Stephen Toope

University of Cambridge | Cam · Faculty of Law

Using the example of the right to self-defense under customary international law, we engage with questions concerning the linkage between norm robustness and legality. We draw out important differences between validity contestation and applicatory contestation within law. In so doing, we connect the international relations (IR) debate over norm rob...

Drawing on the practice-turn in constructivism and in international relations (IR) theory more generally, we argue that a particular approach to managing stability and change is inherent in, and indeed characteristic of, legality and the rule of law in international as in domestic law. Our "interactional law" framework places particular emphasis on...

Can a few primarily Western States expand the right to self-defence against non-State actors, incorporating the unwilling or unable standard? Even on a traditional reading of customary law formation, the answer is no because proponents have failed to attract consistent and widespread support. What is more, using our interactional international law...

Patrick Macklem's The Sovereignty of Human Rights is underpinned by a commitment to explaining the role of human rights law from the 'inside' of international law, distinguishing this strictly legal realm from global politics. We explore questions surrounding the 'inside' and 'outside' of international law by juxtaposing Macklem's positivist, valid...

For decades, Martti Koskenniemi has not just been an influential writer in international law; his work has caused a significant shift in the direction of the field. This book engages with some of the core questions that have animated Koskenniemi's scholarship so far. Its chapters attest to the breadth and depth of Koskenniemi's oeuvre and the diffe...

The violent attacks on journalists at Charlie Hebdo and shoppers in a Jewish supermarket in Paris in January 2015 left seventeen dead and shocked the world. In the aftermath, the public struggles with unsettling questions: What is the cost of free expression? Do the world’s major cities embrace multiculturalism? Is the broad range of proposed new s...

En choisissant le registre militaire pour contrer le terrorisme, les États-Unis ont tourné le dos à leur propre tradition juridique, dérogé aux normes internationales et abîmé leur prestige. Ce bilan des procédures d’exception montre que si les principes fondamentaux sont malmenés, leur efficacité n’est pas flagrante pour autant.

How do governments govern today and how well do they do it? How do governments choose the tools or instruments they will use to get things done? In today's world, how could these decisions be improved from the standpoint of efficiency, effectiveness, legitimacy and accountability? "Designing Government" brings together leading experts to examine th...

Global, regional and local water resources are subject to increasing demands. Implicit in the management of all water is the task of allocation. Allocation between uses that have become competing because of the rising overall demand will be contentious. This chapter shows that the information that underpins such contention is not just based on well...

Contemporary societies are interdependent, some more dependent than others. They have been directed by governments that are themselves interdependent, whose role has been reduced – or at least redefined – and which are forced to act together to avoid being on the defensive. States have gone from being independent to being interdependent; they have...

The authors of Legalization and World Politics (special issue ofIO, summer 2000) have done an excellent job connecting one branch ofthinking about international law (rooted in the legal theory of H. L. A.Hart) to one branch of thinking about international politics (neoliberalinstitutionalism). However, the connections between the two disciplinesare...

Re Reference by Governor in Council Concerning Certain Questions Relating to Secession of Quebec from Canada. Supreme Court of Canada, August 20, 1998. In an attempt to clarify the legal context in which continuing Canadian constitutional conundrums arise, the federal executive referred three questions to the Supreme Court of Canada regarding the l...

For the hearing and speech impaired only (TDD/TTY): (819) 953-5023 Toll free for the hearing and speech impaired only: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY How does legal and judicial reform fit within the mandate of CIDA? The brief answer is that stable, equitable and just legal systems support CIDA's mandate to promote security and prosperity, if security is broadl...

We have previously argued that international environmental law does not adequately promote environmental security because it has failed to adopt an ecosystem orientation. In this paper we suggest that environmental security in the context of freshwater resources can only be achieved through a sophisticated understanding of regime formation and elab...

Arbitrations involving states and foreign private parties are a complex phenomenon, sharing certain animating values with other forms of adjudication, particularly international arbitrations of private commercial disputes, but reflecting at the same time singular values that must be fostered if the institution is to play a beneficial role in the in...