EMERGENCE OF GLOBAL REGULATORY FRAMEWORK AND

TRANSNATIONAL LAW
By

Mr. Bhavya Nain,

Advocate, Supreme Court of India

Former Law Clerk-cum-Research Assistant, Supreme Court of India

Contact: bhavyanain@gmail.com

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Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2794401

1. Introduction

1.1 Globalization: The Juggernaut and the Omnipresent

In the contemporary post-colonial world, the globalization has become a buzzword; and is indeed
a juggernaut 1 used to explain the prolific increase in the interconnectedness and the interactions
and the inter-transactions beyond- the-borders and between the States, and amongst the others.
It is incorrect to say that the globalization is merely an economic process. The globalization has
many manifestations and implications, such as the social, the cultural, the political, the economic,
the demographic, the trade manifestations, et al2. Globalization is all pervasive phenomena. It is
indeed a reality; and not a mere paper doctrine. Now, the globalization affects all spheres of our
daily lives, directly or indirectly, whether we live in the Global North or the Global South. This is
not an over-statement. Because of this over-spilling of the transactions /relations/issues beyond
the State borders, we need the transnational law.

1.2 Transnational Law: the younger cousin of the International Law or its child?

The Transnational Law is a term first coined/defined by the Justice Phillip Jessup, of the
International Court of Justice, in 1956 in his famous Storrs Lectures. As per him, "transnational
law" embraces: all law which regulates actions or events that transcend national frontiers ...
[including] [b]oth public and private international law... [plus] other rules which do not wholly
fit into such standard categories. 3 The probable reason for need of this definition was the
inadequacy of the traditional international law to embrace within itself all possible cross-border
interactions between the law and the people. There is a deep foundational reason for having a
term transnational law beyond the international law. Traditional international law concerned

1
It would be nave to assume that the globalization is a new process and, in fact, the origin of the globalization can
be traced back to as early as the 10,000 BC. But, it also a fact that after the World War II, and especially, in the post
1970-era, the sheer magnitude, the velocity and the intensity of the process of the globalization has increased
tremendously; See Manfred Steger, Globalization and History: Is Globalization a New Phenomena? in Steger,
Globalization, a Very Short Introduction 17-36 (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2013).
2
See Pawel Kozlowski, Globalisation Asynchronies, 8 Y.B. Polish Eur. Stud. 187(2004); Idorenyin Francis Esikot,
Globalization versus Relativism: The Imperative of a Universal Ethics, 5(4) Journal of Politics and Law 129 (2012).
3
Harold Hongju Koh, Why Transnational Law Matters, 24 Penn St. Intl L. Rev. 745 (2005-2006); Roger Cotterrell,
What Is Transnational Law?, 37 Law & Social Inquiry 500 (2012); Carrie Menkel-Meadow, Why and How to Study
Transnational Law, UC Irvine L. Rev. 1(2011).

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Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2794401

itself only with the States as its subjects/bearers of the rights and the duties 4. But, due to the
globalization, it was felt that the non-State actors (like the citizens, et al.) should also be
accountable and the rights-recipient for the cross-border activities and there should be a special
law for that also. The conception of the transnational law was the answer to this legislative
anxiety5.But, it must be remembered that the transnational law is not a altogether separate code of
the law, but is only a symbolic amalgamation of the cross border laws which apply to the cross
border issues (dealt in either the International law or the national law). The transnational law not
a separate person (like the child/ younger cousin of the International Law) but is a dual
personality which the certain rules of the International law or the national laws enjoy due to their
cross border jurisdictions, and/or the cross border implications.

1.3 The Logics and the Dialectics for the Growth of the Transnational Law

There are five prime logics for the metamorphosis of the body of the transactional law (or the
modern International Law 6). These are:

First, the globalization has increased the cross border interactions, hence, the need for an effective
cross border law and the global regulatory framework.
Second, the national laws on certain transnational issues may be divergent; and contradictory on
the cross border issues, hence, the need for a uniform transnational law and framework.
Third, there is some dilution of the sovereignty of the States with the globalization; hence, there is
need for a common consensus strong law for cross border issues with the international backing.
Fourth, the UN and its agencies have been laying down policies on various issues leading to the
global governance (though there is no visible global government at one place).
Fifth, the local and the global are now becoming more entrenched and enmeshed; so much so that
the local affects the global and the global affects the local. The transnational law gives law taking
into the consideration both the local and the global.

