EJIL: The Podcast!
EJIL: The Podcast! provides in-depth, expert and accessible discussion of international law issues in contemporary international and national affairs. It features the Editors of the European Journal of International Law and of its blog, EJIL: Talk!. The podcast is produced by the European Journal of Law with support from staff at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.
Episodes
Episode 43: Sudan—Does international law have anything to say?
The situation in Sudan is often described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Going by the numbers, it could well be more than 150,000 people have died. More than 12 million people have been displaced. More than 21 million people are in a situation of acute food insecurity. But this framing of a humanitarian crisis, or worse, a humanitarian tragedy, seems to deplete the situation of agency,
Episode 42: Russia, Imperial Continuities and Histories of International Law
One feature of the turn to history in international law has been the adoption of ‘national’ traditions (here using ‘national’ very loosely) as a lens through which to explore a broader picture. This focus on national traditions has converged with rich work styled as comparative international law, exploring how international law operates as a fragile common language even as governments deploy its g
Episode 41: Reading Recommendations
Panelists Michelle Ratton Sanchez and Nicolás M. Perrone share reading recommendations on some of the themes in Ep 41: Thinking through Rupture in International Economic Law: Views from Latin America
Episode 41: Thinking through Rupture in International Economic Law: Views from Latin America
In January 2026, the Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney gave a widely noted speech at the World Economic Forum, in which he described the current period we're living through as a rupture in the world order. How should we be thinking about rupture – and continuity – in relation to the contemporary international economic order? What is happening to international law, the purposes to which it is be
Episode 40: Palestinian Legal Frontiers: SC Res 2803 and beyond
Palestine and the Palestinians are often the subjects of conversations in the news, on blogs and in judicial opinions, but not present in conversations themselves. The issues are treated episodically in connection with dramatic events or judicial processes or UN resolutions, and these can entrench an atomization of attention into the atrocities committed in the Israeli-occupied territories of East
Episode 39: Holding the Line
In this episode, Philippa Webb and Marko Milanovic are joined by Nicolas Angelet and Oona Hathaway to discuss the legality of the US strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and the additional threats made by the United States against Venezuela, which include a possible land invasion. The hosts and their guests then turn to the recent UNRWA advisory opinion of the International Court
Episode 38: Non-intervention— past, present and future
Nehal Bhuta & Megan DonaldsonWe see today flagrant breaches of the prohibitions on the threat or use of force, but also renewed pressure and scrutiny on a related but broader prohibition, the prohibition of intervention, forcible or otherwise. In some ways, it is this broader norm of non-intervention which presents the most deep-seated puzzles in international law and international politics. I
Episode 37: The ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on Climate Obligations: Remarkable, Radical and Robust
There were gasps in the courtroom when the ICJ delivered its advisory opinion on the obligations of States in respect of climate change on 23 July 2025. In this episode, Margaret Young (Melbourne Law School), Phoebe Okowa (Queen Mary University of London, member of the International Law Commission) and Lavanya Rajamani (Oxford) explore how, with its robust and at times radical reasoning,
Episode 36: The Scourge of War
In this episode, Dapo Akande, Marko Milanovic and Philippa Webb are joined by Tom Dannenbaum to discuss two sets of issues. First, the legality of the use of force by Israel and the United States against Iran, and specifically its nuclear programme, from the standpoint of the jus ad bellum. The discussion turns around the possible justifications that Israel can give for its use of force, incl
Episode 35: Human Mobility and International Law
Migration has become a defining issue of our time, visibly shaping political discourse, legal systems, and public imaginaries. Yet for all its salience, international law’s capacity to respond to the complexities of human mobility remains fractured, fragile, and often inadequate. In this episode, we take a hard look at the international legal architecture surrounding migration: where it comes from
Episode 34: In the Family: Family Tropes in International Law
Susan Marks’ EJIL 36(1) Foreword asks ‘If the World is a Family, What Kind of Family Is It?’. It’s a provocative question for international lawyers, as the trope of the family runs through the discipline in all kinds of complex, even contradictory, ways. In this episode, Janne Nijman (Graduate Institute & University of Amsterdam) interviews Susan Marks (LSE) about her Foreword and the larger p
Episode 33: Owning the Future? International Law and Technology as a Critical Project
