ABSTRACT
The prospects of future Grotian Moments are not bright, as the scale of catastrophe from future ruptures is not likely to create opportunities for global, systematic reforms given current degrees of economic inequality and civilizational polarization. This line of perception has led me to shift from expectations of a Grotian Moment at the end of the Cold War to concepts about “a politics of impossibility” and “a necessary utopianism,” which themselves rest on presumptions of uncertainty and unknowability about how the future will unfold. Daniele Archibugi and George Andreopoulos have each written comprehensive chapters that complement one another by dwelling on the tantalizing mix of aspirations and limitations associated with international law and its institutional processes. Andreopoulos elaborates upon my efforts over the years to challenge the exclusions, evasions, and exceptions that are aspects of the way in which international law is manipulated by geopolitical actors in a manner that explains and, for critics, validates the label “hegemonic international law”.