4
See L. Oppenheim, International Law: A Treatise (Vol. I.) (Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1912) [Law of
Nations or International Law (Droit des gens, Vlkerrecht) is the name for the body of customary and conventional
rules which are considered legally binding by civilised States in their intercourse with each other.]
5
Now, the contemporary modern International Law also covers the individuals also in certain spheres of the activity.
6
This research paper focuses on that part of the transnational law which overlaps with the public international law.

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So, the scope and ambit of the modern International Law or the Transnational Law is ever
increasing. B. S. Chimni, a Third-World International Law scholar thus says: International law
is shaping the domestic legal system in critical ways today. Indeed, there is practically no area of
domestic law that is untouched by international laws and institutions. 7 Indeed, the global
governance is now (or at least in the near future) a reality.

1.4 The Dark Side of the Transnational Law and the Globalization

Globalization leads to some form of the development 8. But, the globalization is not all positive;
and the globalization is not without the frailties, and the vices, and the foibles. The globalization
also sometimes leads to the erasures, the exclusions, and/or the subordination of the non-western
cosmo-visions; and that of the people of the Global South particularly; and whatever they hold
dear. We must also ask ourselves the certain basic questions to ourselves: What development?
Whose development? Development at what cost? Development for what purpose? Development
for whose benefit? Globalization, as per Noam Chomsky is: Globalisation is the result of
powerful governments, especially that of the United States, pushing trade deals and accords down
the throats of the worlds people to make it easier for corporations and the wealthy to dominate
the economies of the world without having obligations to the people of those nations.9 However,
it would be nave to assume that we should totally oppose and totally reject the globalization in all
forms. Partha Chatterjee states: globalization is something like the proverbial laddus of Delhi:
those who eat them land in trouble; those who dont eat them also land in trouble.10 Thus, we
must accept this concept but with looking at it with the criticality. There has been a great
proliferation of the Transnational Law with the advent of the Globalization. It seems that the
Transnational Law is also a victim of the hegemonic power consolidation process by the

7
B. S. Chimni, The World of TWAIL: Introduction to the Special Issue, 3(1) Trade L. & Dev. 14 (2011).
8
This narrative is also heavily disputed by some scholars by contesting the very definition of the term
development. Some say that the western concept of the development is not development, in the true sense, because
it only talks of the urbanization, built-development, economic development and, that too, for a limited segment of the
people- See Jim Chen, Globalization and Its Losers, 9 Minn. J. Global Trade 157 (2000); Saptak Sanyal and Aditya
Shankar, Property Rights And Sustainable Development In India, 22 Colum. J. Asian L. 235 (2008-2009).
9
Noam Chomsky, Profit Over People: Neoliberalism and Global Order (Seven Stories Press, New York, 1999).
10
Partha Chatterjee, The Politics of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World (Columbia
University Press, New York, 2004).

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transnational capital class (TNCC) 11 . This is because the law obviously follows the power
relations and the power equations in the Globe/States. For example, the Andreas Paulus (in the
context of the Iraq war) states : Indeed, the United States practices a strategic and, at times,
tactical use of international lawtrying to impose obligations on others while remaining
unrestricted itself.12.

1.5. The Subaltern View of the Transnational Law

Unfortunately, the International Law/Transnational Law is not just about protecting the rights of
the States equally; and that of the citizens in an egalitarian manner. This view is best summed up
by M. Sornarajah:13
The new wave of neo-conservative views on international law
seems reminiscent of the past of international law when it was used
to justify colonialism and the exploitation of resources of the areas
subject to colonialism. In the modern world, international law
has become the tool by which the objectives of the powerful can be
realised. But opposition to such use has quickly set in and the rules
made through power have come to be challenged. Such challenges
are mounted not only by the less powerful states but increasingly by
transnationally organized groups which seek to counter the norms
supported by the powerful through the articulation of the norms
supported by justice. This tussle is what will shape the future course
of international law.

B.S. Chimni states:14

The emergence of the TCC [Transnational Capitalist Class] as the

dominant class at the global level has naturally had an impact on
CIL[International Law]. The TCC has attempted to bring about

11
Upendra D. Acharya, Globalization and Hegemony Shift: Are States Merely Agents of Corporate Capitalism?, 54
B.C.L. Rev. 937 (2013); also See B.S. Chimni, Prolegomena to a Class Approach to International Law, 21 European
Journal of International Law 57 (2010).
12
Andreas Paulus, The War Against Iraq and the Future of International Law: Hegemonyor Pluralism?, 25 Mich. J.
Intl L. 691 (2003).
13
M. Sornarajah, Power And Justice: Third World Resistance In International Law, 10 Singapore Year Book of
International Law 1957 (2006).
14
B.S. Chimni, supra note 11; also See B.S.Chimni, A Just World under Law: A View from the South, 22 American
University International Law Review 199 (2007); B S Chimni, The Past, Present and Future of International Law: A
Critical Third World Approach, 8(2) Melbourne Journal of International Law 499 (2007).

