Empire and/in/of capital: Response to the book forum on Judicial Territory

In response to the four generous contributions to this forum on Judicial Territory, the bulk of this paper focuses on how to conceptualize the relationship among law, capitalism and empire. I suggest that it is important to avoid both legal and economic reductionism in our theorization of law and capitalism, and that, while law, capital and empire should be treated dialectically, there remains analytical utility to distinguishing between capitalist and imperialist logics. I agree that further engagement with the broader dynamics of global capitalist transformation would enrich my analysis of judicial territory. At the same time, I see the role of US judicial power in disciplining postcolonial states as itself being about the story of globalizing capitalism as much as it is about US empire. I discuss avenues for further research and agree with some of the commentators that more work on comparative judicial territories and sociolegal practices would both deepen and nuance the story of judicial territory. I conclude by briefly considering the future of judicial territory in the face of declining American hegemony, the rise of more explicitly interventionist state economic practices, and recent geopolitical economic upheaval.