Steven R. Ratner is the Bruno Simma Collegiate Professor of Law at the University of Michigan. He teaches and writes in the field of public international law on a range of issues, including war and peace, human rights, foreign investment, the United Nations (UN), territorial and ethnic-based disputes, and business and human rights. He is also interested in the intersection of international law and political philosophy and other theoretical issues.
Featured Scholarship
"Espionage, Secrecy, and Institutional Moral Reasoning"
- Criminal Law
- Philosophy of Law
"Towards Greater Investor Accountability: Indirect Actions, Direct Actions by States and Direct Actions by Individuals"
- International and Comparative Law
"The Human Rights Remedy Gap in ISDS - The Potential of the Hague Rules on Business and Human Rights Arbitration"
- International and Comparative Law
- Human Rights
"Not Just the Historians: Anne Orford’s Insights and the Suspicion Between International Law and Philosophy"
- International and Comparative Law
Democrats Abroad and Anglo-American Group of Provence (Aix-en-Provence, France), “International Protection of Human Rights: A Glass Half-Full or Half-Empty?
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Colloquium (Geneva, Switzerland), “Reparations for Colonialism and the Perils of Legalization”
“Human Rights Politics at the United Nations: An Outsider’s/Insider’s Account,” Indiana University Maurer School of Law Center for Constitutional Democracy.
“Can the United Nations Stop Wars and Protect Human Rights?” Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Ann Arbor, MI.
Paper presentation: King’s College London Colloquium on Cecile Fabre’s Through a Glass Darkly, London, UK, “Espionage and Secrecy: An Institutional Inquiry.”
The International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia, of which I’m a member, presented its report to the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee.
Spoke on a panel on The Secret Life of International Law at the annual meeting of the American Branch of the International Law Association in New York.
Presented a paper project entitled “Espionage and Beyond: Do International Political Morality and Law Need a Theory about Secrecy?”, at the University of Richmond Conference on Philosophy and International Law: Contestations and Extensions, Richmond, VA.
University of Michigan Federalist Society talk on Foreign Policy for a Bankrupt Republic, commentator, Ann Arbor, MI.
University of Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict workshop to prepare the Oxford Statement on International Law Protections Against Foreign Electoral Interference through Digital Means, invited expert, virtual from Oxford, UK.
Permanent Missions of Japan and the United States to the United Nations in Geneva Brainstorming Session on Future Directions for a Treaty on Business and Human Rights, panelist, virtual from Geneva, Switzerland.
University of Michigan Donia Human Rights Center Panel on Racism and Race Relations in the United States: What Value for an International Human Rights Perspective?, moderator, virtual from Ann Arbor, MI.
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul International Seminar on Business and Human Rights: Hermeneutics for a Transnational World, Opening Lecture, “Business and Human Rights: Seizing the Opportunity,” virtual from Porto Alegre, Brazil.
American Society of International Law Annual Meeting panel on International Law and Theories of Global Justice, moderator, virtual from Washington, D.C..
American Philosophical Association Central Division Meeting panel on the Philosophy of International Law, moderator and commentator on three papers, Chicago, IL.
University of Michigan National Security Law Society Panel on The Deterioration of Iran-U.S. Relations and International Law, presenter, Ann Arbor, MI.
