Over the last century, North Atlantic legal intellectuals developed the philosophical, doctrinal and institutional tools which strategic actors use everyday around the world to press their interests, defeat their rivals, and consolidate their gains. At the same time, however, they promoted ideas about law in global affairs which make it difficult to see law’s constitutive role in the global distribution of wealth. This chapter explores the interactive history of these two innovative strands before offering an alternative approach to law in global affairs which foregrounds law’s role in political and economic struggle ather than its promise of order, its distributional impact rather than its peace-building or humanitarian potential.