New Tasks and New Forces: International Legal Thought after Neo/Liberal Legalism

Abstract
The purpose of this talk is to articulate and attempt to answer a series of foundational questions for the study and practice of international law in the second quarter of the 21st century: Why did the US turn against the international legal order that had ushered into existence after WWII and, in particular, after the 1990s? What were the material and ideological factors that brought the seemingly inexorable march toward the legalisation of global capitalism to an end? Given the long-term trajectory of legalisation of global economic relations, this shift poses fundamental questions for international legal scholars of all theoretical and political orientations, since both our object of study and the world within which it operated have been transformed. Speaking from within the critical legal tradition, I argue that the current moment necessitates a combined process of description, explanation and reorientation. 

About the speaker
Dr Ntina Tzouvala joined UNSW in January 2025. Prior to this, she was an associate professor at the ANU College of Law. Her work focuses on the history, theory and political economy of international law. She is especially interested in historical materialism, deconstruction, feminist and queer legal theory. Her first monograph, Capitalism as Civilisation: A History of International Law, was published by Cambridge University Press in late 2020. Her book was awarded the 2022 ASIL Certificate of Merit for a preeminent contribution to creative scholarship and the Australian Legal Research Award (ALRA) in the book category. In addition, it was shortlisted for the Deutscher Prize and was awarded a honourable mention in the context of the 2021 Sussex Prize in International Theory. Her work has also appeared in leading international law journals, including the European Journal of International Law, the Leiden Journal of International Law and the Journal of International Economic Law.

This lecture will be hybrid.