SCILJ Seminars

Tensions and Limitations of Contemporary International Law: The Wars in Ukraine and Gaza

Description: In different ways, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have placed great stress on the leading norms and key institutions of international law. Both conflicts have raised profound questions, in the context of current geopolitical realities and the nature of modern warfare, about the meaning and application of such fundamental norms as the prohibition on aggression, the requirements of self-defense, the protection of non-combatants during armed conflict, and the right to self-determination. In both conflicts, there has been a striking absence of any underlying international consensus on what these widely accepted norms mean in actual practice. The wars also have underlined the severe limits on international institutions such as the United Nations to prevent, manage or affect in any meaningful way the course of events, especially by comparison with the role played by individual state actors, formal and informal alliances, and other groupings of states driven by domestic and external economic, political, and geostrategic interests. The presentation will close by raising the question of what these two wars may tell us about the current state of international law and its future prospects. Bio: Before joining DePaul, Alberto R. Coll [https://law.depaul.edu/faculty-and-staff/faculty-a-z/Pages/alberto-coll.aspx] served for five years as dean of the Center for Naval Warfare Studies, the U.S. Navy’s foremost strategic research center. A cum laude graduate from Princeton University in history, he earned his JD and PhD in government and foreign affairs from the University of Virginia. Professor Coll is the author of The Wisdom of Statecraft and editor of several other books on international relations and law. He is the author of prize-winning articles in the American Journal of International Law and the Naval War College Review, as well as articles in Foreign Policy, Washington Quarterly, Harvard Journal of International Law, the University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, and the UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs. Professor Coll is a member of the Virginia Bar, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Instituto de Estudios Juridicos y Politicos at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. At DePaul, he teaches courses on international law, international human rights, U.S. foreign relations, terrorism, international trade and Latin America.

Where lies the limits of freedom of expression?

Using the recent cases of Quran burnings in Sweden and the phenomena of Holocaust denial as concrete examples, this panel discussion explores issues of freedom of expression, freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Speakers: Frederic Brusi works for the Swedish Agency for Support for Faith Communities (SST). Raphael Cohen-Almagor is professor of politics at the University of Hull in the UK and the Olof Palme visiting professor, Lund University. Sally Longworth is a researcher at the Swedish Defence Agency (FOI) and lecturer in public international law at Stockholm University. The event was moderated by Rouzbeh Parsi, head of the Middle East and North Africa programme at UI. This seminar was held in collaboration with The Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI). Be sure to check this and other events published as podcasts in their channel, available here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ui-seminars/id1604798669

Defender’s Paradox and the War in Ukraine: A Study of a Legal Dilemma

Description: The ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine has highlighted a textbook breach of international legal norms that prohibit the use of force and declare respect for the territorial integrity of the states in international relations. The classical nature of the conflict (clear aggressor v. defender that are engaged in prolonged warfare) not seen for some decades, brings up to light a tension between ad bellum and in bello norms that leads to a paradoxical situation where defending state will breach either one set of norms or the other, no matter what it chooses to do. By studying this tension, the article seeks a definition and understanding of this defender’s paradox, as well as the true scope of obligations of the defending side and possibilities to overcome the paradoxical situation in a legal context. This is achieved through a combination of descriptive and doctrinal legal analysis. By examining a case from the war in Ukraine, the study sheds more light on the implications of the paradox for post-conflict justice and contributes to the overall knowledge about the interaction between ad bellum and in bello norms in international armed conflicts. Bio: Dr. Kamal Makili-Aliyev [https://www.gu.se/en/about/find-staff/kamalmakili-aliyev] is a Senior Lecturer in Human Rights at the University of Gothenburg and an Affiliated Researcher at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. His primary research interests are in the fields of international law and international relations, with a specialization in the areas of international security and conflict resolution. He has held previous positions as a Senior Lecturer at Malmö University, a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Lund University, and as Vice-Rector of Lomonosov Moscow State University Baku Branch. Dr. Makili-Aliyev is a Fellow of the National Security Institute in Amherst, MA, USA. Pål Wrange [https://www.su.se/english/profiles/pwran-1.184636], SCILJ’s Director and Professor of International Law at Stockholm University, will provide further comments before opening the virtual floor for discussions.

Introduction to research questions in International Law

In the inaugural recording of one of SCILJ's weekly BBLs (brown-bag lunchtime meetings), Professor Mark Klamberg (Stockholm University) shares insights on how to develop research questions in international law. This listener-friendly introduction will also be helpful to researchers and students from other legal fields.

Self-Defence and “Unwilling or Unable” States - Part III

Part 3/3 of Said Mahmoudi's lecture featured on the UN's Audiovisual Library of International Law