'A Conundrum of Colonial Law? Conceptualizing Russia's International Treaties In Central Asia (1850-1900)'

Speaker: Jonas Wieschollek

Abstract: Russia's treatymaking in Central Asia posed a legal conundrum: In theory, nineteenth-century international law negated the possibility of treaty relations with non-European states like the Central Asian polities. Yet, in practice, Russia relied heavily on treatymaking to expand its influence in the region. Taking its cue from this tension, this paper probes the role of treatymaking in the Russian conquest and colonization of Central Asia (1850-1910s). In the first part, it fleshes out two features of Russia's treatymaking in Central Asia: First, Russia used the treaties to undermine the agency of the Central Asian polities. The treatymaking evolved quickly from reciprocal treaties to one-sided treaties, oftentimes culminating in unilateral Russian measures that liquidated the remnants of Central Asian sovereignty. Second, the treaties did not lead to the recognition of the Central Asian states under international law. Although the act of signing a treaty suggested a certain recognition of legal subjecthood, Russia employed a variety of diplomatic and doctrinal tools to undermine the legal agency of its Central Asian neighbors. In the second part, the paper conceptualizes the case of Russia's treatymaking in Central Asia to tease out insights into the entanglement of international law, colonialism, and civilizational status.