Brad R. Roth

Brad R. Roth

Brad R. Roth is a professor of political science and law. He teaches courses at the undergraduate, graduate and professional levels in international law, human rights, political theory and legal studies. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1987, he served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Robert N. Wilentz of the New Jersey Supreme Court (1987-88) and as a practicing litigator (1988-91), before earning a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in international and foreign law from Columbia Law School (1992) and a Ph.D. in Jurisprudence and Social Policy from the University of California at Berkeley (1996).

Professor Roth’s scholarly work applies legal and political theory to problems in international and comparative public law. He is the author of "Governmental Illegitimacy in International Law" (Oxford University Press, 1999), winner of the 1999 Certificate of Merit from the American Society of International Law as "best work in a specialized area" and of "Sovereign Equality and Moral Disagreement" (Oxford University Press, 2011). He is also the co-editor (with Gregory H. Fox and Paul R. Dubinsky, also of the Wayne faculty) of "Supreme Law of the Land? Debating the Contemporary Effects of Treaties within the United States Legal System" (Cambridge University Press, 2017) and (with Gregory H. Fox) of "Democratic Governance and International Law" (Cambridge University Press, 2000) and author of roughly fifty journal articles, book chapters and commentaries dealing with questions of sovereignty, constitutionalism, human rights and democracy. Among the most prominent of these are: "The Virtues of Bright Lines: Self-Determination, Secession, and External Intervention," German Law Journal (2015); "Just Short of Torture: Abusive Treatment and the Limits of International Criminal Justice," Journal of International Criminal Justice (2008); "Retrieving Marx for the Human Rights Project," Leiden Journal of International Law (2004); "The CEDAW as a Collective Approach to Women's Rights," Michigan Journal of International Law (2002); and "Evaluating Democratic Progress: A Normative Theoretical Perspective," Ethics & International Affairs (1995). He has recently served as a visiting professor  at National Taiwan University (2016), as a visiting scholar at the University of Copenhagen (2017) and as one of three American Branch representatives to the International Law Association Committee on Recognition/Non-Recognition of States and Governments (2010-2018).

Research interest(s)/area of expertise

Disciplinary areas

• Political and legal theory
• International and comparative public law

Topics of specialization

• Recognition of states and governments
• Human eights
• International criminal law
• International law of peace and security (jus ad bellum)
• International law of armed conflict (jus in bello)
• U.S. foreign relations law

Research

Current research includes a forthcoming commissioned chapter on implementing democratic values at the global level, a re-examination of postivism and interpretivism in international legal methodology and a comparison of challenges of mutual self-determination in Israel-Palestine, Bosnia and Northern Ireland.

Education

• Ph.D., Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, December 1996
• LL.M., International and Foreign Law, COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL, 1992
• J.D., HARVARD LAW SCHOOL, 1987
• B.A., Political Science, SWARTHMORE COLLEGE, 1984

Awards and grants

• American Society of International Law Certificate of Merit (“Best Work in a Specialized Area”), 1999 (for Governmental Illegitimacy in International Law (Oxford University Press, 1999))
• Wayne State University Board of Governors Faculty Recognition Award, 2000 (for Governmental Illegitimacy in International Law (Oxford University Press, 1999))
• Wayne State University Board of Governors Faculty Recognition Award, 2013 (for Sovereign Equality and Moral Disagreement (Oxford University Press, 2011))
• Inducted to the Wayne State University Academy of Scholars, 2018

Selected publications

Books

• Sovereign Equality and Moral Disagreement: Premises of a Pluralist International Legal Order (Oxford University Press, 2011)
• Governmental Illegitimacy in International Law (Oxford University Press, 1999)
• Winner, 1999 American Society of International Law Certificate of Merit
• (“Best Work in a Specialized Area”)

Co-edited volumes

• Gregory H. Fox & Brad R. Roth, eds., Democracy and International Law (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020)
• Gregory H. Fox, Paul R. Dubinsky & Brad R. Roth, eds., Treaties as Law of the Land? Change and Uncertainty in the Domestic Effects of International Agreements (Cambridge University Press, 2017)
• Gregory H. Fox & Brad R. Roth, eds., Democratic Governance and International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2000)

