Review of the Discussion on the Historical and Civilisational Roots of International Law

Ganić Senad (Departman za pravne nauke, Državni univerzitet u Novom Pazaru), sganic@nac.rs

At the core of the existence of international law is the idea of a global society that functions based on universally accepted rules. In this sense, international law, at least part of its norms that aspire to universality, necessarily incorporates universal values, i.e., values recognised and inherited by all civilisations. However, in Western thought, the dominant view is that international law is a product of European Christian culture. Such an attitude has always provoked reactions from the East, which warned that the roots of international law should be both sought for and found in other civilisations, religions, meridians, and cultures, as well as that international law, if it wants to be universally accepted, must recognise its transcivilisational nature. A review of this discussion, which is certainly interesting, gives us many insights that can help us better understand the contemporary moment and the crisis of the global international legal order.

Keywords: International law,roots of international law, history, civilisations, universal values.