In Judicial Territory, Shaina Potts reveals how the American empire has benefited from the post-World War II expansion of United States judicial authority over the economic decisions of postcolonial governments. Introducing the term “judicial territory” to refer to the increasingly transnational space over which US courts wield authority, Potts argues that law is an essential tool for US geopolitical and economic interests. Through close examination of cases involving private US companies, on the one hand, and foreign state-owned enterprises, nationalizations, and sovereign debt, on the other, she shows that technical changes relating to the treatment of foreign sovereigns in domestic US law allowed the United States to extend its purview over global financial and economic relations, including many economic decisions of foreign governments. Throughout, Potts argues, US law has not become divorced from territoriality but instead actively remapped it; it has not merely responded to globalization, but actively produced it—making the whole world part of US economic space in the process.

Shaina Potts is Associate Professor of Geography at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Acknowledgements  ix
Introduction  1
1. Law, Capital, and the Geographies of Empire  29
2. The Politics of the Private  55
3. Revolution and Counterrevolution  87
4. Debt, Default, and Judicial Discipline  117
5. Sovereign Disobedience  145
Conclusion  171
Appendix 1: Selected Timeline of the Expansion of US Judicial Territory  185
Appendix 2: List of Cases and Auxiliary Case Documents  191
Notes  199
Bibliography  249
Index  275