Book Launch: Martti Koskenniemi's 'To the Uttermost Parts of the Earth' on 8 October 2021

Welcome to the book launch of Martti Koskenniemi's latest work 'To the Uttermost Parts of the Earth - Legal Imagination and International Power 1300–1870' (CUP) taking place on Friday, 8 October 2021 (UTC+3), at 4-6 pm via zoom.

Programme

Opening words by

Professor Päivi Leino-Sandberg

Speakers

Professor David Armitage (Harvard)

Professor Sarah Nouwen (EUI Florence) 

Professor Jukka Kekkonen (Helsinki)

Docent (Adjunct Professor) Immi Tallgren 

Comments by

Professor Martti Koskenniemi

Discussion

To attend the launch, please register via the e-form the latest by 7 October (6 pm - UTC+3).
The zoom link will be sent the latest on 7 October.

Book de­scrip­tion

'To the Uttermost Parts of the Earth' shows the vital role played by legal imagination in the formation of the international order during 1300–1870. It discusses how European statehood arose during early modernity as a locally specific combination of ideas about sovereign power and property rights, and how those ideas expanded to structure the formation of European empires and consolidate modern international relations. By connecting the development of legal thinking with the history of political thought and by showing the gradual rise of economic analysis into predominance, the author argues that legal ideas from different European legal systems - Spanish, French, English and German - have played a prominent role in the history of global power. This history has emerged in imaginative ways to combine public and private power, sovereignty and property. The book will appeal to readers crossing conventional limits between international law, international relations, history of political thought, jurisprudence and legal history.

The e-book is now available for purchase on the CUP website.

Martti Koskenniemi is Emeritus Professor of International Law at the University of Helsinki and Director of the Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights. He was a member of the Finnish diplomatic service in 1978-1994 and of the International Law Commission (UN) in 2002-2006. He has been a Visiting Global Professor of Law at New York University since 1997 and has held other visiting professorships at many leading universities. He is also member of the Institut de droit international. His main publications include 'From Apology to Utopia; The Structure of International Legal Argument (1989/2005)', 'The Gentle Civilizer of Nations: The Rise and Fall of International Law 1870-1960 (2001)' and 'The Politics of International Law (2011)'. For a complete list of publications see his profile on the University of Helsinki research portal.