Daniel W. Drezner

I’m not a lawyer, but I do get cited in court decisions

Loyal readers of this blog know that I occasionally have strong opinions regarding some attempts at international law creation these days. A sharp observer might ask, “Hey, Drezner, you study international relations. What do you know about internationational law?” My instinctive response is, “not a lot.” However, a friend just informed me that the only ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

Loyal readers of this blog know that I occasionally have strong opinions regarding some attempts at international law creation these days. A sharp observer might ask, "Hey, Drezner, you study international relations. What do you know about internationational law?" My instinctive response is, "not a lot." However, a friend just informed me that the only article I have ever published in a law journal was cited by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in their decision on the Ramzi Yousef appeal (2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 6437 for those law geeks out there). Mr. Yousef was the gentleman who helped organize the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and conspired to bomb twelve United States commercial airliners in Southeast Asia. The reference was to an obscure question regarding whether scholars of international law were -- through their writings -- the primary creators of customary international law. I was cited in part because I said the obvious -- that this was a silly contention. The observation that my article "cit[ed] extensively to relevant examples" counts as high praise -- in legalese. So I know something. Nevertheless, I still can't claim expertise. If you want some real experts regarding international law, go read what the following people write: Curtis Bradley Anne-Marie Slaughter Ruth Wedgwood

Loyal readers of this blog know that I occasionally have strong opinions regarding some attempts at international law creation these days. A sharp observer might ask, “Hey, Drezner, you study international relations. What do you know about internationational law?” My instinctive response is, “not a lot.” However, a friend just informed me that the only article I have ever published in a law journal was cited by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in their decision on the Ramzi Yousef appeal (2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 6437 for those law geeks out there). Mr. Yousef was the gentleman who helped organize the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and conspired to bomb twelve United States commercial airliners in Southeast Asia. The reference was to an obscure question regarding whether scholars of international law were — through their writings — the primary creators of customary international law. I was cited in part because I said the obvious — that this was a silly contention. The observation that my article “cit[ed] extensively to relevant examples” counts as high praise — in legalese. So I know something. Nevertheless, I still can’t claim expertise. If you want some real experts regarding international law, go read what the following people write: Curtis Bradley Anne-Marie Slaughter Ruth Wedgwood

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

Tag: Foreign & Public Diplomacy

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