Program on International Law and Relations in Asia

The U.S.-Asia Law Institute is a leading forum in the United States for informed debates on international law topics relevant to East Asia. We promote the study and application of international law to regional and international conflicts and disputes in Asia.  

In our teaching, research, and conferences, we apply the framework of “comparative international law” and ask whether, despite claims to universality, the rules of international law or perspectives on those rules vary among nations or regions. We inquire into whether there is an overarching “Asian perspective,” unique, or country-specific views on international legal regimes, as well as how views on particular international legal matters differ among scholars across East Asia.

The USALI Program on International Law and International Relations in Asia has four components: an annual international law colloquium, an annual conference, periodic talks/webinars on international law topics, and periodic essays on the same.

The USALI Colloquium on Globalization, International Law, and East Asia

The colloquium is a one-semester course designed to expose NYU Law students to a range of perspectives on international law and its application to contemporary issues in East Asia.

Each time the colloquium is taught, we bring into the classroom a different selection of leading scholars to share their works in progress on cutting-edge issues in international law of consequence to East Asian countries. Topics have included maritime disputes, national security issues related to cyber commerce and big data, transitional justice litigation, human rights, government responses to demographic change, proposed reforms to the international trade and investment regimes, and other timely topics of concern to scholars, governments, and international civil society.

Our goal is to inspire a new generation of scholars of Asian international law while also enabling scholars of US law to become more familiar with important international legal issues in Asia. Students can expect to:

• Work with select issues involving international law and apply them in particular settings,

• Understand contemporary challenges to “universal international law,” particularly from the perspective of “comparative international law,”

• Evaluate claims that there are distinct characteristics or aptitudes within select East Asian countries towards contemporary legal disputes,

• Better understand the connections between domestic legal structures (e.g., the role of national courts) and positions taken by countries in international forums, and

• Engage in the development of legal scholarship. 

The curriculum for the most recent USALI Colloquium can be found here.

Guest Speakers

USALI hosts a speaker program during the academic year. Talks during 2025-2026 that focused on international law or policy include:

• Prof Ryo Sahashi, US–China Competition and the International Order, September 5, 2025.

• Jean-Marc Coicaud, International Law for Whom?, September 29, 2025.

• Julian Ku, Taiwan Legal: What Does International Law Say About Defending Taiwan?, October 9, 2025.

• Lucy Reed, Singapore’s Quick Rise as an International Arbitration Center, October 14, 2025.

• Harlan Cohen, Outbound Investment Restrictions and International Law’s Challenge, October 21, 2025.

• Pasha Hsieh, Taiwan Legal: What Do Trade Agreements Say About Taiwan?, November 6, 2025.

• James Bacchus, Democracy for a Sustainable World, January 21, 2026.

• Yuanyuan (Kate) Ren, China’s Role in the Arctic, February 26, 2026.

• Alan Wolff, The US in the World Trading System: The Tariffs and WTO Reform, March 4, 2026.

• Alex Wang, Chinese Global Environmentalism, March 27, 2026.

• Henry Gao, Liberation Day in East Asia: One Year Later, April 8, 2026.

• Antony Anghie, Rethinking the Teaching of International Law, April 10, 2026.

• William Dodge, Agnieszka Fryszman, and Aaron Halegua, Can U.S. Courts Provide Remedies for Forced Labor in Asia?, April 17, 2026.

• Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, Taiwan Legal: How Does the EU Engage with Taiwan?, April 23, 2026.

• Nobumasa Akiyama, Japan Global: Japan’s Nuclear Arms Dilemma, May 20, 2026.

Online Essays

USALI’s online essay series, USALI Perspectives, offers another platform for dialogue between the US and East Asian legal communities. The short essays are intended to be relevant and accessible to readers beyond academe. Essays published over the past twelve months that address topics in international law and relations include: 

• Hiroaki Shiga, Japan’s Aid Dilemma: Fighting the Monster Without Becoming One

• Katherine Wilhelm, Summitry and Lawfare: China's Foreign-related Rule of Law

• Susan Finder, China’s International Commercial Court Network: A Work in Progress

• Tan Hsien-Li, Doubling Down on Rules-based Trade

• Xuan W. Tay: Chinese Influence Operations Under International Law

International Law and Policy Publications

Our faculty, affiliated scholars, and visiting scholars have published these recent works on international law and policy:

• José E. Alvarez, “Can International Investment Agreement Advance the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals?,” in The African Renaissance in the Age of Globalization: What Role for International Investment Law? (Cambridge University Press 2025).

• José E. Alvarez, “Introduction: Why Should We Care About IO Initiatives in Response to Needs?,” in IO Initiatives: How and Why Organisations Adapt to Changes (Oxford University Press 2025).

• José E. Alvarez, Women’s Property Rights Under CEDAW (with Judith Bauder) (Oxford University Press 2024).

• José E. Alvarez, “How do you solve a problem like gender inequality?,” OUP blog, April 19, 2024.

• Bruce Aronson & Manabu Matsunaka, Legal System Issues concerning Australia's Takeover Panel and Hostile Takeovers in Japan, 2393 SHOJI HOMU, June 15, 2025

• Bruce Aronson, The Toshiba Case Seen from Abroad--Corporate Governance Lessons, MARR ONLINE, Jan. 5, 2025

• Bruce E. Aronson, “Designing a New Framework to Regulate Hostile Takeovers in a Changing Japan,” European Corporate Governance Institute - Law Research Paper Series, July 2, 2024.

• Jerome A. Cohen, Eastward, Westward: A Life in Law (Columbia University Press 2025).

International Law Conferences

USALI hosts high-profile conferences on international law topics of broad interest to both governments and academics that deserve in-depth attention.

The most recent USALI international law conference was held online from Nov. 2-4, 2022 on the topic “Toward a Human Right to Claim Innocence.” USALI partnered with the Innocence Network and Duke University School of Law (the Wilson Center for Science and Justice and the Center for International and Comparative Law) to organize the conference, which had three panels:

• International Law’s Innocence Gap, a panel discussion with Luca Lupária, Brandon L. Garrett, Laurence R. Helfer, and Jayne Huckerby

• Strategies from Other New Rights Campaigns, a panel discussion with Jayne Huckerby, Inga Winkler, Mart Susi, Sarah Chu, and Mong-Hwa Chin

• A Case Study: The Human Right to A Clean Environment, Laurence R. Helfer, John H. Knox, and Marc Limonn

Maritime Dispute Resolution Project

Since 2018, USALI has been conducting research into interstate maritime disputes in order to better understand the circumstances that facilitate the successful resolution of disputes and contentious issues. To date, we have examined 19 cases that have been resolved through adjudication, arbitration, negotiation, or conciliation. Our aim is to distill lessons for governments.

More information about the project, case studies, and a research report can be found here.