International law operates in a world of rapid technological transformation. From the battlefield to the border, from online content moderation to open-source investigation, from humanitarianism to development, from counterterrorism to migration management, practices of central concern to international lawyers are progressively altered by the introduction of new technological tools. Many of these
Episode 32: No Country for Women: Lawyering for Gender Justice in Afghanistan
Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban has sought to reverse Afghan women’s hard-won progress toward gender equality. Through dozens of decrees, policies, and statements, it has targeted the autonomy and rights of women and girls, barring them from public life and severely restricting their basic freedoms. Yet, Afghan women have refused to accept their political, social, and economic erasur
Episode 31: Gradually, then Suddenly - Climate, Trade and the Charter Order in Precarious Times
Christina Voigt, Andrew Lang and Mona Ali Khalil join Megan Donaldson to reflect on the present moment in international law from the perspectives of the climate, trade and security regimes. The conversation brings out divergent senses of the history of the present; perceptions of how deep the current dissensus is; and views on the avenues open to lawyers today. (For context, and as if to unde
Episode 30: On the Precipice: The International Criminal Court and State Immunity
In this episode, Paola Gaeta and Roger O’Keefe join Marko Milanovic and Philippa Webb to discuss recent developments at the International Criminal Court. The Court has now issued arrest warrants, or arrest warrants have been sought by the Prosecutor, for several serving heads of state or government of states that are not parties to the ICC Statute. Both states parties and non-states parties are no
Episode 29: Echoes from the Invisible College
In this EJIL:The Podcast! Luíza Leão Soares Pereira, Fabio Costa Morosini and Artur Simonyan join Editor-in-Chief Sarah Nouwen. Inspired by their articles on Brazilian textbooks as Markers and Makers of International Law and on International Lawyers in Post-Soviet Eurasia, the conversation explores how students encounter international law during their studies, whether a study of tex
Episode 28: Unlawful Occupation, Annexation and Segregation: The ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on Palestine
We asked three distinguished Palestinian lawyers on to the podcast to discuss the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion. They had views.Hosted by Nehal Bhuta, Professor of International Law at the University of Edinburgh and featuring Professor Ardi Imseis, Queen’s University, Dr Nimer Sultany, SOAS, and former PLO negotiation team member and lawyer, Diana Buttu.
Episode 27: Preoccupied: The ICJ’s Palestine Advisory Opinion
In this episode, Dapo Akande, Marko Milanovic and Philippa Webb are joined by Yuval Shany, and discuss the recent advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. The hosts and their guest explore the Court’s reasoning on how violations of internat
Episode 26: Hunger for Thought
We need to talk about hunger. After seven decades of a decline in mass death from starvation, starvation is now a reality for millions of people. And most of this starvation is not due to natural disasters but man-made. In this episode of EJIL: The Podcast, EJIL Editor in Chief Sarah Nouwen speaks with Michael Fakhri, the UN Rapporteur on the Right to Food and professor at the
Episode 25: Do We Have a Responsibility toward Future Generations?
What is the Alpha and Omega of Climate Control discourse? Surely it is Intergenerational responsibility. Our responsibility towards future generations. Yet, in January 2023 EJIL published Against Future Generations, by Stephen Humphreys, which challenges this comfort zone. Needless to say, the article created a climatic disruption. Listen to the Podcast, moderated by Editor in
Episode 24: The Third World: At the Centre of International Law?
Does the decision of the International Court of Justice with respect to Gaza illustrate the influence of Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL)? Has TWAIL perhaps become ‘mainstream’? And how germane are some of the critiques that have been levelled against TWAIL? In this 24th episode of EJIL:The Podcast!, Antony Anghie, one of TWAIL's founders, discusses
Episode 23: Unhappy New Year! Genocide in the Courtroom
In this episode, Dapo Akande, Marko Milanovic and Philippa Webb, joined by Mike Becker, discuss the oral hearings before the International Court of Justice on provisional measures in the South Africa v. Israel case, in which it is alleged that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. How did the hearings go, what will the Court do now, and what will it eventually do on the merits? The discussion the
Episode 22: Organizing International Organizations
International organizations are often expected to solve problems that states cannot or do not solve. But how should we understand international organizations? Marking the year-long symposium ‘Hidden Gems in International Organizations Law’ in the European Journal of International Law, this podcast discusses how international organizations have been theorized by various scholars and
Episode 21: The ICC’s Other Africa Bias?
