1 The Entanglement of Sovereignty and Property in International Law: From German Southwest Africa to the Great Land Grab? Matthias Goldmann * October 2018 A. Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 2 B. Sovereignty and Property ......................................................................................................................... 4 I. Law in the Books: Sovereignty and Property Separated ....................................................................... 4 II. Law in Colonial Practice: Sovereignty and Property Entangled .......................................................... 7 C. Sovereignty and Property in Southwest Africa ........................................................................................ 9 I. Germany’s Colonial Aspirations ........................................................................................................... 9 II. Sovereignty and Property before 1904: The Veil of Formal Equality ............................................... 10 III. Sovereignty and Property after 1904: The Veil of Formal Legality ................................................. 15 D. Lessons for Sovereignty in International Law ....................................................................................... 19 I. Colonial Entanglements of Sovereignty and Property ......................................................................... 19 II. Contemporary Entanglements ............................................................................................................ 20 E. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 21 Abstract: This article argues that an intricate entanglement existed between sovereignty and property in German Southwest Africa. Germany’s control over Southwest Africa depended considerably on European settlements, which received logistical, financial, and military support by Germany. The result was a symbiotic relationship between the government and private economic actors, a form of state capitalism under which private settlements contributed to the establishment of territorial control, a prerequisite of sovereign power. Contractual relationships suggesting formally equal relationships, and during and after the genocide, a mix of arguments drawing on tort law and an idea of formal legality, provided crucial justification for the assumption of territorial control. This description contradicts standard accounts of sovereignty, which tend to turn a blind eye on private property. The article discusses the implications of these findings for today’s international law, including for state responsibility for transnational corporations and the so-called Great Land Grab, the acquisition of vast lands in Africa by foreign public and private agents. Keywords: Sovereignty, Property, Colonialism, German Southwest Africa, Namibia, Land Grab, Transnational Corporations * Goethe University Frankfurt, goldmann@jur.uni-frankfurt.de; Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, goldmann@mpil.de. I am grateful to Christopher Smith and Mark Somos for valuable advice and suggestions. Many thanks to Raphael Schäfer, Ben Arens, Alexia Kaztaridou and Hannah Kull for assistance with the inspection of the holdings of the Bundesarchiv (Federal Archive, hereinafter BArch).