Co-edited textbook

• Valerie Epps, John Cerone & Brad R. Roth, eds., International Law (6th ed., Carolina Academic Press, 2019)

Research publications: Journal articles and book chapters

• Brad R. Roth, “Implementing ‘Two Peoples, One Future’: Conceptualizing Mutual Self-Determination in Israel-Palestine,” Europa Ethnica 80 (2023), 1/2: 79-87. facultas.at/verlag/zeitschriften/europa_ethnica; nomos-elibrary.de/zeitschrift/0014-2492
• Brad R. Roth, “Justice and International Law” in M.N.S. Sellers & Stephan Kirste, eds. Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer, 2023), doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6730-0_919-1
• Brad R. Roth, “Self-Determination as the Basis for a Right to Secession,” in Aleksandar Pavkovic, Peter Radan & Ryan Griffiths, eds., The Routledge Handbook of Self-Determination and Secession (Routledge, 2023), pp. 459-73
• Brad R. Roth, “Self-Determination Short of Secession,” in Jure Vidmar, Lea Raible & Sarah McGibbon,
• eds., Research Handbook on Secession (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022), pp. 59-74
• Brad R. Roth, “Democratization’s Discontents: Rediscovering the Virtues of the Non-Intervention Norm,” Chicago Journal of International Law 23 (2022), 160-76
• Brad R. Roth, “Legitimacy in the International Order: The Continuing Relevance of Sovereign States,” Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law 11 (2021), 60-90
• Brad R. Roth, “Advancing Peaceful Settlement and Democratization: The Doubtful Usefulness of International Electoral Norms,” in Marc Weller, Mark Retter & Andrea Varga, eds., International Law and Peace Settlements (Cambridge University Press, 2021), pp. 333-55
• Gregory H. Fox & Brad R. Roth, “Democracy and International Law: A (Re-)Introduction,” in Gregory H. Fox & Brad R. Roth, eds., Democracy and International Law (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020), xii-lix
• Brad R. Roth, “Bilateral Recognition of States” in Gëzim Visoka, John Doyle & Edward Newman, eds., The Routledge Handbook of State Recognition (Routledge, 2019), pp. 191-205
• Brad R. Roth, “Human Rights and Transitional Justice: Taiwan’s Adoption of the ICCPR and the Redress of 228 and Martial-Law-Era Injustices,” in Jerome A. Cohen, William P. Alford & Chang-fa Lo, eds., Taiwan and International Human Rights -- A Story of Transformation (Springer, 2019), pp. 51-66
• Brad R. Roth, “The Relevance of Democratic Principles to the Self-Determination Norm,” in Peter Hilpold, ed., Autonomy and Self-Determination in Europe and in Global Perspective (Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018), pp. 56-76
• Gregory H. Fox & Brad R. Roth, “The Dual Lives of ‘The Emerging Right to Democratic Governance,’” AJIL Unbound (Supplement to the American Journal of International Law) 112 (2018), 67-72
• Brad R. Roth, “Unpacking the Relationship Between Sovereignty, Democracy, and Human Rights” (Commentary on Jamie Mayerfeld, The Promise of Human Rights: Constitutional Government, Democratic Legitimacy, and International Law (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016)), Human Rights Review 19:3 (2018), 399-403, available at rdcu.be/2890
• Brad R. Roth, “How International Criminal Law’s Interaction with the Responsibility to Protect Jeopardizes Legal Strictures on the Use of Force, “ in Vasilka Sancin, ed., Are We ‘Manifestly Failing’ R2P (Ljubljana, Slovenia: University of Ljubljana Faculty of Law, 2017), pp. 133-52
• Brad R. Roth ,“Democratic Political Obligation with Chinese Characteristics: Civic Defiance in Taiwan and Hong Kong,” in Brian Christopher Jones, ed., Critical Neighbours: The Legal and Political Significance of the Sunflower and Umbrella Movements (Routledge, 2017), pp. 191-204
• Brad R. Roth, “Whither Democratic Legitimism? Contextualizing Recent Developments in the Recognition and Non-Recognition of Governments,” AJIL Unbound (Supplement to the American Journal of International Law) 108 (2015), 213-18
• "Ne-konsensualna disolucija državau meðunarodnom pravu: Inovacija Badinterove komisije u retrospektivi" ("Non-Consensual State Dissolution in International Law: The Badinter Innovation in Retrospect," Politicka Misao (Croatian Political Science Review) 52(1):48-78 (2015)
• “The Virtues of Bright Lines: Self-Determination, Secession, and External Intervention,” German Law Journal 16:384-415 (2015) (Special Issue on the Crisis in Ukraine)
• (with Sharon F. Lean) “A Bolivarian Alternative? The New Latin American Populism Confronts the Global Order,” in Barbara J. Stark, ed., International Law and Its Discontents (Cambridge University Press, 2015), pp. 221-48
• “Reconceptualizing Recognition of States and Governments,” in Christopher Daase, Caroline Fehl, Anna Geis & Georgios Kolliarakis, eds.,Recognition in International Relations. Rethinking a Political Concept in a Global Context (Basingstoke, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), pp. 141-61
