Jones Corredera on The Origins of the Calvo Clause: Why Carlos Calvo Supported Napoleon III's Vision for Latin America

Edward Jones Corredera, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, is publishing The Origins of the Calvo Clause: Why Carlos Calvo Supported Napoleon III's Vision for Latin America in The Monroe Doctrine: History, Interpretations, Legacy (Cahen, Castellanos-Jankiewicz, and Simon, eds., 2025). Here is the abstract.

This chapter sheds light on the imperial origins of the Calvo Clause. It shows how and why Carlos Calvo, traditionally known as a stalwart supporter of the Monroe Doctrine, initially supported Napoleon III’s imperial vision for the advancement of the interests of the “Latin race” in Latin America. It emphasises how Calvo’s legal thought had a dual role as a critique and an instrument of imperial ambitions. It studies how Carlos Calvo’s diplomatic role as the representative of Paraguay tasked with the resolution of the Canstatt affair in Europe informed his views on international law, intervention, and the role of race in relations between the anglosphere, Latin America, and France. Drawing on his understudied Una página del derecho internacional (1862), this article shows how Calvo marshalled the comments on the affair of leading contemporary statesmen and jurists, such as Édouard Drouyn de Lhuys and Robert Phillimore, his querelle with Juan Bautista Alberdi, the father of Argentinian constitutionalism, and the support of his course of journalists writing in the leading European periodicals of his age, in order to encourage British officials to respect Paraguay’s sovereignty, and to bolster the principle that foreign claims had to be settled according to local laws. Above all, this chapter considers the continuities between Calvo’s defence of Napoleon III’s imperial gaze and his defence of the Monroe Doctrine, encouraging a more contextualised reading of the role of empire, intervention, and diplomacy in the emergence and popularisation of Calvo’s clause and doctrine.

Download the chapter from SSRN at the link.