LCIL Friday Lecture: 'Is International Law International?' by Anthea Roberts

​In this talk, Anthea Roberts will introduce her new book Is International Law International? which was awarded the American Society of International Law's 2018 Book Prize for the preeminent contribution to creative scholarship. 

Anthea Roberts is Associate Professor in the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) at the Australian National University. She specializes in public international law, investment treaty law and arbitration, and comparative international law. Anthea previously taught at the London School of Economics as well as Columbia and Harvard Law Schools. 

In terms of links to relevant materials, students can download relevant chapters at:

• Preface and Chapter 1;
• Chapter 3
• (from Chapter 5)

The 2018 Book Awards Committee said:

Roberts turns a beguilingly simple question into a globe-trotting, multi-method quest for a map of international laws players and meanings. Simultaneously irreverent and serious-minded, Roberts develops an original research agenda that takes her and the reader through the migratory flows of international lawyers around the world, the divergent methods through which they are educated, and the different professional tracks through which they are socialized. The book does not just dissolve international laws myths of universality; it is a nascent sociology of the field of international law and the beginning of a new field of comparative international law. In an era in which Western dominance over international law no longer looks certain, this book provides the tools for a more nuanced understanding of international laws politics, revealing the deeper meanings and stakes of current debates."

The Lauterpacht Centre Friday lecture series is kindly supported by Cambridge University Press

Numbers are limited so please arrive early to avoid disappointment. Please note the lecture programme is subject to revision without notice. 

An audio recording of this lecture is available on the University's Streaming Media Service.

A list of all recorded events and lectures at the Lauterpacht Centre can be viewed in on this website in Media/Audio recordings.