ABSTRACT
A strange paradox has run through the modern European world since its origins: the processes of founding and institutionalising the conditions of secured peace and law go hand in hand with the expansion of conflict and war, of the violation and annihilation of individual and collective rights. The emergence of the modern state as a guarantee of law and peace, the expansion of doux commerce and the development of an international system regulated by international law and diplomacy: all these processes have been pushed through and mediated by means of conflict, war, expansionist force and exploitation. A second current in modern political theory and practice relies on the law of nations. Pointing to the manifold international institutions, forms of cooperation and governance, processes of denationalisation and transnationalisation of law, the rise of NGOs, proclamations of human rights and international law, many contemporary scholars and political activists convey the impression that we are near to a global post-histoire.