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 changes which legitimize its world-view and assist in the realization
of its interests. The TCC seeks the adoption of international
economic laws which facilitate the globalization of production and
finance through creating and protecting global property rights,
codifying the rights of transnational corporations, and limiting the
economic autonomy of sovereign states.

Thus, as per many third world scholars, the Transnational Law is used as a means or as a tool
to further the objective of the globalization; and, thus, further the objectives of the global
capitalists and the dominant States. These entities try to foster and promote a transnational law
which sub-serves their interests; rather than the interest of those affected.

1.6 The Transnational Law through the Lens of the Gramscian Hegemony

Gramsci evolved a novel concept of the hegemony in the capitalist world 15 . Under this
conception, the dominant class/segment of society not only did exert influence, or dominance,
through the use of the force, or the violence, but also through the use of the soft influences like
the social and intellectual leadership 16. The consent was not only coerced but also manufactured.
This consent was manufactured by the use of the historic blocs (the entities/ institutions acting as
agents of the hegemons). This dominance was extended and exercised not only by the State but by
the State as well as the civil society17 . This came to be known as the trite conception of the
extended State. Robert Cox applied this concept to the international arena 18. Cox talked about the
hegemonising forces/movements and also of the counter-hegemonising forces/movements. As
per him, both of these forces operate at the same time. David Law says that in the modern world,
the Gramsician hegemony is not exercised by the States as such, for example, the USA, the

15
William I. Robinson, Gramsci and Globalisation: From Nation-State to Transnational Hegemony, 8(4) Critical
Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 116 (2005); also See David Forgacs(ed.), The Gramsci
Reader: Selected Writings 1916-1935 (New York University Press, New York, 2000).
16
J. S.Nye, Limits of American Power, 117(4) Political Science Quarterly 545-559(2002).
17
This is opposed to the neorealist hegemony which refers to the dominance of one State over the other States only.
18
See Robert Cox, Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory, 10(2)
Millennium: Journal of International Studies 135 (1981); Robert Cox, Gramsci, Hegemony and International
Relations: An Essay in Method, 12(2) Millennium: Journal of International Studies 167 (1983).

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Europe, et al. but by the certain capitalist, elitist, powerful groups within the USA, the Europe, et
al. also19.

Gramscian Hegemony is also exercised through the International Law. International Law is also
manufactured using the persuasion, throwing of the weight behind the pro-western concepts and
ideas. The Global North even makes use of the western scholars, the western academicians (and
their works) to bring about a soft change in the International Law 20. The International Law is
developed through the medium of the States and the International agencies. It is a trite fact that
these States are dominated by the TNCC (Transnational Capital Class) or the dominant states. So,
the Transnational Law is a reflection of the values and the interests of the dominant classes/States.

1.7 The Proliferation of the Transnational Law and its Metamorphosis

The scope and the ambit of the Transnational Laws are ever increasing. It touches all aspects of
our daily lives21. The Transnational Law now covers a whole lot of the diverse fields and the
subjects such as the International Environmental Law, The International Humanitarian Law, The
International Human Rights Law, the International Criminal Law, the International Trade Law,
the International Economic Law, The International Commercial Law, the International
Immigration and Refugee Law, Law of the Transnational Crimes, the Cyberspace Law, The Space
Laws, et al. The global thresholds set out in these global laws are most of the times duly
incorporated in the domestic laws of the nations. The global norms are eventually becoming the
local norms as well. There is some sense of the universalisation of the laws and the legal norms.

At the cost of the generalization, the prime area where this proliferation is more dominant is in the
three fields of the law which are given as in the next segment of this research paper 22.

19
Stephen Gill and David Law, Global Hegemony and the Structural Power of Capital, 33 International Studies
Quarterly 475(1989).
20
See Upendra D. Acharya, Supra note 11.
21
Harold Hongju Koh, Supra note 3.
22
Please note that this research paper does not deal with these three areas in-extenso but only tries to explore the
certain crucial aspects of these areas of the law, especially from the third world or the Global South perspective.

