Tom Ginsburg – How Authoritarians Use International Law

Abstract

Two great trends of our time are legalization and autocratization. Both these trends are now extending to the level of international governance. As authoritarian regimes wield more power on the international plane, they are turning to international law as a means of shielding themselves from criticism and actively promoting their own illiberal projects. Their strategies include repurposing multilateral institutions, creating new norms, and seeking to assert jurisdiction over their critics abroad. The development of authoritarian international law requires a creative response from democracies that has not yet been forthcoming.