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HUKUKİ EVRENSELCİLİK VE SÖMÜRGECİ MEŞRUİYET: GROTIUS, PUFENDORF, WOLFF VE DE VATTEL’İN KARŞILAŞTIRMALI PERSPEKTİFTEN İNCELENMESİ

Year 2025, Volume: 15 Issue: 2, 98 - 128, 31.08.2025
https://doi.org/10.32957/hacettepehdf.1670207

Abstract

Bu makale, Hugo Grotius, Samuel Pufendorf, Christian Wolff ve Emmerich de Vattel’in modern uluslararası hukukun temellerine yaptığı entelektüel katkıları eleştirel bir bakışla incelemekte ve bu düşünürlerin hukuki felsefelerinin evrenselci hedeflerle Avrupa-merkezci hukuk ve sömürgeci yapılar arasındaki uzlaşmayı nasıl sağladığına odaklanmaktadır. Doğal hukuk temelinde evrensel bir hukuk düzenini teşvik ettikleri için geleneksel olarak yüceltilen bu Grotius sonrası düşünürler, aynı zamanda Avrupa’nın sömürgeci yayılmacılığını meşrulaştıran hukuki doktrinlerin inşasında da belirleyici bir rol oynamışlardır.
Grotius’un mirası üzerine düşüncelerini inşa eden Pufendorf, Wolff ve de Vattel, devlet egemenliği ve erken dönem hukuk pozitivizmi gibi gelişen kavramları kurumsallaştıran normatif çerçeveler geliştirmişlerdir. Bu çerçeveler her ne kadar evrensellik ve eşitlik iddialarıyla temellendirilmiş olsa da, çoğu zaman Avrupalı olmayan toplumları dışlayarak; toprakların gaspı, ticaret tekellerinin korunması ve egemenliğin farklılaştırılması gibi uygulamaları meşrulaştırmak suretiyle sömürgeci hiyerarşilerin yeniden üretilmesine hizmet etmiştir. Bu makale, adı geçen düşünürleri kendi tarihsel bağlamlarında ele almakta ve onları yalnızca dönemlerinin tarafsız filozofları ya da hukuk kuramcıları olarak değerlendiren hâkim yorumları sorgulamaktadır.
Eleştirel hukuk çalışmaları merceğinden hareketle karşılaştırmalı bir yaklaşım benimseyen bu makale, uluslararası hukukun kilit figürlerinin evrensel hukuk normları kisvesi altında Avrupa-merkezci bir dünya düzenini ne ölçüde şekillendirdiğini ve sürdürdüğünü irdelemektedir. Bu bağlamda makale, uluslararası hukukun kurucu anlatılarına gömülü olan sömürgeci mirası ifşa eden tartışmalara katkı sunmakta ve mevcut yapının daha adil ve kapsayıcı bir biçimde yeniden inşa edilmesi gerektiğini vurgulamaktadır.

