[Event] Martti Koskenniemi's 'To the uttermost parts of the earth': A discussion with the author

On May 19, 2022, the Asser Institute welcomes Martti Koskenniemi, professor of international law (University of Helsinki), and Director of the Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights, for a discussion of his latest book, 'To the uttermost parts of the earth': Legal imagination and international power 1300-1870 (Cambridge University Press, 2021).

He will be joined by Academic Director Janne Nijman (Asser Institute) and León Castellanos-Jankiewicz (Asser Institute) with opening remarks by Geoff Gordon (Asser Institute).

About To the uttermost parts of the earth - Legal imagination and international power  
In his most recent work, Martti Koskenniemi, who delivered the 2018 Annual T.M.C. Asser Lecture, shows how legal imagination has played a pivotal role in the formation of international law and the structures underlying its authority.

The book tracks the rise of modern European statehood through the ideas of sovereignty and property rights, and explains how they were harnessed to deploy and consolidate European empires overseas.

The work serves as a prequel to the author's The gentle civilizer of nations: The rise and fall of international law 1870-1960 published in 2001, which renewed scholarly interest in the history of international law as a distinct academic field among historians, lawyers and political theorists alike.