The International Criminal Court has been frequently accused of a bias against Africa in that all its defendants thus far have been from Africa. But might the ICC suffer from another bias that disadvantages Africa? EJIL editor-in-chief Sarah Nouwen discusses with Stewart Manley and Pardis M. Tehrani who, together with Rajah Rasiah, have authored the EJIL article ‘The
Episode 20: Disordering International Law
Much of international law is about ordering. But in her article in issue 33(3) of the European Journal of International Law, Michelle Staggs Kelsall calls for the disordering of international law. This is not an appeal to create more chaos in the world – there seems to be plenty of it. It is an invitation to open up new ways of thinking about and in international law. Tune in t
Episode 19: From Russia with War: Part Deux
In this episode Marko Milanovic, Dapo Akande and Philippa Webb are joined by Oona Hathaway (Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law at Yale Law School) to discuss big legal issues arising from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, one year on, including the arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin, the application of international humanitarian law in the conflict, and problems r
Episode 18: Be Careful What You Ask For
In this episode Dapo Akande, Marko Milanovic and Philippa Webb are joined by Philippe Sands and Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh. They reflect on the role and significance of advisory opinions by international courts, particularly in the context of various current efforts to litigate legal issues regarding climate change in such advisory proceedings in several different courts. They also discuss previou
Episode 17: What’s wrong with the international law on jurisdiction?
What conduct occurring where are states allowed to regulate? The international law on jurisdiction provides part of the answer. But international lawyers use different images when conceptualising the geographical reach of states' jurisdiction to prescribe their laws. In this podcast, the two contenders in a debate in issue 33(2) of the European Journal of International Law engage with ea
Episode 16: Disputing Archives
In the third episode of ‘Reckonings with Europe: Pasts and Present’, James Lowry and Meredith Terretta take up the object of archives: how law conceptualizes the archives of states; the ‘displaced’, ‘disputed’ or ‘migrated’ archives left when empires and states are reconstituted; and what state archives can and cannot tell us.Works mentioned, in order of mention:James Lowry (ed), Displaced Ar
Episode 15: Now or Never, Or Maybe Later: The Use of Force to Recover an Occupied Territory
This episode accompanies the launching of a new rubric in the European Journal of International Law – Legal/Illegal. The first installment of Legal/Illegal, which appears in issue 32(4), focuses on the question whether the use of force by a state to recover a territory that has been occupied for many years may be considered a lawful act of self-defence. In the Podcast, Michal Saliternik inter
Episode 14: From Russia With War
In this episode Dapo Akande, Marko Milanovic and Philippa Webb, joined by Rebecca Barber and Mike Becker, examine various aspects of Russia’s war on Ukraine. The discussion begins with an evaluation of Russia’s legal justification for invading Ukraine, moving to an analysis of the responses to Russia’s aggression by the UN General Assembly and the Security Council. We then turn to the proceedings
Episode 13: Loot!
In this second instalment of the 'Reckonings with Europe: Pasts and Present' series, Evelien Campfens, Chika Okeke-Agulu and Dan Hicks reflect on calls for return of cultural artefacts looted under European empire. How does (international) law respond to these calls? Does law even matter—and if so which kind? Who resists return, and why? And what might return mean today?Select texts and reports di
Episode 12: No Licence to Kill
In this episode Dapo Akande, Marko Milanovic and Philippa Webb discuss the legal issues that arise from targeted killings conducted by states outside their territory. They begin with a discussion of the recent blockbuster judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case concerning the killing in London in 2006 of the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko. They talk about how the Court d
Episode 11: The Limelight on ESIL!
