With Blinders On?: How International Law Casebooks Teach Students in the United States

Abstract

The United States disagrees with many countries, including key allies, on important questions of international law, including the geographical scope of armed conflict, the extraterritorial application of human rights, and the existence and scope of a right to preemptive self-defense. Underlying these particular disagreements is a broader divide between US and non-US approaches to international law. One could identify many features of this divide (such as in approaches to WTO dispute resolution), but an underlying aspect worth highlighting is the way in which American international lawyers often privilege US views and practice above not only those of other states but also of international institutions, such as international courts and tribunals.