References

  • Anghie A, Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law (Cambridge University Press 2005).
  • Bowden B, ‘The Colonial Origins of International Law: European Expansion and the Classical Standard of Civilization’ (2005) 7 Journal of the History of International Law 1, 23.
  • Bull H, ‘The Importance of Grotius in International Relations’ in H Bull, B Kingsbury and A Roberts (eds), Hugo Grotius and International Relations (Clarendon Press 1990).
  • Cavallar G, ‘Vitoria, Grotius, Pufendorf, Wolff and Vattel: Accomplices of European Colonialism and Exploitation or True Cosmopolitanism?’ (2008) 10 Journal of the History of International Law 181, 209.
  • Cavallar G, Kant’s Embedded Cosmopolitanism: History, Philosophy and Education for World Citizens (De Gruyter 2015).
  • Cavallar G, The Rights of Strangers: Theories of International Hospitality, The Global Community, and Political Justice Since Vitoria (Routledge 2016).
  • Covell C, The Law of Nations in Political Thought (Palgrave Macmillan 2009).
  • Denk BE, ‘Uluslararası Hukukun Dayanağına İlişkin Görüşlerin Dönemsellikleri Sorunu: Doğal Hukuk Görüşü Örneği’ (2011) 3(5) Bilge Strateji 93, 126.
  • Ereker F A, ‘İlkçağlardan Günümüze Haklı Savaş Kavramı’ (2004) 1(3) Uluslararası İlişkiler Dergisi 1, 36.
  • Erkiner HH, ‘Uluslararası Hukuk Düşüncesinde Klâsik Öğretinin Kuruluşu: Hugo Grotius ve Postgrotien Yazarlar Samuel von Pufendorf, Richard Zouche, Cornelius van Bynkershoek ve Samuel Rachel’e İlişkin İnceleme ve Değerlendirme’ (2012) 18(3) Marmara Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Hukuk Araştırmaları Dergisi 3, 140.
  • Gozzi G, Rights and Civilizations: A History and Philosophy of International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2019).
  • Grewe W G, The Epochs of International Law (Walter de Gruyter 2000).
  • Haskell J D, ‘Hugo Grotius in the Contemporary Memory of International Law: Secularism, Liberalism, and the Politics of Restatement and Denial’ (2011) 25(2) Emory International Law Review 269, 296.
  • Janis ME, ‘Religion and The Literature of International Law: Some Standard Texts’ in ME Janis and C Evans (eds), Religion and International Law (Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden 2004)
  • Kahraman F Ş T, ‘Hugo Grotius Anlayışının Uluslararası Uyuşmazlıkların Çözüm Yollarına Etkileri’ (2019) 25(2) Marmara Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Hukuk Araştırmaları Dergisi 925, 947.
  • Keal P, ‘“Just Backward Children”: International Law and the Conquest of Non-European Peoples’ (1995) 49(2) Australian Journal of International Affairs 191, 206.
  • Keal P, European Conquest and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: The Moral Backwardness of International Society (Cambridge University Press 2003).
  • Koskenniemi M, From Apology to Utopia: The Structure of International Legal Argument (Lakimiesliiton Kustannus 1989).
  • Lauterpacht H, ‘The Grotian Tradition in International Law’ (1946) 23 British Yearbook of International Law 1, 53. Miéville C, Between Equal Rights: A Marxist Theory of International Law (Haymarket Books 2005).
  • Nijman JE, ‘Grotius’ “Rule of Law” and the Human Sense of Justice: An Afterword to Martti Koskenniemi’s Foreword’ (2019) 30(4) European Journal of International Law 1105, 1114.
  • Nokkala E, ‘The Development of the Law of Nations: Wolff and Vattel’ in P Schröder (ed), Concepts and Contexts of Vattel’s Political and Legal Thought (Cambridge University Press 2021).
  • Nussbaum A, A Concise History of the Law of Nations (Macmillan 1947).
  • Onuma Y, ‘Hugo Grotius’ (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2025) https://www.britannica.com accessed 23 May 2025.
  • Orakhelashvili A, ‘The Origins of Consensual Positivism: Pufendorf, Wolff and Vattel’ in Alexander Orakhelashvili (ed), Research Handbook on the Theory and History of International Law (Edward Elgar 2020).
  • Ruddy FS, ‘International Law and the Enlightenment: Vattel and the 18th Century’ (1969) 3(4) International Lawyer 839, 858.
  • Scharf MP, ‘Hugo Grotius and the Concept of Grotian Moments in International Law’ (2022) 54 Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law 17.
  • Schröder P, ‘Concepts and Contexts of Vattel’s Political and Legal Thought: An Introduction’ in P Schröder (ed), Concepts and Contexts of Vattel’s Political and Legal Thought (Cambridge University Press 2021).
  • Sellers MN, ‘Universalism’ in d’Aspremont J and Haskell J (eds), Tipping Points in International Law: Commitment and Critique (Cambridge University Press 2021).
  • Stumpf C, ‘Hugo Grotius and the Universal Rule of Law’ in Carty A and Nijman J (eds), Morality and Responsibility of Rulers: European and Chinese Origins of a Rule of Law as Justice for World Order (Oxford University Press 2018).
  • Tuck R, ‘Grotius and Selden’ in JH Burns (ed), The Cambridge History of Political Thought, 1450–1700 (Cambridge University Press 1991).
  • Tuck R, The Rights of War and Peace: Political Thought and the International Order from Grotius to Kant (Oxford University Press 1999).
  • Van Ittersum MJ, ‘The Long Goodbye: Hugo Grotius’ Justification of Dutch Expansion Overseas, 1615–1645’ (2010) 36(4) History of European Ideas 386.
  • Wheaton H, Elements of International Law (8th ed, Little, Brown and Company 1836; reprinted by Clarendon Press, Oxford 1936).
  • Williams RA, (1990) The American Indian in Western legal thought: The discourses of conquest (New York: Oxford University Press).
  • Yeşilçayır C, ‘Hugo Grotius’un Doğal Hukuk Düşüncesine Kazandırdığı Paradigmal Dönüşüm’ (2020) 30 FLSF (Felsefe ve Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi) 241, 258.

