In a cross-posted episode I discuss with Jonathan Hafetz, host of the Law on Film podcast, and professor of law at Seton Hall Law School, the film "Eye in the Sky" - a 2015 film about a British and U.S. operated drone strike against al Shabaab terrorists in Kenya, which intelligently and engagingly explores the legal, ethical, philosophical, political, and strategic issues raised by the operation. We focus on and examine the film's treatment of the legal principles implicated, but also explore their relationship with some of the ethical and strategic aspects of the decision-making, and go on t ..read more

A discussion with Tom Dannenbaum, a professor of international law at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, on his work on the war crime of starvation. We delve into the proper interpretation of the IHL prohibition on starvation as a method of warfare, and the war crime of intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the Rome Statute of the ICC, considering what precisely constitutes the criminal act, and what exactly is the nature of the wrong that the crime seeks to address. We go on to discuss how this should inform our understanding of the Israeli siege of Gaza ..read more

A conversation with Boyd van Dijk, currently a McKenzie Fellow at the University of Melbourne in Australia, about his new book, Preparing for War: The Making of the Geneva Conventions. We discuss some of the myths surrounding the history of the conventions, as well as the tensions and conflicts not just between parties to the negotiations, but also within delegations, caused by conflicting interests, values, and paradoxes within their positions. We dig into the weeds of some of the different aspects of the negotiations, and discuss why this history should matter to how we think about and under ..read more

A conversation with Leila Sada, Professor of Law at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, United States, and special advisor on crimes against humanity to the Prosecutor of the ICC. We discuss the decade long effort to establish a new international convention to prohibit and punish crimes against humanity, the role and limitations of the ICC in governing crimes against humanity, the relationship between genocide and crimes against humanity, and a number of other related issues - a fascinating discussion! For more info and links to materials referred to, visit our website: https://j ..read more

A conversation with Dr. Chile Eboe-Osuji, former President of the ICC and Distinguished International Jurist at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law, Toronto Metropolitan University in Canada. We discuss why the ICC cannot prosecute the crime of aggression in Ukraine and what the better alternatives might be, the jurisdiction and immunity issues that might arise, how other war crimes should be prosecuted, and how the war might provide an impetus for amending the Rome Statute, establishing a right to peace, restoring the jus ad bellum regime, and strengthening international criminal justice. A f ..read more

A conversation with David Sloss, Professor of Law at the University of Santa Clara, about his new book, "Tyrants on Twitter: Protecting Democracies from Information Warfare." We discuss the recent history Russian and Chinese exploitation of social media, and explore the strategic and geopolitical implications of allowing these countries engage in this "warfare by other means" to undermine democracies around the world. We examine David's law and policy proposal for how democracies might combat this form of information warfare, which includes an international agreement among democratic states to ..read more

A conversation about the Russian invasion of Ukraine with Professors Eliav Lieblich of Tel Aviv University, Marko Milanovic of the University of Nottingham, and Ingrid Wuerth of Vanderbilt Law School. We focus on how we should be thinking about the implications of this war for the jus ad bellum regime and the collective security system going forward. While the invasion is clearly an unlawful and egregious act of aggression, have unlawful uses of force by Western states served to weaken the legal regime? Has our focus on humanitarian issues and human rights law weakened the system? Is this war ..read more

A conversation with Sam Moyn, Professor of Jurisprudence at Yale Law School and Professor of History at Yale University. We discuss his recent and acclaimed book "Humane," which, drawing on an insight of Leo Tolstoy, argues that as the United States has come to focus on humanizing armed conflict in the last few decades, its interest in constraining the incidence of war has declined. We discuss the historical accounts that form the core premises of this argument, and dig into the nature and implications of the inverse relationship that forms the center of his argument. As the invasion of Ukrain ..read more

A conversation with Olivier Corten, Professor of International Law at the Free University of Brussels in Belgium, about the recently published 2nd edition of his book "The Law Against War." Our discussion ranges from the differing methodological approaches to the international law on the use of force, the threshold for what constitutes a use of force, the scope and operation of the doctrine of self-defense, the proper understanding of the principle of necessity, the validity of anticipatory self-defense, how the law on use of force applies to actions against non-state actors, cyber operations ..read more

A conversation with Aslı Bâli, Professor of Law at UCLA in the United States, on the lawfulness of comprehensive autonomous economic sanctions, and the relationship they may have with the laws of war. Economic sanctions can cause the kind of humanitarian harm and economic disruption that could be unlawful under IHL, or constitute a prohibited use of force if caused by cyber operations or naval blockade, and are also potentially in violation of human rights law - so why are they so often considered a legitimate and benign alternative to the use of force? We explore in a fascinating conversation ..read more