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Public International Law Program

Overview of research

Research within the Public International Law program spans a broad spectrum of areas of public international law. Associates of this program are particularly active in the following research areas:

  • the history and theory of public international law, including the discipline's particular history in Australia and in other post-colonial settings;
  • international human rights law and policy, including refugee rights;
  • inquiries into the global economy, including the law and practice of foreign investment and the work of international institutions;
  • public international law on the use of force and humanitarian law, including legal responses to terrorism;
  • the law of global climate change and related inquiries;
  • international legal pedagogy, including clinical education in the public international law domain; and
  • processes of international environmental governance through international dispute settlement.
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Current research projects underway within this program are detailed below.

Teaching and research supervision

Associates of this program are involved in the teaching of a wide range of subjects across the public international law field in both the undergraduate and the postgraduate program.

Associates of this program are also active in research supervision in the field of public international law. A list of research projects currently being pursued by students at the Masters and Doctoral level under the rubric of this program is available here.

Those interested in pursuing postgraduate research in public international law with associates of this program, particularly research with a multi-disciplinary orientation, are encouraged to seek further information through the Faculty's Postgraduate Research office and/or to contact any individual listed below who are working in the area of interest.

Current research and writing

Research and writing projects currently underway under the direction of Faculty members associated with this program include the following (listed in alphabetical order):

  • Corporations and Human Rights (Professor David Kinley. Forthcoming volume in Ashgate’s International Library of Essays series)
  • Events: The Force of International Law (Dr Fleur Johns, together with Associate Professor Sundhya Pahuja of the University of Melbourne and Richard Joyce of Birkbeck College, the University of London)
  • Human Rights and Global Economy: Two Globalizations (Professor David Kinley. Monograph to be published by Cambridge University Press in 2008)
  • Impact of WTO Membership on Human Rights in Vietnam (Professor David Kinley, with Ho Chi Minh National Political Academy 2006-7; funded by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung)
  • International Courts and Environmental Protection (Dr Tim Stephens. Monograph to be published by Cambridge University Press in 2008)
  • International and Comparative Anti-Terrorism Law (Dr Ben Saul), including International Law Documents on Terrorism to be published by Hart, Oxford, in 2008)
  • International Humanitarian Law (Ben Saul)
  • Laws of Lawlessness: International Law in Economy and Security (Dr Fleur Johns)
  • Rethinking Water: Mapping International Law and Policy Paradigms (Associate Professor Rosemary Lyster together with Dr Fleur Johns, Dr Ben Saul and Dr Tim Stephens)
  • The Complete Law of the Sea (Dr Tim Stephens with Professor Donald R Rothwell, Australian National University College of Law)
  • The WTO and Human Rights (Professor David Kinley with Professors Joseph and Waincymer (both Monash University). Edited collection to be published by Edward Elgar in 2008)
  • Climate change and international law (Tim Stephens, Ben Saul and Jane McAdam)
  • International Law Documents on Antarctica (Gillian Triggs, Tim Stephens and Ben Saul)
  • Private security contractors and mercenaries in international law (Katherine Fallah)
  • The international crime of aggression (Edwin Bikundo)
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Program publications

In addition to the publications listed in the Publications page, Associates in this program are responsible for editing the Australian International Law Journal under the General Editorship of Dr Ben Saul. Associates in this program are also annual contributors to the case notes section of the [[i||Australian Yearbook of International Law]].

Seminars

Associates of this program and Visitors are active contributors to the Seminar program of the Sydney Centre for International Law.

Public policy submissions

Associates of this program frequently make oral and written submissions to inquiries by parliamentary committees, departmental reviews and law reform bodies on various aspects of public international law and related public policy issues.

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People

Sydney Centre for International Law Associates contributing to this program are (in alphabetical order): Ms Irene Baghoomians, Professor Mary Crock, Associate Professor Fleur Johns, Professor David Kinley, Dr Kate Miles, Dr Jacqueline Mowbray, PrProfessor Ben Saul, Emeritus Professor Ivan Shearer, Professor Anne Twomey, and Associate Professor Tim Stephens.

The Program Director is Associate Professor Fleur Johns.

Sydney Centre for International Law Affiliates contributing to this program are: Nicole Abadee, Justin Hogan-Doran, Dr Hitoshi Nasu, Alison Pert, Dr Jane McAdam, Robert Dubler SC and Dr Christopher Ward.

Feedback and contacts

Comments about the program are welcome, as are expressions of interest in research collaboration. Please contact or .

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