Giovanni Mantilla

Join us on Thursday online or in person. @unbiodiversity.bsky.social @unep.org @lauterpachtcentre.bsky.social @cambridgelaw.bsky.social @demedglobal.bsky.social @cisdl.bsky.social @hugheshall.bsky.social @lucycavcoll.bsky.social @ebrd.bsky.social

This is what Hegseth’s “no stupid rules of engagement” means - straight up war crimes.

Recently, my first PhD student @zikunyang.bsky.social defended her brilliant dissertation about China’s varying attitudes re: climate change cooperation and R2P, developing an exciting new argument based on impressive amounts of empirical evidence. Such a a joy to supervise her; I’m so proud! 👏🏻🎓📖🍾

Double Preemption, Imminence, and the U.S. Attack Against Iran Rubio’s argument that Operation Epic Fury was preemptive self-defense is not credible and does not satisfy the necessary precondition.

The Trump Administration keeps throwing new arguments at the wall to see what might stick--but each one is worse than the last.

This is an excellent piece by @eliavl.bsky.social explaining why Rubio's recent "double preemption" argument is a non-starter.

www.justsecurity.org/133093/preem...

Stealth Change: How the United States and the United Kingdom Embraced International Humanitarian Limits on Nuclear Use This article analyzes how American and British policy shifted, from rejecting to accepting the applicability of the law of armed conflict (LOAC) to nuclear use. Through a study of primary and secon...

New article by Giovanni Mantilla @giofabman.bsky.social titled "Stealth Change: How the United States and the United Kingdom Embraced International Humanitarian Limits on Nuclear Use" analysing the shift of UK and US nuclear policy.

You can read it here: tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Stealth Change: How the United States and the United Kingdom Embraced International Humanitarian Limits on Nuclear Use This article analyzes how American and British policy shifted, from rejecting to accepting the applicability of the law of armed conflict (LOAC) to nuclear use. Through a study of primary and secon...

Finally out! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... Longer post to come but for now, key take-aways: international pressure matters, domestic pressure matters, international treaty law (however contested) matters, and super importantly these days, civil servants who believe in international law matter!

This is bleak: Jes Staley, currently CEO of Barclays, reassuring Epstein that popular revolt against financial elites is unlikely because capitalism and pop culture have defanged social movements, leaving people more invested in consumption than justice.

For an excellent in-depth exploration of the US use of financial sanctions since September 11th onwards, listen to Episode 5 of the @lrb.co.uk Aftershock podcast 'In dollars we trust'
@danielsoar.bsky.social

www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and...

Epstein files shed more light on Steve Bannon’s efforts to influence European politics Donald Trump’s former adviser told Epstein in 2019 that he was ‘focused on raising money for Le Pen and Salvini’ before European elections

Every European citizen should read this piece on the relationship between Steve Bannon and the European far right parties, as detailed by Bannon in his emails to Epstein www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Super cool, Duncan, congrats!!

Utopia Abstract. Ideal societies, better worlds, more just and peaceful ways of living: these have long been the stuff of human beings’ social dreaming. In this c

NEW BOOK!

I'm very happy to say that my new book, Utopia, co-written with Douglas Mao, has been published on-line

academic.oup.com/book/62279

OLC Maduro Memo: Assisting War vs Participating in Hostilities A recent OLC memo on U.S. use of force wrongly expands who can be targeted under the law of armed conflict, undermining civilian protections.

1/ Important read from my friends Charlie Trumbull & @mikeschmitt.bsky.social

Bottom line: A sentence you could easily miss in the Trump DOJ/OLC's Maduro memo concludes a new category of *civilians* can be lawfully killed during armed conflict. It is wrong.

www.justsecurity.org/130603/olc-m...

The Predatory Hegemon Ever since Donald Trump first became U.S. president, in 2017, commentators have searched for an adequate label to describe his approach to U.S. foreign relations. Writing in these pages, the political...

“The Trump administration appears to believe it can prey on other states forever, and that doing so will make the United States even stronger,” writes @stephenwalt.bsky.social. But “predatory hegemony contains the seeds of its own destruction.”