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1.8. The Transnational Trade Law through the Glass of the Gramscian Hegemony

1.8.1 The World Bank/International Monetary Fund: the Guardians? Of whom?

Gramsci talked about the use of the historic blocs (that is, the institutions used as the agents for
establishing the hegemony). These historic blocs manufactured consent in favor of the dominant
classes/States. As per many scholars, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
(created under the famed Bretton Woods Agreement, 1944) form the modern historic blocs in the
Gramscian sense. These institutions, as argued by some 23 , help the dominant states or the
transnational capitalist class to develop world hegemony or a global hegemony or the global
governance. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund does so by the mechanism of
the use of the conditionalities imposed while advancing the loans to the developing countries.
These conditionalities include the conditions for the promotion of the trade liberalization, the
privatization, the de-regulation and the government austerity measures, et al. These conditions are
famously known as the Washington Consensus. 24 The dominant States are able to impose these
conditionalities to their benefit because the voting power of the major developed States (like the
G7) has a co-relation with their substantial contribution to the financial corpus of the World Bank/
International Monetary Fund. Many third world scholars have observed that the developing
countries have been adversely affected by these conditionalities 25.

1.8.2 The World Trade Organization: the Trade conduit? Or the complicit?

The World Trade Organization is also seen as a part of the modern Gramscian hegemonic historic
bloc. Its agreements dont expressly talk of the implications of the extra-territorial violations of
the human rights, the labor rights and the environment, while doing the trade26. Many scholars

23
See B. S. Chimni, International Institutions Today: An Imperial Global State in the Making, 15 (1) Eur J Int Law 1
(2004).
24
See generally Chang and Grabel, Reclaiming Development from the Washington Consensus, 27(2) Journal of Post
Keynesian Economics 273 (2004 2005); Chang, WTO for trade and development post-Doha, 10 (3) Journal of
International Economic Law 553 (2007).
25
See Tissa Balasuriya OMI, Globalization And Human Rights, 12 Sri Lanka J. Int'l L. 1 (2000); also See generally
Ross P. Buckley, The Economic Policies Of China And India, and of The Washington Consensus: An Enlightening
Comparison, 27 Wis. Int'l L.J. 707 (2009-2010).
26
Similarly the Bilateral Investment Treaties also generally also dont expressly talk of the human rights.

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and some cases are somehow trying to read in these obligations into the Agreements of the World
Trade Organization 27. It seems that the apparent reason for this is that this organization was
primarily concerned with the trade irrespective of the possible human and/or the labor abuses. The
bargaining scenario and equations at the World Trade Organization also show a bad light on the
state of the affairs. For example, the 2001 Doha Round Negotiations are seen by many as a
forceful attempt of the imposition of the trade conditionalities by the developed countries on the
developed countries28. It seems that the Global North uses the World Trade Organization as a
platform to impose their trade ideologies on the Global South29. The silver lining in this situation
is that there is the South-South cooperation; and the South-South trade is increasing
exponentially30.

1.9 The Transnational Environment Law through the Lens of the Gramscian Hegemony

1.9.1 The United States: an indolent child or a calculative master?

Hegemony is exercised in two ways. Firstly, it is exercised by forcing the other entities to accept
certain obligations which they would not agree otherwise. Secondly, it is exercised by veto-ing all
attempts to the imposition of the onerous obligations on itself. As per many scholars, the United
States has indeed exercised the hegemony in the domain of the environment law by following the
said second method. It is a trite fact that the United States was at the forefront of the
environmental law in the 1970s-1980s but then it changed its stand 31. Now, the United States is

27
See Aaronson, Seeping in Slowly, How Human Rights Concerns Are Penetrating the WTO, 6 World Trade Review,
413 (2001); John H. Knox, The Judicial Resolution Of Conflicts Between Trade And The Environment, 28 Harvard
Environment Law Review 1(2004); Thomas J. Schoenbaum, International Trade and Protection of the Environment:
The Continuing Search for Reconciliation, 91 Am. J. Intl L. 268 (1997).
28
See Kevin P. Gallagher, Understanding developing country resistance to the Doha Round, 15 Review of
International Political Economy 62 (2008).
29
See Subramanian and Wei, The WTO Promotes Trade, Strongly but Unevenly, 72 Journal of International
Economics 151 (2007).
30
Uche Ewelukwa Ofodile, Trade And Investment In Africa: Harmony And Disharmony With The International
Community, 105 Am. Soc'y Int'l L. Proc. 521 (2011).
31
See Robert Falkner, American Hegemony and the Global Environment, 7 International Studies Review
585(2005); Maria Ivanova and Daniel, Reclaiming U.S. Leadership in Global Environmental Governance, 28 SAIS
Review 57 (2008); Perkins and Neumayer, Implementing Multilateral Environmental Agreements: An Analysis of
EU directives, 7 Global Environmental Politics 13(2007); Jutta Brunnee, The United States and International
Environmental Law: Living with an Elephant, 15 European Journal of International Law 617(2004).