In this episode of the podcast, Joseph Weiler is joined by Helene Ruiz-Fabri, Photini Pazartzis and Marko Milanovic, to discuss the EJIL’s sister institution, the European Society of International Law (ESIL) – its foundation, mission, governance, and plans for the future, including the forthcoming annual conference in Stockholm.
Episode 10: Whatever happened to International Law & Democracy?
Whatever happened to International Law & Democracy? Accompanying the Symposium on that question in EJIL issue 32(1), this podcast contains a duel between anti-anti-international-law& democracy scholar Akbar Rasulov and anti-international law & democracy scholar Brad Roth. Hosted by EJIL Editor in Chief Sarah Nouwen, they disagree on the curi
Episode 9: Reviewing Book Reviewing
Which author of a legal monograph has not had that frustrating feeling -- Why is my book not getting reviewed (and his or her book is...!)? And yet, in one of the many exquisite paradoxes of academic life, all Book Review editors of legal journals will attest to the difficulty of getting colleagues to accept to do a book review. 'I have to read that book carefully (i.e. going beyond the index 
Episode 8: After the Fall
In this new series, 'Reckonings with Europe: Pasts and Present', Surabhi Ranganathan and Megan Donaldson host conversations about enduring legacies of empire, capitalism, and racism in international law and the legal academy. Joined by Matthew Smith, Mezna Qato, and Rahul Rao, they open the series with a discussion about statues, less tangible legacies woven into institutions, and the place o
Episode 7: “Walking Back Human Rights in Europe?” An Interview with Laurence Helfer and Erik Voeten
In this podcast, EJIL editor Sarah Nouwen interviews Laurence Helfer and Erik Voeten about their article “Walking Back Human Rights in Europe?”, published in EJIL issue 31(3). What does it mean to “walk back human rights”? One day one has a human right and the next day no longer? And how does one assess whether human rights are being walked back? But also: how does one keep a single voic
Episode 6: Trumping International Law?
This episode examines the effects of the four years of the Trump Administration on international law. Dapo Akande is joined by Joseph Weiler, Neha Jain and Chimene Keitner. In their conversation, they explore the impact of the last four years on the future of multilateralism. They discuss the impact of Trump policies on international institutions such as the World Trade Organization and the Intern
Episode 5: Breaking Bad - in a Specific and Limited Way
In this episode Dapo Akande, Marko Milanovic, Sarah Nouwen and Philippa Webb analyse the Internal Market Bill currently pending before the UK Parliament, which the UK government’s own legal officers admit breaches international law by reneging on parts of the Withdrawal Agreement with the European Union and the Northern Ireland Protocol thereto that the UK had freely entered into less than a
Episode 4: Court between a Rock and a Hard Place
The International Criminal Court has for a long time been criticised for exclusively focusing on Africa, as opposed to investigating situations in which powerful western states are heavily involved or have strong interests. In the first part of this podcast Kamari Clarke joins Dapo Akande, Marko Milanovic, Sarah Nouwen and Philippa Webb to discuss whether black lives matter before t
Episode 3: Hacked Off!
With cyberattacks against the health care sector on the rise, this episode focuses on international law and cyber operations, especially in the context of the fight against COVID-19. For this discussion, Dapo Akande, Marko Milanovic, & Sarah Nouwen are joined by Harriet Moynihan (Chatham House), and Tilman Rodenhäuser (International Committee of the Red Cross). They consider whe
Episode 2: WHO let the bats out?
Dapo Akande, Marko Milanovic, Sarah Nouwen and Philippa Webb are joined by Gian Luca Burci, former Legal Counsel of the World Health Organization, to discuss international health law and pandemics. They discuss the obligations arising under the WHO's International Health Regulations, as well as various attempts to hold states and organizations (China, t
Episode 1: Contagion
Dapo Akande, Marko Milanovic, Sarah Nouwen and Philippa Webb discuss the compatibility with international human rights law of the measures taken by states in the fight against the corona virus. Do states have a duty to cooperate in tackling the virus? Should they derogate from rights provided for in human rights treaties or are those rights flexible enough to permit the measures being taken?