• “Parsing 'Mutual Non-Recognition and Mutual Non-Denial': An International Law Perspective on Taipei's Current Framework for Cross-Strait Relations.” Chinese (Taiwan) Yearbook of International Law and Affairs 30:15-30 (2012) (actual publication, 2014)
• “Just Outcomes, Overreaching Rationales: How International Criminal Law's Achievements Augur Flawed Responses to Political Violence” Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law 31:55-80 (2014)
• “Sovereign Equality and Non-Liberal Regimes,” Netherlands Yearbook of International Law 43:25-52 (2012)
• “Secessions, Coups, and the International Rule of Law: Assessing the Decline of the Effective Control Doctrine,” Melbourne Journal of International Law 11:393-440 (2010)
• “Coming to Terms with Ruthlessness: Sovereign Equality, Global Pluralism, and the Limits of International Criminal Justice,” Santa Clara Journal of International Law 8:231-88 (2010)
• “The Entity That Dare Not Speak Its Name: Unrecognized Taiwan as a Right-Bearer in the International Legal Order,” East Asia Law Review (University of Pennsylvania Law School) 4:91-124 (2009)
• Published in Chinese translation, Taiwan Law Review (Taipei: Angle Publishing), (No. 158) 2008.7:84-103
• “State Sovereignty, International Legality, and Moral Disagreement,” in Tomer Broude & Yuval Shany, eds., The Shifting Allocation of Authority in International Law (Oxford: Hart Publishing Co., 2008), pp. 123-61
• “Just Short of Torture: Abusive Treatment and the Limits of International Criminal Justice,” Journal of International Criminal Justice (Oxford University Press) 6:215-39 (2008), available at jicj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/mqn012?ijkey=QvcVzUKbRiL4WdA&keytype=ref
• “Coercion and the Quest for Substantive Freedom,” in Mary Garrett, Heidi Gottfried, & Sandra F. VanBurkleo, eds, Remapping the Humanities: Identity, Community, Memory, (Post)Modernity (Wayne State University Press, 2008), pp. 237-54
• “Taiwan’s Nation-Building and Beijing’s Anti-Secession Law: An International Law Perspective,” in Chen Chi-sen et al., ed., Sovereignty, Constitution, and the Future of Taiwan (Taiwan Law Society, 2006), pp. 1-59
• “The Enduring Significance of State Sovereignty,” Florida Law Review 56:1017-50 (2004)
• “Retrospective Justice or Retroactive Standards? Human Rights as a Sword in the East German Leaders Case,” Wayne Law Review 50:37-68 (2004)
• “Retrieving Marx for the Human Rights Project,” Leiden Journal of International Law (Cambridge University Press) 17:31-66 (2004). Republications:
  • Revised version: “Marxian Insights on the Human Rights Project,” in Susan Marks, ed., International Law on the Left: Revisiting Marxist Legacies (Cambridge University Press, 2008), pp. 220-51
  • Original version, in Susan Easton, ed., Marx and Law (Philosophers and Law Series), (London: Ashgate Pub. Ltd.,2008), pp. 265-302
• “What’s Left? Socialist Political Thought After the Fall,” in Thomas Newlin & Sibelan Forrester, eds., Towards a Classless Society: Literature, History, and Politics: A Festschrift for Thompson Bradley (Bloomington, Indiana: Slavica (Indiana University) Press, 2004), pp. 195-211
• “Anti-Sovereigntism, Liberal Messianism, and Excesses in the Drive against Impunity,” Finnish Yearbook of International Law 12:17-45 (2001 volume, published 2003)
• “Bending the Law, Breaking It, or Developing It? The United States and the Humanitarian Use of Force in the Post-Cold War Era,” in Michael Byers & Georg Nolte, eds., United States Hegemony and the Foundations of the International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 232-63
• “The CEDAW as a Collective Approach to Women’s Rights,” Michigan Journal of International Law 24:187-225 (2002)
• “Understanding the ‘Understanding’: Federalism Constraints on Human Rights Implementation,” Wayne Law Review 47:891-907 (2002)
• (with Gregory H. Fox) “Democracy and International Law,” Review of International Studies 27:327-352 (2001)
• “The Illegality of ‘Pro-Democratic’ Invasion Pacts,” in Gregory H. Fox and Brad R. Roth, eds., Democratic Governance and International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp. 328-42
• “What Ever Happened to Sovereignty? Reflections on International Law Methodology,” in Charlotte Ku & Thomas G. Weiss, eds., Understanding Global Governance (Academic Council on the United Nations System, 1998) acuns.wlu.ca/publications/IRILToolbox.pdf, pp. 69-100
• “Evaluating Democratic Progress: A Normative Theoretical Perspective,” Ethics & International Affairs, 9:55-77 (1995), reprinted in Gregory H. Fox & Brad R. Roth, eds., Democratic Governance and International Law, (Cambridge University Press, 2000)
• “Governmental Illegitimacy Revisited: ‘Pro-Democratic’ Armed Intervention in the Post-Bipolar World,” Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems, 3:481-513 (1993)
• “Constitutionalism in Eastern Europe: Alternatives to the Liberal Social Contract,” Dickinson Journal of International Law, 11:283-324 (1993)
• “The First Amendment in the Foreign Affairs Realm: ‘Domesticating’ the Restrictions on Citizen Participation,” Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review, 2:255-91 (1993)

