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The Politics of Order
An Analysis of Punishment in International Law

Shakira Bedoya Sánchez (Peru)

Ph.D. Project

One of the most significant transformations in the international legal system following the end of the Cold War was the sudden extension of principles and procedures of criminal law into the international realm. This study attempts to provide an understanding of the process of criminalization of international law itself and its normative implications, alongside, it is also a critique of the way in which the ethos of punishment is usually thought of and portrayed by institutional discourses.

The notion of “punishment” in international law is built upon an all encompass anti-formalist moral vocabulary, which currently function on the premises of overwhelmingly western ideas of criminal justice and international politics, whereas criminal sanctions are usually justified by appealing to “the protection of certain international public order” or “core values” it also holds true that this notion is used ambivalently by different actors in the global arena. The object of this research is to consider the relation between the existing legal discourse on punishment and the rationality of that particular “international public order” display in the language of a universal “criminal structure”.

Research Interests and Goals

International law, legal theory, political theory, philosophy of science.

Scholarships

  • The Max Planck Society Stipend
  • Ella & Georg Ehrnrooth Foundation Fellowship
  • University of Helsinki; Staff Mobility Scholarship
  • CIMO (Centre for International Mobility) Fellowship
  • United Nations Office Fellowship (Geneva, Switzerland); Attendance 42nd Session International Law Seminar

Memberships

Lectures

  • 27.04.2011

    The Politics of Order: A Reading on Orderability and Chaos
    Presentation at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge

    Location: LCIL, Cambridge/United Kingdom

  • 21.02.2011

    The Anthropology of International Law
    Presentation at the IMPRS winter school "Retaliation, Mediation and Punishment"

    Location: Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle

  • 17.11.2010

    For the Sake of Kitsch-ean Order: Reflections on an International Criminal Justice fable
    Presentation at the lecture series on "violence and order"

    Location: University of Freiburg

  • 16.02.2010

    The Normativity of Violence
    Presentation at the IMPRS winter school "Retaliation, Mediation and Punishment"

    Location: Alsace / France

  • 31.07.2009

    Punishment in International Law
    Lecture at the IMPRS & Hofstra Criminal Law Summer Program.

    Location: Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law

  • 26.05.2009

    ESTADUPAN TERRORISM’UN – State Terrorism in Peru: A General Overview over the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Trial of Former President Fujimori

    Location: Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law

Curriculum vitae

in 2005 LL.B. from the Pontifical Catholic University, Peru
Since April 2008 PhD Candidate of the International Max Planck Research School on Retaliation, Mediation and Punishment (IMPRS REMEP) at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg i.Br., Germany
01/2011 – 04/2011 Visiting scholar position at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge
Thesis supervisors: Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans- Jörg Albrecht and Professor Martti Koskenniemi, LL.D.