Abstract

This paper focuses on the ‘blind spots in IPE’ recently addressed in related Special Issues of Review of International Political Economy and New Political Economy. It identifies a blind spot of law in IPE, tracing the problem to a blind spot in the discipline of international relations (IR) generated by tendencies in dominant theories to consider international law to be super-structural, epiphenomenal, and not worthy of political analysis, and to associations of international law with idealism. The analysis notes an inverse blind spot in international law (IL), wherein legal scholars tend to regard IL as autonomous of politics and the political economy of ‘who gets what, when, how’. These blind spots contribute to the neglect of how legal forms function to mystify the political economy of IL, thereby advancing transnational capitalism and inequality. The empirical focus is on transnational contract law, dispute settlement, and value and production chain contracting. These laws function as Capital’s law and central pillars of the transnational politico-legal order by reaching deep inside states to restructure domestic spheres according to new constitutionalism and the demands of transnational capital. Drawing on critical political economy, the paper develops a historical materialist analysis to denaturalize and demystify Capital’s law. This is a necessary move for scholars interested in the progressive and emancipatory potential of IL.

摘要

本文重点讨论《国际政治经济学评论》和《新政治经济学》相关特刊最近探讨的“IPE盲点”。它指出了 IPE 中的法律盲点，将问题追溯到国际关系 (IR) 学科中的盲点，该盲点是由主流理论认为国际法是超结构的、附带现象的、不值得进行政治分析的倾向所产生的。 ，以及国际法与唯心主义的联系。分析指出了国际法（IL）中的一个反向盲点，其中法律学者倾向于认为国际法独立于政治和“谁、何时、如何得到什么”的政治经济学。这些盲点导致了对法律形式如何发挥作用的忽视，从而使国际法的政治经济变得神秘，从而推动了跨国资本主义和不平等。实证重点是跨国合同法、争端解决以及价值和生产链承包。这些法律作为资本法和跨国政治法律秩序的核心支柱，深入国家内部，根据新宪政和跨国资本的要求重组国内领域。本文利用批判的政治经济学，发展了历史唯物主义分析，以非自然化和揭开资本法的神秘面纱。对于对信息语言的进步和解放潜力感兴趣的学者来说，这是一个必要的举措。