Soberania

El presente artículo tiene por objeto hacer un examen preliminar de un manuscrito, hasta la fecha desconocido e inédito, del gran humanista y abogado internacional holandés Hugo Grocio. En dicho manuscrito, Grocio se ocupa, esencialmente, de la formación de una sociedad civil basada en un arreglo contractual, y a su vez, examina los derechos y las obligaciones que emanan de ese pacto o contrato voluntario.

"En general, cuando nos referimos a los conceptos de teología y política en su conjunto, pareciera existir una relación insostenible. La existencia de tensiones propias entre la esfera de lo divino y lo terrenal, nos remiten a una historia que procede de tiempos inmemorables.
A pesar de ello, ha sido recientemente cuando esta discusión ha adquirido interés y desarrollo por parte de los intelectuales. En particular, podríamos indicar que es con la teoría de la secularización entre finales del siglo XIX y principios del siglo XX, cuando esta relación se intensifica."

La europeización pretendía ir más allá de la creación de unos Estados Unidos de Europa y de la mercantilización, ya que buscaba la promoción de una cultura basada en los derechos y el Estado de bienestar. Sin embargo, tras el crack financiero de 2007 y con la persistencia de la “crisis interminable”, se cuestiona la capacidad de la Unión Europea para actuar coordinadamente y solucionar los problemas cotidianos; en definitiva, para defender un modelo cultural diferente en el presente (des)orden global. ¿Es posible, probable y deseable una Europa unida?; ¿puede mantenerse el bienestar europeo?; ¿qué tipo de instituciones y ámbitos de gobernanza garantizan el pacto entre unidad y diversidad europeas?; ¿es inevitable la europeización o volverán las rivalidades nacionales del siglo XX? Este ensayo analiza la progresiva obsolescencia del Estado-nación en el Viejo Continente; cómo la pervivencia de los Estados en su configuración actual dificulta la unión política continental y el mantenimiento del modelo social europeo.

"In 1603, Dutch Admiral Jacob van Heemskerk plundered a Portuguese merchantman, the Santa Catarina, travelling from Macao to Melaka. The sale of the cargo at a public auction made traders across Northern Europe aware of the riches to be reaped from Asian trade. However, the episode raised legal questions and the United Dutch East India Company (VOC) commissioned the young Hugo Grotius to defend Heemskerk's actions. Grotius produced two classic legal texts, The Law of Price and Booty and its spin-off, The Free Sea, among the greatest works in the history of international legal and political thought. His observations dealt with free trade in the East Indies, the Dutch Republic's military conflict with the Portuguese and Spanish in Asia, and the legal and moral grounds for attacking and plundering Portuguese and Spanish mercantile shipping.

This book considers the background to the treaties then content and significances, and what Grotius actually knew about Southeast Asian politics and Portuguese institutions of trade and diplomacy when he wrote them.

Grotius' work on the freedom of the sea was a cornerstone in his enduring reputation as one of the founders of modern international law. The present book provides a valuable resource for historians of Southeast Asia and for students of international relations, political theory, maritime history and public law.
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"The Theses LVI belong to a series of hitherto unpublished early manuscripts of the Dutch humanist and jurisconsult Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) that were acquired by the University of Leiden in 1864. It is not certain when the Theses were written, but preliminary research on the physical manuscript and the sources cited indicate two possible windows. The first is around 1602-1605, that is roughly at a time when Grotius was also working on his Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty (De Iure Praedae Commentarius). The second dating places the genesis of the manuscrbipt around 1613-1615.
In the context of Grotius’ writings, the Theses LVI assume an important position for several reasons: They raise questions about state formation, the duty of citizens to the state and the right of political resistance in far greater detail than in any other work of the celebrated Dutch humanist. The Theses LVI also feature important reading notes that yield priceless insights into the sources that Grotius directly consulted and their influence on his ideas. The manuscript grants modern scholars a unique glimpse into the working mind of its author. Evidence points not only to the ferocious haste with which Grotius wrote his works, but also the occasional sloppiness of his reading and research habits.""""

This paper offers an historian’s view into one of the most fascinating chapters in the history of law and maritime navigation. If the first wave of European colonial expansion had seen the arrival of the Iberian powers in Asia in the 15th and 16th centuries, the second phase of expansion during the late 16th and early 17th centuries by their northern European competitors unleashed a violent struggle for market access to emporia and production centres via the high seas. Intellectually, this struggle took the form of a debate about the legal status of the seas and the ability of sovereigns to claim dominium over them. But important questions remain: Should all maritime spaces be treated legally the same? Just how unique or different were European positions and such central issues like the sovereignty of the sea? In drawing comparisons with maritime Southeast Asia during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, that is means contemporaneous with the apex of the debates in Europe, this essay will argue that far from being worlds apart, prevailing customs and basic attitudes were astonishingly similar.

"This article examines the transition of the Dutch East Indian Company (VOC) from a policy of self-defense into its full espousal of large-scale privateering and plundering. I argue that this shift was driven by both economic and political factors, and can be traced to the very formation of the Company as a unified trading venture. The taking of prizes became a cornerstone not only of the economic fortunes of the company, but the establishment
of the Dutch colonial empire in Asia. Of particular interest is not only the instructions emanating from the company directors and the Dutch government in the metropolis, but especially the implementation and adaptation of these directives on the ground. It is this local context that adds a crucial dimension to interpretations of the eager espousal of maritime violence by the VOC and its agents in Asian waters."

"En este artículo el autor pretende ofrecer una lectura de El origen del Trauerspiel alemán de Walter Benjamin centrándose en el tema de la soberanía y de la inmanencia.

Para esto, se proponen tres centros temáticos. En primer lugar, se presentan las distancias que Benjamin dibuja entre el drama barroco alemán y la tragedia con especial énfasis en la relación que ambas manifestaciones estéticas tienen con la trascendencia. En segundo lugar se ofrece un excurso enfocado en la teoría de la soberanía desarrollada por Carl Schmitt. En tercer y último lugar, el texto aborda la teoría de la soberanía desde la obra de Benjamin con la intención de mostrar que la inmanencia que marca al Trauerspiel sería obra del soberano en términos de "integrar la catástrofe". De este modo, el tercer apartado conecta con el primero haciendo notar la importante conexión entre soberano y criatura."