This event is the second of three workshops, taking place on Thursday, January 29, 2026; Tuesday, February 24, 2026; and Wednesday, March 25, 2026, at 12:30 p.m., both via Zoom and in person in the Slowinski Courtroom at The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law.

The workshops precede a two-day international conference, International Criminal Law 80 Years Later: The Crossroads of Law, Ethics, Religion and International Law, to be held at The Catholic University of America on April 12 and 13, 2027. The three workshops will provide students and faculty with the opportunity to discuss a wide range of interdisciplinary issues related to current challenges to international law, including the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as American military intervention in Venezuela.

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The Nuremberg Principles, a set of guidelines widely considered legally binding as customary international law, and the GATT/WTO international trade system were established in the aftermath of World War II to prevent another global conflict through justice, accountability, and economic interdependence, and to hold accountable those who violate the rule of law. Together, they embody a shared belief that the law—both international criminal law and trade governance—can promote peace through predictability, transparency, and cooperation.

Three decades after the WTO's formation, the postwar international order is in crisis, facing a convergence of challenges, including democratic backsliding, rising economic protectionism, expressions of contempt for international law by national leaders, and an increase in cross-border military conflicts. There is increasing concern that major powers are sidelining, co-opting, and exploiting postwar international institutions, shifting the world from a rules-based order to a more fractured landscape in which international law is subordinate to national power.

Professor Piotr Szwedo, Associate Professor for Public International Law and Head of the Centre for Advanced Sustainability Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, will discuss the hopes and promises of the post-World War II international trade system, as well as the current issues that threaten its integrity. Key questions include: To what extent can international trade governance serve as a tool for preventing global conflict? Does the current retreat from multilateralism represent a temporary setback or a fundamental shift in the postwar legal order? How can the GATT/WTO system be reformed to reconcile economic liberalization with social, environmental, and security concerns?

Professor Orde Félix Kittrie, Distinguished Professor of Practice, Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law, Arizona State University, will examine lawfare, the use of law as a weapon of war to combat wars of aggression. In particular, he will consider Ukraine’s use of warfare against Russia and the efficacy of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as a means for accountability for aggressive war in the context of recent developments in a ICJ case filed by Ukraine against the Russian Federation shortly after the 2022 invasion, Allegations of Genocide Under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Ukraine v. Russia).

Professor Herbert R. Reginbogin, Collegiate Fellow of Law, Institute for Policy Research, The Catholic University of America, and Professor of International Relations, Istanbul Kent University, will address the international relations consequences of great powers’ threats to the postwar international economic order and economic co-operation and integration, including aggressive protectionism and the weaponization of trade policies like tariffs and trade restrictions. He will focus on the reactions of many smaller, less powerful countries, who, seeking to avoid conflict with great powers, are circumventing postwar institutions established to prevent global conflict, such as the United Nations. Instead, they are supporting the creation of new great-power-dominated institutions, such as the Board of Peace, that seek to replace the Nuremberg Principles with a transactionally based world order in which money and power outweigh international law.

 

Suggested Reading

• Hathaway, Oona A. and Scott J. Shapiro. The Internationalists: How a Radical Plan to Outlaw War Remade the World. (New York, 2017) - Part III
• Lottaz, Pascal and Herbert Reginbogin (eds.), Permanent Neutrality: a Model for Peace, Security, and Justice (Lanham, 2019) – Chapter 8
• Pszczel, Robert, The Consequences of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine for International Security—NATO and Beyond, NATO REVIEW (July 7, 2022)
• Sarotte, M.E., Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate (New Haven, 2021) - Conclusion
• Slotte, Pamela A. and John D. Haskell (eds), Christianity and International Law. (Cambridge, 2021) - Chapters 8

Past Workshops