The vocabulary of progress in interwar international law: An intellectual portrait of stelios seferiades

Abstract

The intellectual portrait of Stelios Seferiades sketched out in this article performs a dual function. While paying tribute to the work of a neglected, but fascinating, scholar, it serves as a heuristic device which allows us to examine the 'vocabulary of progress' in international law - the discursive strategies used in legal argument to legitimize the transformation of the discipline. Crucial to the construction of such a vocabulary of progress in the international law writings of Seferiades is the opposition between the notions of absolutism and democracy. The article situates this opposition in the political milieu of the interwar period and the life trajectory of Seferiades. Ultimately, it points to the closely-knit relationship between 'universalist' vocabularies of progress, such as the opposition between absolutism and democracy, and the personal-ideological pursuits of public international lawyers. © EJIL 2006; all rights reserved.