Monica Hakimi

Don't forget to register for Friday's free webinar! Register here: cambridge-org.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Who Will Model Democracy Now? Dani Rodrik looks for bright spots in a world where authoritarianism is on the rise, even in the United States.

Democratic backsliding is now a global phenomenon, with Donald Trump's America only the most visible and dramatic example. But @drodrik.bsky.social still sees some bright spots elsewhere. bit.ly/4m0PTI9

Completing @ajil.bsky.social's Reparations study, Part II in Unbound probes 6 cases of reparation demands met or unmet: Haiti's cholera epidemic, African resource exploitation, atrocities against Mau Mau veterans, Native American cultural objects, Canada's Indian Residential Schools, & slavery.1/

Thanks to the three of them and to all of the participating authors for their contributions!

We hope others continue the conversation by building on the collective thinking in this issue—and in the double symposia that we have published alongside it in Unbound, with @harlangcohen.bsky.social, Chantal Thomas, and Veronika Fikfak as special editors. 5/

We think such goals require a more openly and deliberately redistributive frame—which, as we explain, operates in a different register. 4/

As we explain in our opening essay, we came away from the discussion less convinced that a reparatory frame is the best way to think about or to try to accomplish the redistributive goals that tend to be embedded in demands for transformative reparations. 3/

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Ingrid and I launched this special issue both to capture and to push the thinking in the field on reparations—more specifically, on what we call “transformative reparations,” focused on redressing large-scale historic harms, such as those arising from colonialism, slavery, and climate change. 2/

I am excited that this special issue of the @ajil.bsky.social —on reparations in international law—is now out! 1/

Ingrid and I issued the following statement in the just-released issue of @ajil.bsky.social. A travesty that it has to be said.

Abstract

This paper is a product of years of frustration with—and yet, an unrelenting commitment to—the field of international law. I hope it helps to launch a (more) productive conversation about what intl law has historically done and where the field might go from here.

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Mountain and lake view

Same

Same

I finally managed to escape the news feed, and it was glorious.

My review of Daryl Levinson’s provocative book; “Law for Leviathan” is now out in the Michigan Law Review.

repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol123/i...

This was a great event, largely because Kinstler, Hassan, and Roth are all so inspiring. Thanks to @mcnallyjackson.bsky.social for hosting.

This ⬇️ is becoming more and more relevant, and not just for a few of us. I mean everyone.

No "State Secrets” in Removals of Non-US Citizens to El Salvador A series of statements by senior officials preclude the Trump administration's state secrets privilege in the the El Salvador removal cases.

I put much work into this.

DOJ is trying to block courts' access to info in #AbregoGarcia and Alien Enemies Act cases by asserting it is a "state secret."

I walk through the clear case law on this topic.

I provide a Table of senior officials' statements that preclude the state secret privilege.

Meeting friends and heroes at the EUI workshop “Shifting Powers, Shifting Roles:
The Present and Future of International Institutions”.

Brilliant keynote discussions by @monicahakimi.bsky.social, Tony Anghie, @sarahnou.bsky.social.

Also a great setting to discuss de-dollarisation and int’l law!

Thanks! Western Sahara will have its own section—in the part on occupation (and annexation). The TOC for the new edition should be available soon.

When a constitutional and a corporate lawyer put their heads together to suggest how NOT to do governance reforms @columbiauniversity.bsky.socia

balkin.blogspot.com/2025/05/revi...

Thanks to our loyal users for constantly sending us helpful suggestions for improvement and to my co-authors, Jeff and Steve, for the amazing working relationship.

International Law textbook

If you are teaching international law in the fall, the sixth edition just went to the printers—with extensive updates throughout and entirely new problems on the South China Sea, the Chagos Archipelago, Indigenous persons, Western Sahara, and the IMF.

I first read this to mean LLM _students_ and was all “?!?” But I guess it makes sense for the other kind of LLM.

We think the research agenda must now focus on identifying the parts of the old legal system that are still valuable and salvageable—and the compromises that must be made to sustain in a world with very different constellations of power. 6/6

Still, it played an outsized role. For good or for ill, the tide has shifted. The US is no longer doing what it historically has done to support int’l law. It is now actively undermining int’l law. The repercussions for the future world order will, in our view, be dramatic. 5/

It did an enormous amount to support the legalization and institutionalization of int’l affairs, and the maintenance and regulation of states.

It did so imperfectly, hypocritically, and often unfairly. So the int’l legal system that it played an outsized role in constituting was badly flawed. 4/

Of course, the US _has_ at times undercut intl law. It has also, to an extraordinary degree, used its power to bolster international law—and specifically, the international law with which we have all become familiar. 3/

We think that intl lawyers have on the whole been slow to appreciate the severity of the threat, because they have so often focused on the ways in which the US used its power to undercut or diminish international law. 2/

My piece with @jkatzcogan.bsky.social is out in @ajil.bsky.social. We argue that the international legal system—which the US played an outsized role in establishing & maintaining—is under enormous strain. This was true pre-Trump and is all the more so now. 1/ 🧶

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Join us in person @eui-eu.bsky.social or online on May 19 for an event, focusing on the changing global order and the role of international institutions in these turbulent times. 3 panels, a keynote and a roundtable will address the pressing ?s of what we do now, when the world we knew crumbles

we are very lucky to have so many great people (@monicahakimi.bsky.social, @justinauriburu.bsky.social @tim-lindgren.bsky.social @kanadbagchi.bsky.social @lawprofpuig.bsky.social & more) taking part in this event, so don's miss the chance, check the program & register here www.eui.eu/events?id=57...