From Rosa Luxemburg to Hersch Lauterpacht: An Ostjüdische Heritage in International Law?

Abstract

By coupling two very different Ostjüdische-East European Jewish-protagonists-this contribution unpacks possible implications of the rather invisible relationship between East and West in international law. Because it has always been the Western "civilised nations" versus their "backward territories" that may start in the East but stretch when, and if necessary, to include any uncivilised Other, the East/West dichotomy is reminiscent of other structural oppositions vital to the liberal discipline of international law (i.e. law versus politics; theory versus practice, concreteness versus normatively etc.). The comparison between Rosa Luxemburg, the firebrand of German Socialism, and Hersch Lauterpacht, one of the most important international lawyers of the 20 th century facilitates understanding the conditions under which the East/West ruptures, upon their concealed nuances and differences, might have shaped the emergence of the modern corpus of international law.