35: David Kennedy – Law as a Global Terrain of Struggle

Professor David Kennedy is the Manley O. Hudson Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Institute for Global Law and Policy at Harvard Law School.  Described by prominent historian Samuel Moyn as “the single most important innovator in international legal thought of the past several decades,” David is renowned for his penetrating and critical analysis of the place of law in global governance.  He is the author of numerous books and articles exploring issues of global governance, human rights, development policy and the nature of professional legal expertise.

His most recent book with Harvard University Professor, Of Law and the World, is a searching dialogue between himself and close associate and renowned critical legal scholar in his own right, Professor Martti Koskenniemi. 

In this conversation we talk about a political economy approach to global governance, what international law has got to do with it, experts and lawyers as “governors,” the role of the critical scholarship, and much, much more.

David can be found here at Harvard Law School. 

We discussed:

A World of Struggle: How Power, Law and Expertise Shape Global Political Economy (Princeton University Press, 2016).

Interview with David Kennedy, ‘Global Governance in Crisis Time’, 25 June 2020.

‘The Mystery of Global Governance’, Ohio Northern University Law Review, 34, 2008.

The Rights of Spring: A Memoir of Innocence Abroad (Princeton University Press, 2009).

34: Rhoda Howard-Hassmann – In Defense of Universal Human Rights

Rhoda Howard-Hassmann joins us to talk about the universality of human rights, women’s rights, citizenship apartheid, cultural relativism, and much, much more.

You can also listen to the interview audio on SoundCloud at this link.