Review Essay

• Rasulov, Akbar

Abstract

What can Marxist theory contribute to the discipline of international legal studies? Can one be a Marxist and an international lawyer at the same time? What place is there for international legal scholarship in Marxist politics? How can Marxist international law theory position itself vis-à-vis other critical legal traditions? Does Marxism have any theoretical gaps that it needs to fill? How does a Marxist approach to international law differ from a New Left one? In this review essay, I propose to explore these and other related questions by examining one of the most important recent contributions to the Marxist debate about international law, the new edition of B.S. Chimni’sInternational Law and World Order. My aim in these pages is to reveal and bring to the surface its general critical method, some of the less obvious aspects of its underlying theoretical project, its disciplinary ambition as well as its overall place in the broader landscape of contemporary international law thought, including its relationship with other works of Marxist international law theory.