Dr. Anthony Arend discusses 'The Future of International Law' with students

By Helen Deverall, Global Scholar cohort 2019

Last week a variety of globally-minded Poly students had the distinct pleasure of hearing from Georgetown University professor and international law expert Dr. Anthony Arend. A scholar, author, and founder of the Institute for Law, Science and Global Security, Arend provided Upper School students a captivating and dynamic run-down of all things international relations. Starting with the 17th-century Peace of Westphalia (which ended the infamous Thirty Years’ War) and ending with a look into an increasingly globalized future, Arend presented an accessible and comprehensive timeline of the role that international law has played throughout history.

Complex topics such as the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on an international scale and the logistics of state sovereignty were made easier by Arend’s brilliantly logical explanations. He examined excerpts from the 1945 UN Charter, known primarily for the Statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and showed students how they applied to the current state of affairs. Ending his lecture with a prediction of the future of international law (the new metric by which we will govern, Arend argues, is by human dignity, a concept he investigates in one of his many books, "Human Dignity and the Future of Global Institutions"), Arend undoubtedly succeeded in showing students that the future of international law and relations is, indeed, in our hands.
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