Sovereign (In)equality How Decolonization Shaped the World Order

Abstract

The relationship between decolonization and international law has been an understudied venture; in this paper I re-examine this relationship, and pay particular attention to the general understanding that the process of decolonization resulted in a world of universal international law amongst sovereign equals. In doing so I challenge some of the fundamental underpinnings of international law – such as the idea that relations between States are governed by the rules which fit under the heading of “sovereign equality” and the notion that decolonization ended in a world populated by independent sovereign States. Rather, I seek to argue that the process has largely been fraught by attempts from the dominant powers in the world order to maintain their positions of hegemony and to ensure the articulation of their world view. In doing so, this paper is concerned with power, politics and the unequal shape of the international world.