Theinternationalcrimeof“crimesagainsthumanity“hasbecomeintegraltocontemporarypoliticalandlegaldiscourse.However,theconceptualcoreoftheterm--anactagainstallofmankind--hasalongeranddeeperhistoryininternationalpoliticalthought.Inanoriginalexcavationofthishistory,TheHumanityofUniversalCrimeexaminestheoreticalmobilizationsoftheideaofuniversalcrimeincolonialandpost-colonialcontexts.SinjaGrafdemonstratestheoverlookedcentralityofhumanityandcriminalitytopoliticalliberalism’shistoricalengagementwithworldpolitics,therebybreakingwiththeexhaustivelystudiedstatusofindividualrightsinliberalthought.Grafarguesthatinvocationsofuniversalcrimeprojecthumanityasanormativelyintegrated,yetminimallyinclusiveandhierarchicallystructuredsubject.Suchvisionsofhumanityhaveinturnunderwrittenjustificationsofforeignruleandoutsiderinterventionbasedonclaimstoaninjuryuniversallysufferedbyallmankind.Foregroundingthe“politicalproductivity“ofuniversalcrime,thebooktracestheintellectualhistoryoftherise,fall,andreappearanceofnotionsofuniversalcrimeinpoliticaltheoryovertime.ItlooksparticularlyatthewayEuropeantheoristshavedeployedtheconceptinassessingthelegitimacyofcolonialruleandforeigninterventioninnon-Europeansocieties.Thebookarguesthatan“inclusionaryEurocentrism“subtendstheauthorizingandcoercivedimensionsofuniversalcrime.Unlikemuch-studied“exclusionaryEurocentrist“thinking,“inclusionaryEurocentrist“argumentshavehistoricallyextendedanunequal,repressive“recognitionvialiability“tonon-Europeanpeoples.Overallthebookoffersanovelviewofhowclaimstoactinthenameofhumanityaredeeplysteepedinpracticesthatreproducestructuresofinequalityatagloballevel,particularlyacrosspoliticalempires.
