Opportunity Details

Details about the opportunity you selected and the mentor are shown below. It is your responsibility to contact the mentor to discuss collaborating with them this summer. If your mentor invites you to submit an application, you can access that from the front page of this site. Upon completion of the application, it will be sent to the mentor for approval before being passed on to the Summer Scholar Selection Committee, which will make the decisions.

Faculty Information

Ian Jonstone

ian.johnstone@tufts.edu

Associate Professor of International Law

P: (617) 627-4172

Address:

Fletcher School
160 Packard Ave

Medford, MA 02155

Affiliated Institutions:

Fletcher School

Associated Departments:

International Law and Organizations Division

Web Sites:

http://fletcher.tufts.edu/faculty/johnstone/profile.asp

Opportunity:

Legal Argumentation in International Organizations

Summary:

I am working on a book on the impact of legal argumentation on world politics. It starts from the premise that most international legal disputes are not subject to judicial settlement and yet the language of law is ubiquitous in international affairs. Its central claim is that state behavior is affected by the legal argumentation that occurs in and around international organizations. It builds on work I have done on how law operates through a process of justificatory discourse within and constrained by "interpretive communities". The book will be interdisciplinary, combining theories of law, international relations theory and insights from deliberative democracy. It is both descriptive (presenting a framework to understand how legal argumentation impacts state behavior) and prescriptive (proposing institutional reforms that will render international decision-making more legitimate). NOTE: Faculty mentor already has student mentee in mind for this summer's project

Contact Via:

E-mail

What is the timeframe for this research opportunity?

Summer 2009

Prerequisities for students?

The ideal student research assistant will have a strong knowledge of international relations, a strong academic record, excellent writing skills, and preferably, some background in international law.

Responsibilities for students?

The student will be engaged in substantive research in journals, cases, books, and other documents, and will be required to submit detailed notes and written summaries.

Area(s) of Research:

The bulk of the work required is for a particular chapter on the World Trade Organization and how legal decisions are made with respect to international trade. The student may, however, be involved w