Research biography

My research focuses on the history and theory of international law with a particular emphasis on political economy, race/ism and imperialism.

Research projects & collaborations

Currently, I am working on two major projects in the intersection of international law, race/ism and political economy. The first, with Prof. James Gathii (Loyola Law), explores the links between international economic law and racial capitalism and will be published as a special issue by the Journal of International Economic Law in 2022. The second, with Dr Robert Knox (Liverpool Law), focuses on the intersections between international law, political economy and race/ism in the 21st century.

In addition, I am working on an edited volume on anti-racist legal pedagogy along with Dr Foluke Adebisi (Bristol Law) and Dr Suhrayia Jivraj.

Grants

• Jan 2020: Modern Law Review Seminar Funding (£ 4,369) Project Title: ‘‘Between Race and Capitalism: Understanding 21st Century International Law’ (along with Dr Robert Knox-funding extended due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
• Dec 2019: Small Events Grants of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law ($2,250). Project title: ‘Between Race and Capitalism: Understanding 21st Century International Law’
• Nov 2019: Melbourne Law School Research Excellence Grant ($10,000) Project Title: ‘Between Race and Capitalism: Understanding 21st Century International Law’
• May 2017: Melbourne Law School International Collaboration Fund ($10,000) Project title: ‘1917: Revolution, Intervention and International Law(s).

Consultancies

• Since March 2021, I act as Senior Legal Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Prof. Michael Fakhri.

Books & edited collections

• Tzouvala N, Capitalism as Civilisation: A History of International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2020).
• Greenman K, Orford A., Saunders A., Tzouvala N., (eds.), Revolutions in International Law: The Legacies of 1917(Cambridge University Press, 2021).
• Margolies D.S., Özsu U., Pal M., Tzouvala N. (eds.), The Extraterritoriality of Law: History, Theory, Politics (Routledge, 2019).

Refereed journal articles

• 'Invested in Whiteness: Zimbabwe, the von Pezold Arbitration, and the Question of Race in International Law' (2022) 2(2) Journal of Law and Political Economy 226-251.
• 'International Law and (the Critique of) Political Economy' (2022) 121(2) South Atlantic Quarterly 297-320.
• ‘Deploying Race in the Defence of “Humanity”: The 2011 Intervention in Libya and “African Mercenaries”’ (2021) 67 (6)UCLA Law Review 1580-1609 with Fallah K (50% contribution).
• ‘The Specter of Eurocentrism in International Legal History’ (2021) 31(2) Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities 413-434.
• ‘The Ordoliberal Origins of Modern International Economic Law: Constructing Competition on a Global Scale’ (2020) European Yearbook of International Economic Law 37-55.
• ‘A False Promise? Regulating Land-grabbing and the Postcolonial State’ (2019) 32(2) Leiden Journal of International Law 235-253.
• ‘“These Ancient Arenas of Racial Struggles”: International Law and the Balkans (1878-1949)’ (2018) 29(4) European Journal of International Law 1149–1171.
• ‘The Academic Debate about Mega-regionals and International Lawyers: Legalism as Critique?’ (2018) 6(2) London Review of International Law 189-209.
• ‘The Political Economy of International Transitional Administration: Regulating Food and Farming in Kosovo and Iraq’ (2018) 24(5) Contemporary Politics 588-606 with Grasten M (50% contribution).
• ‘TTIP: The Rise of Regional Trade Agreements and their Potential Implications for the Global South’ (2017) 8(2) Trade, Law and Development 30-65 with O’Donoghue A (50% contribution).
• ‘Food for the Global Market: The Neoliberal Reconstruction of Agriculture in Occupied Iraq (2003-2004) and the Role of International Law’ (2017)17(1) Global Jurist 1-27.
• 'The Holy See and Children’s Rights: International Human Rights Law and Its Ghosts’ (2015) 84 Nordic Journal of International Law 59-88.

Book chapters

• ‘Looking Eastwards: The Bolshevik Theory of Imperialism and International Law’ in Greenman K, Orford A., Saunders A., Tzouvala N., (eds.), Revolutions in International Law: The Legacies of 1917(Cambridge University Press, 2021) with Knox, R.
• ‘ “And the Laws are Rude, are Crude and Uncertain”: Extraterritoriality and the Emergence of Territorialised Statehood in Siam’ in Margolies D.S., Özsu U., Pal M., Tzouvala N. (eds.), The Extraterritoriality of Law: History, Theory, Politics (Routledge, 2019).
• ‘The Future of Feminist International Legal Scholarship in a Neoliberal University: Doing Law Differently?’ in Harris-Rimmer S., Ogg K. (eds.), The Future of Feminist Engagement with International Law (Edward Elgar, 2019).
• ‘Civilisation’ in Singh S., d’ Aspremont J. (eds.), Fundamental Concepts for In- ternational Law: The Construction of a Discipline (Edward Elgar, 2019).
• ‘Neoliberalism as Legalism: International Economic Law and the Rise of the Judiciary’ in Golder B., McLoughlin D., (eds.), The Politics of Neoliberal Legality (Routledge, 2017).

