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Third World Approaches to International Law, commonly known as TWAIL, is a reconstructive movement that pursues a new concept of International Law, as a consequence to the “predatory system that legitimizes, reproduces and sustains the plunder and subordination of the Third World by the West”.

The movement’s aim is the democratization of International Law by:


 * Eliminating the privileges afforded to the European Union and to North America in order to allow further participation of the Third World in current issues.
 * Criticizing International Law where it legitimated the domination of the Third World.
 * Engaging in TWAIL and promoting dialogue among scholars around the world.

Origin
The symbolic birthplace of TWAIL was in Bandung, Indonesia, where the Asian African Conference was held in 1955. It included 29 new states, representing the largest group of new entrants into the international community.

A code of conduct was articulated in which the three key considerations were:
 * Establishing universal norms for the newly independent countries.
 * Setting the guidelines to promote and facilitate cooperation among countries with different backgrounds.
 * Setting rules that would ease a peaceful coexistence between the West and the new countries.

TWAIL I
The first scholars on the subject-matter, usually referred as TWAIL I, were mainly concerned with the transformation of international law in order to promote equality and universality in the former colonized countries.

It was not until the mid-nineties that it began as a movement, seeking to advance the rights of the developing world in the context of decolonization.

TWAIL II
Nowadays, TWAIL II scholars have focused on analyzing the heritage of colonialism to demonstrate that international law is “a medium of conquest and domination”, as Makau Mutua states. One of their main premises is that international law does not operate between sovereign and “equal” states, and that, instead, it still works under a colonizer-colonized perspective.

The movement arose against two traditions. A tradition of Third World countries in a context of international legal order of decolonization, United Nations and sixties and seventies politics; and a tradition with “professional assimilation and intellectual invisibility” common in the eighties and the nineties.

Expansion
TWAIL has developed all over the world through a variety of means such as conferences, lectures and law journals, among others.

Conferences
The first TWAIL gathering, “New Approaches to Third World Legal Studies” (also known as TWAIL I*), took place in Harvard Law School in March 1997. The main document of the conference was entitled “Third World Association of International Law: A Vision Statement”, which was drafted by Harvard’s alumni and professors James Gathii, Vasuki Nesiah, Elchi Nowrojee, Celestine Nyamu, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, and Hani Sayed, along with B.S. Chimni.

The subsequent TWAIL conferences took place in the following universities :


 * TWAIL II in Osgoode Hall University (2001).
 * TWAIL III in Albany Law School (2007).
 * TWAIL IV in the University of British Columbia (2008).
 * TWAIL V in the University of Oregon Law School (2011).

* N.B. TWAIL I and TWAIL II conferences differ from the TWAIL I and TWAIL II generations of scholars.

Lectures

 * Harvard Law School
 * Georgetown Law School
 * Osgoode Law School

Edited Collections

 * International Community Law Review
 * Harvard International Law Journal

Main Arguments
TWAIL scholars propose three main arguments :

Denunciation of the legal order
TWAIL’s views begin with a denunciation of current international law as being a tool used by developed countries to legitimize their economic and political dominance of the Third World. TWAIL also recognizes the centrality of colonialism in the construction of the current international order and that the prevailing notion of states  as the most important actors in the international scene is no longer applicable today.

Deconstruction of the universalism of international law
Beyond denunciation, TWAIL goes on to deconstruct the current international system and identify two core problems. The first is the post-colonial notion of a state as possessing sovereignty through international legitimization rather than popular consent. The second problem is the universal use of distinctly Western norms in the conduct of international law and thus the absence of any alternative practices that reflect the values of developing societies.

Reconstruction of an alternative knowledge of international law
To remedy this, TWAIL’s third argument is a reconstruction of the international order that takes into account the values and aspirations of non-Western countries. The objective is to bring in an alternative approach to the problems of development and trade that does not originate from developed nations. By questioning the current practice of international law, TWAIL prompts us to rethink law on an international scale.

Criticism and reconstruction
TWAIL scholars deconstruct and reconstruct by focusing their studies on the past. They rethink the colonial encounter and challenge the end of colonization, by re-examining the historical foundation of International Law. They also criticize previous approaches of TWAIL; TWAIL is continuously being reshaped by scholars who put their thoughts into it.

Scholarship network
TWAIL scholars form part of a loose network of scholars in the European Union, North America and various Third World countries; there is no leader or figure of authority.

They approach issues in a different way and there may be contradictions inside the movement. However, they all share a common ground: they examine the difficulties that countries in the developing world are facing.

Interdisciplinarity
In the past, TWAIL scholars concentrated mainly on issues in the legal area and tended to consider only the voices of Third World people, but also those of other marginalized groups, such as women and aboriginal.

Today they have a more multidisciplinary approach. TWAIL-ers have debated on issues of colonial history, society, politics, economics and the new international economic world order. They seek for alliances with similar movements inside society, so that it is not a powerless victim anymore.

References