ABSTRACT
The ambiguity in the law’s function between the ideal of justice and equality and the reality of power and inequity created space for a vision of law’s emancipatory and, for some, revolutionary potential. Legal praxis with a revolutionary orientation must, therefore, be defined by walking the line between the tactical use of the law to advance immediate causes, the delegitimation of the law as a mask for and complicit in oppression, and the aimed overthrow of the capitalist system of which the law is a constituent part. The Third World’s approach to international law focused on institutional engagement and construction, coupled with a complementary push for international declarations and resolutions that expressed their objectives. Together the several examples of the Soviet state and the Third World’s engagement with international law imply that the form of law offers limits to revolutionary praxis.