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seen, many a times, as a stumbling block to the formation and the adoption of the universally
applicable environmental norms32. For example, the United States took a regressive stand and
obstructionist stand on the issue of the Global warming, the Kyoto Protocol, the Green House
emissions, et al.

1.9.2. The Global North- South Divide: a Concept or a Reality, affecting the Law?

There is also an apparent Global North-South divide in the international environmental law 33. The
Global North focuses on the environmental issues whereas the Global South focuses on the
developmental concerns. Even now with the adoption of the UN Millennium Developmental
Goals (2000) and the UN Sustainable Developmental Goals (2012) 34 , the chief problem still
remains the same: the lack of the expertise, the lack of the resources, the lack of the technology,
the lack of the know-how, et al. with the developing countries and which they need for fulfilling
their environmental obligations 35 . The Global North needs to recognize its common but
differential liability. The Global North must step in and help the Global South.

1.9.3 The Environmental Law and its concepts as a tool to appropriate property?

Some Third World Scholars state that the normative concept(s), such as that of the common
heritage of the mankind, which is prevalent in many texts of the environmental law, are only a
means to appropriate or to claim the rights over the sovereign environmental resources of the
developing countries by the developed countries 36. Thus we must be skeptical of the true nature

32
Ibid.
33
Ved Nanda, Global Environmental Governance and the South, in S Alam, el al. (eds), International
Environmental Law and the Global South (Cambridge University Press, NY, 2015).
34
United Nations have also passed a draft resolution for the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals on the Sept. 25,
2015 at United Nations headquarters.
35
Supra note 33.
36
Werner Scholtz, Common Heritage: Saving The Environment For Humankind Or Exploiting Resources In The
Name Of Eco-Imperialism?, 41 Comp. & Int'l L.J. S. Afr. 273 (2008).

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of the normative conceptions being floated in the law and the potentiality of their use and the
misuse. This theory is also popularly known as the Eco-Imperialism37.

1.10. The Transnational Human Rights Law through the Binoculars of the Gramscian Hegemony

1.10.1 The Epoch of the Global Capital

Upendra Baxi38 states that the framing of the UDHR in 1948 was the high point of the global
human rights history. We have come a long way from that historical high point. He also says that
we live in the contemporary human rights era where the logics of the inclusion are dominant. But,
some scholars, like Ratna Kapur 39, have a contrary view and state that the picture is a bit more
bleak and dark. But, one thing is for sure that we have reached an epoch where we have trade-
related market-friendly human rights 40 . This means that the global capital is able to flex its
muscles irrespective of the human rights law because the UN Human Rights framework has a
deficit to deal with them and the human rights become diluted when we come to the issue of these
rights against the global capital. The Transnational Corporations are the new moghuls.

1.10.2 The Politics of the Human Rights

The Human Rights regime has a dark side also. The human rights are used a means to further the
own political and social agenda rather than use it for promotion of the human rights. This binary
of the politics for and politics of the human rights is best explained by the scholar Upendra

37
Paul Driessen, Eco-Imperialism: Green Power - Black Death (Free Enterprise Press, WA, 2003).
38
William Twining, Human Rights: Southern Voices-Francis Deng, Abduliahi An-Na'im,Yash Ghai, and Upendra
Baxi, 11 Rev. Const. Stud. 203 (2005-2006); Euan MacDonald, Review Essay - The Future of Human Rights?
Theory and Practice in an International Context: Review of Upendra Baxi's The Future of Human Rights, 5 German
L.J. 969 (2004); Upendra Baxi, Introduction To The Symposium: Voices Of Suffering And The Future Of Human
Rights, 8 Transnat'l L. & Contemp. Probs. 125(1998).
39
See Ratna Kapur, Human Rights in the 21st Century: Taking a Walk on the Dark Side, 28 Sydney Law
Review 665-687 (2006).
40
Supra note 38.

