Teaching international law has always required disciplined idealism. This is the intellectual terrain on which international law must now be taught. International law today stands exposed as moribund. If international law is to command authority, it will not come through pious reaffirmations by those who violate it most frequently. Until then, teaching international law remains a demanding exercise in explaining not only what the law says, but why it is so often ignored by those who wrote it.

Source: International New York Times January 14, 2026 14:26 UTC