US Foreign Policy Is Now Medieval The search continues for a framework to make sense of, or at least label, the baffling state of world affairs since Donald Trump took his second oath of office as president of the United States. And n...

From @bloomberg.com, discussing Stacie Goddard & @abenewman.bsky.social's recent work on neoroyalism. (The IO essay: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...)

www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

I’m co-organizing this interdisciplinary @europeanisa.bsky.social workshop on the UNSC in gorgeous Izmir this summer July 1-3, alongside Stefano Recchia (SMU). Still a few days left to submit abstracts (Feb 11). Consider sending yours in!

I’m co-organizing this interdisciplinary @europeanisa.bsky.social workshop on the UNSC in gorgeous Izmir this summer July 1-3, alongside Stefano Recchia (SMU). Still a few days left to submit abstracts (Feb 11). Consider sending yours in!

Stealth Change: How the United States and the United Kingdom Embraced International Humanitarian Limits on Nuclear Use This article analyzes how American and British policy shifted, from rejecting to accepting the applicability of the law of armed conflict (LOAC) to nuclear use. Through a study of primary and secon...

Finally out! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... Longer post to come but for now, key take-aways: international pressure matters, domestic pressure matters, international treaty law (however contested) matters, and super importantly these days, civil servants who believe in international law matter!

Thank you @verfassungsblog.de for publishing our thoughts.

The Strong Will Suffer What They Must Vaclav's Grocer and American Hubris

“The strong do what they can" is what Athens said right before destroying itself. New piece on the Carney Doctrine, Vaclav’s grocer, and American hubris.
hegemon.substack.com/p/the-strong...

Struggling to redesign my small-group MPhil seminar "norms of humanity" amid so many breathtaking events. It's primarily historical, using IR approaches to int'l legal norms of HR, armed conflict, IHL. Any tips, texts, or class activities for incorporating discussion of our unprecedented present? 🙏

✨New article out in International Studies Review✨

NGOs are facing backlash, shrinking civic space & increased competition. Here I examine how NGOs can respond by adding new legal entities; or changing funding models.

doi.org/10.1093/isr/...

🧵 Trump foreign-policy is overwhelmingly reality-television optics. More sound and fury than shock and awe.

It doesn't put in the work. The deals it negotiates? Mostly vaporware. It announces "☮️ in our time" based on ceasefires. I'd bet good 💰 that 🇻🇪 will not be a vassal state for all that long.

US will exit dozens of international organizations as it further retreats from global cooperation The Trump administration will withdraw from dozens of international organizations, including the U.N.’s population agency and the U.N. treaty that establishes international climate negotiations.

The Trump administration will withdraw from dozens of international organizations, including the U.N.'s population agency and the U.N. treaty that establishes international climate negotiations, as the U.S. further retreats from global cooperation.

Threats to international peace and security - Security Council, 10085th meeting The situation in Venezuela.

webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1k... if you’re interested in this morning’s emergency security council meeting on Venezuela, it’ll start here at 10am. It was called by Colombia, and can help us get a sense of the public lines coming from a diverse group of countries

you don't need to add caveats agreeing that the head of state abducted is a bad guy before opposing abduction of a head of state by military force. If the rule was any head of government is fair game then the entire world would be a series of decapitation strikes and show trials in foreign courts.

intriguing new chapter by Helen Kinsella and Giovanni Mantilla on historical approaches in IR through a case study on the ICRC in N-Ireland

academic.oup.com/edited-volum...

My new book — Humanitarianism: A Very Short Introduction — is now available as an e-book (paperback in March 2026)! The book offers a concise history of humanitarianism in an international perspective, from the 18th century to the present. More info here: global.oup.com/academic/pro...

🧵Here's a research-backed answer: No.
1/
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Non-Western Visions of International Order The scholarship on the concept of order has been expanding within international relations. The continuous upheaval of world politics first triggered a broad debate on the resilience of the liberal int...

We’ve surveyed ‘Non-Western Visions of International Order’ for Annual Review of Political Science vol 29

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...