International Law and Human Rights

International law and human rights scholarship examines how states, international institutions, and non-state actors create and enforce legal obligations that transcend national borders, covering everything from the prosecution of war crimes to the protection of civilians in armed conflict. At its core, the work grapples with a fundamental tension: global governance depends on norms that claim universal authority, yet those norms are interpreted and applied by actors whose interests and legal traditions often collide. Researchers are currently pressed by questions such as when Security Council mandates override standing human rights commitments, and how competing legal orders — domestic, regional, and international — can be reconciled when they demand contradictory things of the same state. Understanding where accountability ends and sovereignty begins remains one of the most consequential unsettled problems in contemporary international relations.

Works

167,413

Total citations

704,816

Keywords

International Criminal LawHuman RightsGlobal GovernanceInternational Humanitarian LawState ResponsibilitySecurity Council