Conference papers & presentations

• June 2021: ‘The Specter of Eurocentrism in International Legal History’ Department of Sociology and Legal Studies, University of Waterloo (invited seminar presentation-inaugural seminar).
• June 2021: ‘The Specter of Eurocentrism in International Legal History’ Leiden Hub for the History and Theory of International Law. (invited seminar presentation).
• May 2021: ‘Humanitarian Interventions, Capitalism, and International Law’ European University Institute (invited seminar presentation).
• April 2021 ‘New Histories of Capitalism and International Law’ Weatherhead Center in Global History and the Graduate Institute (invited panelist).
• 20 January 2021: ‘Political Economy’ Lecture and Workshop series: Method, methodology and critique in international law, Asser Institute (invited panelist).
• July 2019: ANZSIL President’s Panel 27th Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law Annual Conference, Canberra (invited panelist)
• June 2019: ‘Law, Race and Capitalism on Trial? The South West Africa Saga’ Birmingham Law School, UK (invited seminar presentation).
• October 2017: ‘The Future of Feminist International Legal Scholarship in a Neoliberal University: Doing Law Differently?’ Australian National University College of Law (invited seminar presentation).

Government submissions

• ‘Submission to the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Review of Australia's Bilateral Investment Treaties’ with Greenman, K.
• ‘Submission to the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, Annual Business and Human Rights Forum 2018’ with Davitti, D., Greenman, K.
• Australian Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee: Proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement, ‘The Implications of TPP for Developing States’ with O’Donoghue, A.
• Joint Select Committee on Human Rights: inquiry into the UK Government's policy on the use of drones for targeted killing, ‘Self-Defence as a Justification for UAV Strikes Overseas: The Legality of the Use of Force in Response to Terrorist Threats’ with Sparks, T.
• Commons Select Committee: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, ‘Potential Impact upon Developing States’ with O’Donoghue A.

Committees

EXTERNAL ORGANISATIONS

• ANZSIL Conference 2022 Organising Commitee
• ANZSIL History and Theory Interest Group Co-convener.
• Editorial board of the Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly and the Human Rights Law Review.

INTERNAL ANU COMMITTEES

• ANU College of Law Education Committee (July 2021-Ongoing)
• ANU College of Law Research Committee (July 2020-July 2021)

Case notes & book reviews

• ‘Capitalism as Civilisation, or How to Respond to your Book Reviews when the Author is Dead’ (2021) 13(1) European Journal of Legal Studies 137-153.
• ‘Settler Colonialism, Race, and the Law: Why Structural Racism Persists by Natsu Taylor Saito’ Melbourne Journal of International Law (forthcoming 2021).
• Christopher A. Casey, Nationals Abroad: Globalization, Individual Rights, and the Making of Modern International Law’ (2021) 81(1) Heidelberg Journal of International Law 271-276.
• ‘Alvaro Santos, Chantal Thomas, David Trubek (eds.), World Trade and Investment Reimagined’ (2020) 31(3) European Journal of International Law 1166-1170.
• ‘Markus Gunneflo, Targeted Killing: A Legal and Political History’ 22(3) Journal of Conflict and Security Law 559-563.
• ‘New Approaches to International Law: The History of a Project’ 27(1) European Journal of International Law 213-233.

Other

• ‘Contingency in the History of International Law?’ (Voelkerrechtsblog, 15 June 2021), available at: https://voelkerrechtsblog.org/contingency-in-the-history-of-internationa....
• ‘On Legal Sublimations: The Corporation in International Law’ (The New Rambler, 5 March 2021), available at: https://newramblerreview.com/book-reviews/law/on-legal-sublimations-the-....
• International Law and Decolonisation in Africa: 60 Years Later’ (Afronomicslaw, 26 October 2020), available at: https://www.afronomicslaw.org/2020/10/26/international-law-and-decolonis....
• ‘International Law and the Right to Food: What We Can Learn from Racial Justice Movements’ (EJIL:Talk! 19 August 2020), available at: https://www.ejiltalk.org/international-law-and-the-right-to-food-what-we... with Fakhri, M.
• ‘To Reduce World Hunger, Governments Need to Think beyond Making Food Cheap’ (The Conversation, 18 July 2020), available at: https://theconversation.com/to-reduce-world-hunger-governments-need-to-t....
• ‘Reading Chimni’s International Law and World Order: The Question of Feminism’ (EJIL: Talk!, 28 December 2017), available at: https://www.ejiltalk.org/author/ntinatzouvala/
• ’Macron & Africa’s “Civilisational” Problem’ (Critical Legal Thinking, 14 July 2017), available at: http://criticallegalthinking.com/2017/07/14/macron-africas-civilisationa... (Translated in Italian and published on the cultural criticism blog Il Lavoro Culturale: https://www.lavoroculturale.org/macron-civilizzazione-africa/)

PhD supervision

I am willing to supervise in the areas:

• History and Theory of International Law
• International Law and Political Economy (esp. re the Global South)
• Legal Theory (including critical legal, critical race, feminist and queer theory)
• Law and Development

SJD supervision

I am willing to supervise in the areas:

• History and Theory of International Law
• International Law and Political Economy (esp. re the Global South)
• Legal Theory (including critical legal, critical race, feminist and queer theory)
• Law and Development

MPhil supervision

I am willing to supervise in the areas:

• History and Theory of International Law
• International Law and Political Economy (esp. re the Global South)
• Legal Theory (including critical legal, critical race, feminist and queer theory)
• Law and Development

LLM Masters thesis supervision

I am willing to supervise in the areas:

• History and Theory of International Law
• International Law and Political Economy (esp. re the Global South)
• Legal Theory (including critical legal, critical race, feminist and queer theory)
• Law and Development

Honours thesis supervision

I am willing to supervise in the areas:

• History and Theory of International Law
• International Law and Political Economy (esp. re the Global South)
• Legal Theory (including critical legal, critical race, feminist and queer theory)
• Law and Development

Current courses

Previous courses