The Political Theology of International Law of Belligerent Occupation: Distribution of Authority and Fulfilment in Core and Peripheries

Matilda Arvidsson, Lund University

Abstract

Embedded in international law of belligerent occupation is something which is often referred to as a paradox: the law seems to embrace preservation of status quo at the same time as it embraces transformation. Rejecting current descriptions I aim to offer one in which international law of belligerent occupation is understood as organized by a Pauline messianic-eschatological political theology. In doing so, I trace a particular theology embracing both preservation and transformation as organizing the field of law: a political theology through which authority is centralized to a geographical and metaphysical core of the North, while the responsibility to fulfil law’s promise of universal and equal justice is distributed to the geographical and metaphysical peripheries. Central to this description is the historical development of the field of international law of belligerent occupation, as well as the recent occupation of Iraq 2003–2004.