the practice of colonial rule by drawing links between the theoretical concept of the "family of nations" referring to the club of states, mainly in Europe and North America, among which international law was taken to be enforcible and states in other parts of the world over which the principal rules of international law were either seen to have to be enforced or for which they were not considered to be valid at all.

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Why is it important?

Much of the discussion about the history of international law has so far not taken seriously the impact that international legal theories has as instruments legitimising colonial rule at the turn of the twentieth century.