LEGAL UNIVERSALISM AND COLONIAL LEGITIMACY: GROTIUS, PUFENDORF, WOLFF, AND DE VATTEL IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Year 2025, Volume: 15 Issue: 2, 98 - 128, 31.08.2025
https://doi.org/10.32957/hacettepehdf.1670207

Abstract

This article critically examines the intellectual contributions of Hugo Grotius, Samuel Pufendorf, Christian Wolff, and Emmerich de Vattel to the foundations of modern international law, focusing on how their legal philosophies reconciled universalist aspirations with Eurocentric legal and colonial structures. While traditionally celebrated for promoting a universal legal order grounded in natural law, these post-Grotian thinkers were also instrumental in constructing legal doctrines that legitimized European colonial expansion.
Building on Grotius’s legacy, Pufendorf, Wolff, and de Vattel developed normative frameworks that institutionalized emerging notions of state sovereignty and early legal positivism. Although these frameworks were couched in claims of universality and equality, they often reproduced colonial hierarchies by marginalizing non-European peoples and validating territorial conquest, trade monopolies, and differential sovereignty. This article situates these thinkers within their historical context and challenges prevailing interpretations that treat them solely as neutral philosophers or legal theorists of their time.
By adopting a comparative approach informed by critical legal studies, the article interrogates the extent to which these pivotal figures in international law actively shaped and sustained a Eurocentric world order under the guise of universal legal norms. In doing so, it contributes to broader debates on the colonial legacy embedded within the foundational narratives of international legal thought and calls for the reimagining of a more inclusive and equitable international legal framework.

