The coloniality of international law: the Agreement between Argentina and the IMF as a case study to critically rethink the relationship between law, power and politics”

Abstract

In this dissertation, I seek to contribute to the critical legal studies on international law and colonialism. I will focus my analysis on the Agreement signed between Argentina and the IMF in July 2018. This Agreement has been strongly criticized for being contrary to the institution's regulations, and for supporting a political party’s presidential electoral chances in 2019. I will use this Agreement as a case study to argue that international law legitimizes and reproduces neocolonial relations between Global North and Global South states. Thus, this dissertation is guided by the following questions: What role does international law play in regulating relations between states in the Global North and Global South? And how do transnational actors manage to impose their private interests and reflect them into public policies? From a postcolonial and poststructuralist understanding of law and power, I will refer to Enrique Mari’s body of work, especially to his concept of law as a part of a dispositif that legitimizes and reproduces power relations. I will further highlight the “colonial legacies” of modern law. That is, during the last centuries, law has evolved pierced by a political and social context of colonial expansion, and it has adopted the strategic function of legitimizing these relations. The legal discourses reflect an ideology that aims to perpetuate dynamics of power and dominance that favor Global North states, transnational private actors, and local elites. In this context, the International Monetary Fund played a key role since the 1970s in imposing neoliberal policies to Global South states, promoting transnational governance, and reducing local sovereignty. The rulemakers’ role was then adopted by private actors, according to their own interests. The consequence of this process was the privatization of democracy. The case study will be helpful to observe how this process takes place in the Argentinian context of the 21st century. I aim to reveal how international law adapts itself to legitimize neocolonial domination.