LCP4801
ASSIGNMENT 2 (ANSWERS) SEMESTER 2
DUE DATE: September 2025
Written Assignment Submission Guidelines:
Please ensure that your assignment is submitted electronically through the myUnisa platform no
later than August 2025. Kindly note that fax or email submissions will not be accepted.
NB: Assignment submitted to the lecturer(s) through email will not be considered.
QUESTION 1
1.1 What does the acronym TWAIL stand for?
TWAIL stands for Third World Approaches to International Law. This acronym refers to a critical
legal movement developed by scholars from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, aiming to analyse and
challenge the historical and structural inequalities embedded in international law that continue to
disadvantage formerly colonised societies (Anghie, 2006).
1.2 What informed the development of the TWAIL movement?
The development of TWAIL was informed by the historical experience of colonisation and the legacy
of imperialism, which shaped international law as a discipline designed to legitimise European
domination of non-European peoples. TWAIL scholars argue that doctrines such as sovereignty,
civilisation, and trusteeship were formulated to exclude Third World countries from the benefits of
international law while subjecting them to its burdens (Gathii, 2011). The movement emerged as a
critique of mainstream Western-centric legal scholarship, seeking to expose how international law
facilitated the economic exploitation, racial subjugation, and political marginalisation of the Global
South. Additionally, the failure of the post-1945 decolonisation project to dismantle structural
ASSIGNMENT 2 (ANSWERS) SEMESTER 2
DUE DATE: September 2025
Written Assignment Submission Guidelines:
Please ensure that your assignment is submitted electronically through the myUnisa platform no
later than August 2025. Kindly note that fax or email submissions will not be accepted.
NB: Assignment submitted to the lecturer(s) through email will not be considered.
QUESTION 1
1.1 What does the acronym TWAIL stand for?
TWAIL stands for Third World Approaches to International Law. This acronym refers to a critical
legal movement developed by scholars from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, aiming to analyse and
challenge the historical and structural inequalities embedded in international law that continue to
disadvantage formerly colonised societies (Anghie, 2006).
1.2 What informed the development of the TWAIL movement?
The development of TWAIL was informed by the historical experience of colonisation and the legacy
of imperialism, which shaped international law as a discipline designed to legitimise European
domination of non-European peoples. TWAIL scholars argue that doctrines such as sovereignty,
civilisation, and trusteeship were formulated to exclude Third World countries from the benefits of
international law while subjecting them to its burdens (Gathii, 2011). The movement emerged as a
critique of mainstream Western-centric legal scholarship, seeking to expose how international law
facilitated the economic exploitation, racial subjugation, and political marginalisation of the Global
South. Additionally, the failure of the post-1945 decolonisation project to dismantle structural
