What is the relevance of law to a world dominated by a hegemon? What is the relation between power and law at the international level? In this volume, these questions are approached based on a case study of relations between France and the Netherlands throughout the Revolutionary Wars. It shows that power and law are not isolated phenomena and that their relation is not as one-dimensional as it is commonly portrayed. Law can be an instrument of power, while law poses a normative force even a superpower cannot ignore. Thereto, the case study sketches a context in which an international law based on sovereign equality could, to a large extent, be circumvented by exploiting crossborder factionalism, thus nuancing state-centric perspectives on international politics.

Studies in the History of International Law, vol. 1