References

  • Anghie A, Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law (Cambridge University Press 2005).
  • Bowden B, ‘The Colonial Origins of International Law: European Expansion and the Classical Standard of Civilization’ (2005) 7 Journal of the History of International Law 1, 23.
  • Bull H, ‘The Importance of Grotius in International Relations’ in H Bull, B Kingsbury and A Roberts (eds), Hugo Grotius and International Relations (Clarendon Press 1990).
  • Cavallar G, ‘Vitoria, Grotius, Pufendorf, Wolff and Vattel: Accomplices of European Colonialism and Exploitation or True Cosmopolitanism?’ (2008) 10 Journal of the History of International Law 181, 209.
  • Cavallar G, Kant’s Embedded Cosmopolitanism: History, Philosophy and Education for World Citizens (De Gruyter 2015).
  • Cavallar G, The Rights of Strangers: Theories of International Hospitality, The Global Community, and Political Justice Since Vitoria (Routledge 2016).
  • Covell C, The Law of Nations in Political Thought (Palgrave Macmillan 2009).
  • Denk BE, ‘Uluslararası Hukukun Dayanağına İlişkin Görüşlerin Dönemsellikleri Sorunu: Doğal Hukuk Görüşü Örneği’ (2011) 3(5) Bilge Strateji 93, 126.
  • Ereker F A, ‘İlkçağlardan Günümüze Haklı Savaş Kavramı’ (2004) 1(3) Uluslararası İlişkiler Dergisi 1, 36.
  • Erkiner HH, ‘Uluslararası Hukuk Düşüncesinde Klâsik Öğretinin Kuruluşu: Hugo Grotius ve Postgrotien Yazarlar Samuel von Pufendorf, Richard Zouche, Cornelius van Bynkershoek ve Samuel Rachel’e İlişkin İnceleme ve Değerlendirme’ (2012) 18(3) Marmara Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Hukuk Araştırmaları Dergisi 3, 140.
  • Gozzi G, Rights and Civilizations: A History and Philosophy of International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2019).
  • Grewe W G, The Epochs of International Law (Walter de Gruyter 2000).
  • Haskell J D, ‘Hugo Grotius in the Contemporary Memory of International Law: Secularism, Liberalism, and the Politics of Restatement and Denial’ (2011) 25(2) Emory International Law Review 269, 296.
  • Janis ME, ‘Religion and The Literature of International Law: Some Standard Texts’ in ME Janis and C Evans (eds), Religion and International Law (Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden 2004)
  • Kahraman F Ş T, ‘Hugo Grotius Anlayışının Uluslararası Uyuşmazlıkların Çözüm Yollarına Etkileri’ (2019) 25(2) Marmara Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Hukuk Araştırmaları Dergisi 925, 947.
  • Keal P, ‘“Just Backward Children”: International Law and the Conquest of Non-European Peoples’ (1995) 49(2) Australian Journal of International Affairs 191, 206.
  • Keal P, European Conquest and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: The Moral Backwardness of International Society (Cambridge University Press 2003).
  • Koskenniemi M, From Apology to Utopia: The Structure of International Legal Argument (Lakimiesliiton Kustannus 1989).
  • Lauterpacht H, ‘The Grotian Tradition in International Law’ (1946) 23 British Yearbook of International Law 1, 53. Miéville C, Between Equal Rights: A Marxist Theory of International Law (Haymarket Books 2005).
  • Nijman JE, ‘Grotius’ “Rule of Law” and the Human Sense of Justice: An Afterword to Martti Koskenniemi’s Foreword’ (2019) 30(4) European Journal of International Law 1105, 1114.
  • Nokkala E, ‘The Development of the Law of Nations: Wolff and Vattel’ in P Schröder (ed), Concepts and Contexts of Vattel’s Political and Legal Thought (Cambridge University Press 2021).
  • Nussbaum A, A Concise History of the Law of Nations (Macmillan 1947).
  • Onuma Y, ‘Hugo Grotius’ (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2025) https://www.britannica.com accessed 23 May 2025.
  • Orakhelashvili A, ‘The Origins of Consensual Positivism: Pufendorf, Wolff and Vattel’ in Alexander Orakhelashvili (ed), Research Handbook on the Theory and History of International Law (Edward Elgar 2020).
  • Ruddy FS, ‘International Law and the Enlightenment: Vattel and the 18th Century’ (1969) 3(4) International Lawyer 839, 858.
  • Scharf MP, ‘Hugo Grotius and the Concept of Grotian Moments in International Law’ (2022) 54 Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law 17.
  • Schröder P, ‘Concepts and Contexts of Vattel’s Political and Legal Thought: An Introduction’ in P Schröder (ed), Concepts and Contexts of Vattel’s Political and Legal Thought (Cambridge University Press 2021).
  • Sellers MN, ‘Universalism’ in d’Aspremont J and Haskell J (eds), Tipping Points in International Law: Commitment and Critique (Cambridge University Press 2021).
  • Stumpf C, ‘Hugo Grotius and the Universal Rule of Law’ in Carty A and Nijman J (eds), Morality and Responsibility of Rulers: European and Chinese Origins of a Rule of Law as Justice for World Order (Oxford University Press 2018).
  • Tuck R, ‘Grotius and Selden’ in JH Burns (ed), The Cambridge History of Political Thought, 1450–1700 (Cambridge University Press 1991).
  • Tuck R, The Rights of War and Peace: Political Thought and the International Order from Grotius to Kant (Oxford University Press 1999).
  • Van Ittersum MJ, ‘The Long Goodbye: Hugo Grotius’ Justification of Dutch Expansion Overseas, 1615–1645’ (2010) 36(4) History of European Ideas 386.
  • Wheaton H, Elements of International Law (8th ed, Little, Brown and Company 1836; reprinted by Clarendon Press, Oxford 1936).
  • Williams RA, (1990) The American Indian in Western legal thought: The discourses of conquest (New York: Oxford University Press).
  • Yeşilçayır C, ‘Hugo Grotius’un Doğal Hukuk Düşüncesine Kazandırdığı Paradigmal Dönüşüm’ (2020) 30 FLSF (Felsefe ve Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi) 241, 258.
There are 35 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Law in Context (Other)
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Selin Kul 0000-0002-1102-4214

