Dr Gerry Simpson is Reader in Public International Law at the London
School of Economics. He is author of Great Powers and Outlaw States, the
2005 winner of the American Society of International Law's Prize for
Outstanding Contribution to Creative Scholarship. Dr Simpson studied law
at the University of Aberdeen, the University of British Columbia and the
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) where he received his doctorate. He has
taught at the University of British Columbia, the University of Melbourne
(where he is currently a Visiting Senior Fellow) and the Australian
National University, and he has held visiting positions at Sydney Law
School (1996) and Harvard Law School (1999). He has been a Legal Adviser
to the Australian Government on international criminal law and has worked
for several non-governmental organisations.
His main research interests are in public international law, international
legal theory (particularly the intersection between the disciplines of
International Law and International Relations) and international criminal
law. His publications include The Law of War Crimes (Kluwer, 1997) with
Tim McCormack. War Crimes Law Volumes I and II (Ashgate, 2005) and The
Nature of International Law (Ashgate, 2001). He is currently completing a
book called Law, War and Crime (Polity Press, 2006)."
Lecture Synopsis:
The Future of International Law
In this lecture, Dr Simpson will discuss two, somewhat contradictory,
orientations in discussions of Public International Law. On one hand,
there is tendency to denigrate international law as a projection of Great
Power prerogatives ("a tool of the powerful"). On the other hand, there is
a widespread sense that international law represents a way of constraining
these Powers or limiting sovereignty or advancing progressive agendas. Dr
Simpson will discuss the origins of these two orientations and their
current relationship to one another (partlcularly, but not exclusively, in
the context of the debates over the legality of the Iraq War). He will
conclude by examining the prospects for establishing an ethically
defensible international legal order.