Regimes der Segregation

Kolonialismus, Recht und Globalisierung

Abstract

Colonialism, Law and Globalization The relationship between law and colonialism figures as one of the most promising themes in modern history. Studies of the juridical structure of the colonial world can contribute to an understanding of the history of globalization, and therefore to a genealogy of the present. This problematic, however, is hardly present in recent German studies on colonial law. On the contrary, these studies avoid comparisons and global contexts and tend to pursue arguments confined to the internal perspective of German colonial law. This does not imply, however, that German colonial history does not lend itself to a discussion of the larger issues in question. In particular, an analysis of the legal and juridical structures of the regime of ethnic segregation may reveal uncanny continuities in the course of modern German history. What is more, in the field of law, the colonies and the European nationstates were entangled in many ways. The interconnections and repercussions reveal that the colonial period has not only affected the colonies, but rather shaped the societies of the metropoles as well.