Ian Johnstone – Professor of International Law
Professor of International Law Ian Johnstone has focused his research on two broad tracks over the past several years: the role of law in international politics and peace operations. His focus on peace operations culminated in the Annual Review of Global Peace Operations, which he launched in 2006. Best described as a state of the world’s peacekeepers, it combines case studies with thematic essays on all major developments in UN and non-UN operations in the year in review, as well as extensive data. More recently, Johnstone edited a special issue of
International Peacekeeping journal entitled “The US Role in Contemporary Peace Operations: A Double-Edged Sword?” which will come out as a book in 2008.
While Johnstone’s work on peace operations has been policy-oriented, his research on the role of law has been more theoretical—exploring law as a discursive process that operates within and is constrained by “interpretive communities.” This research has culminated in a number of articles and book chapters on the UN Security Council, the UN Secretary-General and the use of force in international affairs.
Johnstone’s upcoming publications include an article in the American Journal of International Law on the “deliberative legitimacy” of the UN Security Council as it takes on new legislative functions in the field of counter-terrorism. He also has an article coming out in the George Washington International Law Review on how the operational activities of international organizations (such as election-monitoring) affect the development of international law. He is currently working on a book tentatively entitled “Legal Argumentation in International Organizations,” which fuses the above theoretical work with case studies of peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance and other activities.
At Fletcher, Johnstone is currently teaching courses on international organizations, peace operations and actors in global governance. “In all of my courses I try to strike a balance between theory and practice, law and policy, and the UN and other organizations. I typically start with theory and then weave theoretical discussions throughout the more practical and policy-oriented content of the courses, using international organizations as a vehicle for exploring the interaction between law and politics in international affairs,” he says.