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Baxi41. Human Rights should not be allowed to be an excuse to promote the other motives of the
State and the non-State actors because then the human rights lose their true meaning and their true
import. This approach undermines the purity and the sanctity of the human rights jurisprudence.

1.10.3 The Need for the Fourth Generation of the Human Rights

Bassiouni42 talks of the need for the fourth generation of the human rights where the rights will
not only be available against the State, but also against the non-State actors such as the civil
society, the transnational corporations, et al. As per many, there is a need to change the
conception that the human rights as the rights to/against the State43. There is a need for evolution
of the concept of the shared responsibility where the State and the non-State actors share the
human rights burden. The transnational corporations try to wriggle out of the net of the mandatory
obligations by promoting the concept of the voluntarism over the mandatorism. The 2011 UN
Guiding Principles on the Responsibility of the Transnational Corporations are a chief example of
the voluntary framework. But, the voluntary framework cannot supply the legislative deficit and
the legislative vacuum in the field because the companies would not need the soft framework had
they been mindful of the human rights obligations in the first place and, moreover, the many
corporations, may still think that the profit making is the only activity they deal in and thus the
voluntary framework may fail 44 . There is a need to evolve a mandatory framework with the
unique legislative apparatus to deal with the human rights to be available against the
transnational corporations in particular 45. We need to talk whether the traditional human rights as

41
See U. Baxi, The Future of Human Rights (Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2008); U. Baxi, Human Rights In A
Posthuman World : Critical Essays (Oxford University Press, India, 2007).
42
M. C. Bassiouni, The Future of Human Rights in the Age of Globalization, 40 Denver J. Int'l L. & Pol'y 22
(2012).
43
See generally Mostafa Alaei, Globalization and the Universality of Human Rights (A Critical Glance over the
Western Approach), 3 International Studies Journal 84 (2007).
44
Jean-Marie Kamatali, The New Guiding Principles On Business And Human Rights Contribution In Ending the
Divisive Debate Over Human Rights Responsibilities Of Companies: Is It Time For An ICJ Advisory Opinion?, 20
Cardozo J. Int'l & Comp. L. 437(2012); Harri Kalimo and Tim Staalt, Softness- In International Instruments The
Case Of Transnational Corporations, 41 Syracuse J. Int'l L. & Com. 257 (2013-2014).
45
Ibid.

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given in the ICCPR and the ICESCR can be applied against these corporations also46. We need to
develop effective human rights jurisprudence in relation to these corporations, given the fact that
these corporations even sometimes challenge the State power, and given the fact that the States
have diluted their sovereignty 47 .Human rights law apparatus must be made flexible to
accommodate these situational changes. The human rights should be treated as the
hypernorms48(the norms overriding all other considerations and the values).

1.11 Conclusion

Transnational Law is not the enemy. Transnational Law and the Globalization have the power to
do immense good but for that we need to expose the hidden agendas and the underlying politics,
the legislative policies, and the legislative hegemonics which operate within the global regulatory
framework. The Global Governance should not be reduced to the governance and the dominance
by the Global North of the Global South. The Transnational Law should aim to be egalitarian, if
not become egalitarian. There has been a sporadic mushrooming of the Transnational Law in the
past few decades. This narrative has many layers. This research paper has tried to explore and
unpack some of them. The subaltern view of this narrative should not be forgotten because
otherwise the transnational law will become a weapon of the dominant States/classes to rule over
the other States/classes. Partha Chatterjee refers to this dominant State(s) as the Empire which
may not be clearly visible in its extent, and may not have clear boundaries and may not have a
definite force, but it does exist. We must engage in the constructive criticism of the transnational
law from the view of the Global South and, in the words of the Partha Chatterjee the criticism
should be a flexible, mixed, and variable anti-empire critique49.

46
Daniel Aguirre, Corporate Liability For Economic, Social And Cultural Rights Revisited: The Failure Of
International Cooperation, 42 Cal. W. Int'l L.J. 123 (2011).
47
Debosmita Nandy and Niketa Singh, Making Transnational Corporations Accountable For Human Rights
Violations, 2 NUJS L. Rev. 75 (2009).
48
See Supra note 41.
49
See B.S. Chimni, Alternative Visions of Just World Order: Six Tales from India, 46 Harvard International Law
Journal 390 (2005) [In this article, B.S Chimni gives a take on the works, and the famous remarks of Partha
Chatterjee].

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