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Paper abstract:
Comparison is a very common tool for international lawyers. In fact, international law is built around, and draws upon constructions necessitating an exercise of comparison. In recent years, however, calls have been made to turn the familiar tool of comparison into a central way to engage with international law. This is the idea of those spearheading the rise of a new field called Comparative International Law (‘the comparativist project’). The comparativist project has attracted enormous attention and enthusiasm in the international legal literature. This article critically examines the promotion of comparison as a central mode of engagement with international law and scrutinizes some of the main features of the comparativist project. It particularly shows that the comparativist project, far from laying bare the plurality of international legal thought and practice, enables a dangerous thought-colonizing enterprise. The article ends with some observations on the need to promote counter-comparability thinking as a guarantee against colonizing thinking in international legal studies.Download the paper here.