Pınar Gözen Ercan

Publication Date August 31, 2025
Submission Date April 4, 2025
Acceptance Date June 10, 2025
Published in Issue Year 2025 Volume: 15 Issue: 2

Cite

APA Kul, S., & Gözen Ercan, P. (2025). LEGAL UNIVERSALISM AND COLONIAL LEGITIMACY: GROTIUS, PUFENDORF, WOLFF, AND DE VATTEL IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE. Hacettepe Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi, 15(2), 98-128. https://doi.org/10.32957/hacettepehdf.1670207
AMA Kul S, Gözen Ercan P. LEGAL UNIVERSALISM AND COLONIAL LEGITIMACY: GROTIUS, PUFENDORF, WOLFF, AND DE VATTEL IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE. HHFD. August 2025;15(2):98-128. doi:10.32957/hacettepehdf.1670207
Chicago Kul, Selin, and Pınar Gözen Ercan. “LEGAL UNIVERSALISM AND COLONIAL LEGITIMACY: GROTIUS, PUFENDORF, WOLFF, AND DE VATTEL IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE”. Hacettepe Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi 15, no. 2 (August 2025): 98-128. https://doi.org/10.32957/hacettepehdf.1670207.
EndNote Kul S, Gözen Ercan P (August 1, 2025) LEGAL UNIVERSALISM AND COLONIAL LEGITIMACY: GROTIUS, PUFENDORF, WOLFF, AND DE VATTEL IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE. Hacettepe Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi 15 2 98–128.
IEEE S. Kul and P. Gözen Ercan, “LEGAL UNIVERSALISM AND COLONIAL LEGITIMACY: GROTIUS, PUFENDORF, WOLFF, AND DE VATTEL IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE”, HHFD, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 98–128, 2025, doi: 10.32957/hacettepehdf.1670207.
ISNAD Kul, Selin - Gözen Ercan, Pınar. “LEGAL UNIVERSALISM AND COLONIAL LEGITIMACY: GROTIUS, PUFENDORF, WOLFF, AND DE VATTEL IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE”. Hacettepe Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi 15/2 (August2025), 98-128. https://doi.org/10.32957/hacettepehdf.1670207.
JAMA Kul S, Gözen Ercan P. LEGAL UNIVERSALISM AND COLONIAL LEGITIMACY: GROTIUS, PUFENDORF, WOLFF, AND DE VATTEL IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE. HHFD. 2025;15:98–128.
MLA Kul, Selin and Pınar Gözen Ercan. “LEGAL UNIVERSALISM AND COLONIAL LEGITIMACY: GROTIUS, PUFENDORF, WOLFF, AND DE VATTEL IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE”. Hacettepe Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi, vol. 15, no. 2, 2025, pp. 98-128, doi:10.32957/hacettepehdf.1670207.
Vancouver Kul S, Gözen Ercan P. LEGAL UNIVERSALISM AND COLONIAL LEGITIMACY: GROTIUS, PUFENDORF, WOLFF, AND DE VATTEL IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE. HHFD. 2025;15(2):98-128.