As part of our weekly Speaker Series, the Department of Philosophy invites you to join us in welcoming Dr. Carmen Pavel (King’s College London).  Links for all Department of Philosophy Speaker Series talks are distributed through an email distribution list. If you would like to be added to this list, and hence to receive regular email notifications and reminders about Philosophy talks, please email the Philosophy Department office (ugphil@mcmaster.ca). If you would like to attend just this one talk, you may also email the philosophy office (same email address) to request a meeting link.

Talk title: “Law Beyond the State”

Abstract: In recent years, international agreements and institutions have become particularly contentious. China is refusing to abide by the decision of an international arbitration decision implementing UNCLOS rules in the South China Sea, and Donald Trump has withdrawn the US from international agreements including the Paris Agreement on Climate Change of 2015. Such retreats expose widespread ambivalence towards cooperation through international law, and reverse the gains made by long-standing processes of legalization. In Law Beyond the State, Carmen Pavel responds to the ambivalent attitude states have with respect to international law by offering moral and legal reasons for them to improve, strengthen, and further institutionalize its capacity. She argues that the same reasons which support the development of law at the domestic level, namely the cultivation of peace, the protection of individual rights, the facilitation of complex forms of cooperation, and the resolution of collective action problems, also support the development of law at the international level