Other qualifications directly relevant to courses taught

• Taught or co-taught courses at the following institutions: University of California-Berkeley School of Law (Visiting Prof. of Law, Fall 1996); National Taiwan University (Visiting Prof. of Law, Spring 2016); University of Helsinki (2002); Mari State University (Russian Federation) (2006); University of Goettingen (Germany) (2012); Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik (Croatia) (2000-07, 2009, 2011, 2018)
• Litigation Attorney, Hannoch Weisman, P.C., Roseland, New Jersey, 1988-91
• Judicial Clerk, Supreme Court of New Jersey, Chief Justice Robert N. Wilentz, 1987-88

Citation index

• Google Scholar

Courses taught by Brad R. Roth

Winter Term 2025 (future)

• PS5820 - International Law
• PS7580 - Political Theory of Public Law
• LEX7659 - Political Theory of Public Law

Winter Term 2024

• LEX7888 - United States Foreign Relations Law
• PS5850 - Human Rights
• PS6870 - United States Foreign Relations Law

Fall Term 2023

• PS3100 - American Legal Systems and Processes
• PS5999 - Special Topics in Political Science
• LEX7514 - Law, Authority, and Resistance

Spring-Summer Term 2023

• PS5999 - Special Topics in Political Science

Winter Term 2023

• PS5820 - International Law
• LEX7659 - Political Theory of Public Law
• PS7580 - Political Theory of Public Law

Fall Term 2022

• PS3100 - American Legal Systems and Processes
• PS5999 - Special Topics in Political Science
• LEX7413 - International Prosecution of State Actors