Sixth Annual Grotius Lecture: World on Fire

Abstract

Many thanks to all of you for coming this evening. It's a great pleasure and honor for me to be giving the Grotius Lecture this year. I'm very grateful to Hannah Buxbaum, Charlotte Ku, and Anne- Marie Slaughter for inviting me. Many thanks also to Danny Bradlow and to the American University, Washington College of Law for co-sponsoring this event and to Upendra Baxi for commenting. My plan is to speak for about thirty minutes. I'll start by presenting the main thesis of my book, World on Fire, and I'll try to illustrate that thesis with examples from specific countries, from Indonesia to Bolivia to Russia to Sierra Leone. I'll then shift my focus to the United States and how it fits into the picture. I'll conclude with some thoughts about policy implications for international institutions and international lawyers.