Foreign Relations Law

[Marc Weller is Professor of International Law and International Constitutional Studies at the University of Cambridge and Editor of the Oxford Handbook on the Use of Force in International Law.] The international rules on the use of force are simple. Force may never be employed as a means of international policy. Force is only available by way of self-defence, if specifically...

[David J. Scheffer is a former US diplomat, an international law professor, and a Senior Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations.  He is author of The Sit Room: In the Theater of War and Peace.] Legal principles matter as two major democracies—Taiwan and Ukraine—are threatened by superpower neighbors. Whether one argues about Taiwan’s status as a country or a province...

[Mustafa Tuncer is a PhD Candidate at University of Exeter. His research focuses on the legal situation of civilian vessels in armed conflicts at sea.] Post-Brexit fisheries disputes between the UK and France broke out over the island of Jersey’s territorial waters in an unprecedented way. After the post-Brexit trade deal on 24 December 2020, the government of Jersey, a self-governing...

[Yilin Wang is a PhD candidate in International Law at the Graduate Institute and a research assistant of the China, Law and Development Project at the University of Oxford.] On 16 September 2021, Armenia instituted proceedings against Azerbaijan before the ICJ on the grounds of racial discrimination, hatred and ethnic cleansing against individuals of Armenian ethnic or national origin in light...

[Prachi Tadsare is a lawyer with the World Bank’s Legal Vice Presidency unit. All views and opinions expressed in the article are those of the author and do not reflect any views of the institution. The author also wants to thank Rashmi Dharia for her help in brainstorming on law and culture for this article, and Paige Casaly for her reviewing help.] The inspiration for...

[C. Ignacio de Casas is an Adjunct Professor of Public International Law and the Executive Director of the Human Rights Program at the Faculty of Law of Universidad Austral.] I have a state, and I'm going with you as my lawyer. International law is your field. I'm offering you the adventure of a lifetime: to save an independent state. Will you...

[Andrea Mensi is a postdoctoral researcher in public international law at the University of Lugano and adjunct professor at the University of Milan; he is an attorney at law admitted to the Milan Bar.] Introduction While the international community is still debating about whether to recognize a government led by the Taliban, there are further critical issues to consider, such as the...

[Lucia Leontiev is a PhD candidate in international and human rights law at Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies of Pisa (Italy) and Maastricht University.] Between 17 and 19 September 2021, Russian federal elections were held. For the realist, the results of the elections were not a surprise, as the Kremlin-supported party, United Russia, won the majority of seats in the parliament...

[Julia Emtseva is a Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law.] The recent developments in Afghanistan shocked the whole world. With the US withdrawal from the country, the Taliban rapidly swept across Afghanistan and took over Kabul. With no clear prospects of the country’s development, the issues of justice are acute as never before. After the failure of past...

[Alessandro Pizzuti is co-founder of UpRights. He also worked as legal officer at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon as well as International Residual Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and International Tribunal for Rwanda. Clare Frances Moran is a lecturer in law at Edinburgh Napier University, teaching and researching public international law, focusing on issues of responsibility in international criminal law,...

[John Quigley is Professor Emeritus at the Moritz College of Law of The Ohio State University.] On June 25, the State Department tweeted on its Near East Affairs account, “US policy regarding the Golan has not changed, and reports to the contrary are false.” The tweet came in reaction to a report by the Washington Free Beacon that President Joe Biden intended...