This Article argues that the Gulf Crisis of 1990–91, the first major international crisis of the post-Cold War era, was a constitutive moment for international law. The Article examines the contests in the United Nations over the meaning of the Crisis and shows that these contests were also over the meaning of cooperation under international law in the “new world order.” The Article casts the Gulf Crisis itself as a moment of “worldmaking,” in which the United States refashioned foundational concepts like interdependence, sovereignty, and humanity in warfare and deployed them to suit a state-centered vision of international cooperation under hierarchy.

中文翻译：

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历史终结时的世界创造：1990-91 年的海湾危机与国际法

本文认为，1990-91 年的海湾危机是后冷战时代的第一场重大国际危机，是国际法的建构时刻。这篇文章审视了联合国内部关于危机含义的争论，并表明这些争论还涉及在“新世界秩序”中根据国际法进行合作的含义。文章将海湾危机本身描述为“创造世界”的时刻，美国在战争中重塑了相互依存、主权和人道等基本概念，并将其部署以适应以国家为中心的等级制度下国际合作的愿景。