I am the John G. Winant Associate Professor of U.S. Foreign Policy at the Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR) of the University of Oxford. I am also a Professorial Fellow at Nuffield College and Co-Director of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law, and Armed Conflict (ELAC).
My research concerns the role of law and morality in international relations, specifically in war. In one strand of research, I develop legal and philosophical theories about how international law can be an instrument of morality in war, albeit an imperfect one. This work speaks to debates in just war theory and international law. The second strand of my research seeks to explain how moral and legal norms affect the reality of war. I use both qualitative and experimental research to contribute to debates about the capacity of international law to constrain military decision-making. I also study how normative considerations can shape mass attitudes towards the use of force and the attitudes of conflict-affected populations. Several of my ongoing research projects concern the moral psychology of decision-making in war.
My first book, entitled Legitimate Targets? International Law, Social Construction and US Bombing, proposes a constructivist theory of how international law influences the choice of targets of attack in U.S. air warfare. I test the theory with three case studies of U.S. air warfare. I further uncover tensions between a legal and a moral definition of a legitimate target of attack and one guided by strategic considerations alone. The book appeared with Cambridge University Press as part of the series Cambridge Studies in International Relations in 2015. The book is based on my doctoral dissertation, which won the Dasturzada Dr. Jal Pavry Thesis Prize (Oxford, DPIR) and the Lord Bryce Prize (Political Studies Association). The book was joint runner-up for the Birks Prize for Outstanding legal Scholarship (Society of Legal Scholars) and received an Honourable Mention (Theory Section, International Studies Association).
In my second book, entitled Law Applicable to Armed Conflict (co-authored with Ziv Bohrer and Helen Duffy), I propose a moral division of labour between human rights and humanitarian law. I examine under what circumstances each body of law better fulfils what I argue are the moral tasks of law. My contribution to the book provides a moral justification for the so-called displacement view, i.e. the position that humanitarian law should displace human rights law in certain types of armed conflict. The book appeared in January 2020 with Cambridge University Press.
News
Prize:
Phili Leverhulme Prize in Politics and International Relations, awarded by the Leverhulme Trust
Media:
Blog post on Public Ethics: The moral muddle of muddle of blaming the West for Russia's aggression
Interview on BBC Radio4, The Moral Maze: Putin - did we help create a war criminal? (27 min)
Interview on BBC Radio 4, Sunday: What Just War Theory has to say about Russia's Invasion of Ukraine (14:20 min)
Latest article:
Kettle of Hawks: Public Opinion on the Nuclear Taboo and Noncombatant Immunity in the United States, United Kingdom Israel, and France, Security Studies (2022), open access!
Latest book:
Law Applicable to Armed Conflict, Cambridge University Press (2020) – Ziv Bohrer, Janina Dill and Helen Duffy
Photo Credit: Catarina Heeckt (London School of Economics)
