The Spaces of the Universal and the Particular in International Law: Questioning Binaries and Uncovering Political Projects

Abstract

Whenever and wherever there is law, spatial logics operate in the background shaping legal regimes, processes, and arguments and structuring our understanding of concepts and narratives. By examining more closely the implicit spatialities accompanying traditional international law discourse about universality and particularity, we can recognise that, despite the purported differences between these oppositional constructs, they are similarly spatially constituted. A spatial lens thus helps transcend the formulaic structure of binaries usually associated with these two concepts. Studying universality and particularity through a spatial lens allows us to detect the emergence of spatial logics that are ‘at odds’ with traditional understandings of universality and particularity. The concept of a networked particularity is offered as an important critical counterpoint in demonstrating the construction of legal spaces.

Keywords: legal geography, spatiality, networks, universality, cities, networked particularities, spaces of modernity

JEL Classification: K33