ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores how the concept of revolution is tied to a vision of humanity consciously engaged in the historical process. It examines the intimate connection between the concept of revolution and scientific knowledge of this kind; of theory and practice combined and directed towards a particular goal – the emancipation of all people. The book deals with critical theory in international law; with those same critical international lawyers who hold on to an image of the law as somehow able to solve the problems in which they find it complicit. It explores how the critical roots of such scholarship offer fertile ground for this contradictory position in relation to international law. The book addresses the Soviet relationship to international law, focusing on the early years of the state in which both theory and practice had an explicit revolutionary content.
