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

Each year Professors Jose E. Alvarez and Frank K. Upham offer the USALI Colloquium on Globalization, International Law, and East Asia, 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 may include maritime disputes, national security issues related to cyber commerce and big data, continuing tensions produced by transitional justice litigation, human rights concerns, proposed reforms to international regimes such as trade and investment, or other timely topics of concerns to scholars, governments, or international civil society.

 The colloquium seeks 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 weekly speaker program during the academic year. Talks during the past 12 months that have focused on international law or policy topics include:

• Aiko Nakai, Masahiro Kurosaki, Julia Vassileva: Japan’e Evolving Position on Collective Self-Defense

• Noor Hamadeh, Hideaki Roy Umetsu, Kazuko Ito, Akiko Sato: Protecting Human Rights in Supply Chains

• Malcolm Jorgenson: Multipolarity, Civilizations and Universality in International Law

• Taiwan Legal Series:

  • What Does PRC Law Say about Taiwan?

  • What does ROC Law Say about Taiwan?

  • What Does the United Nations Say about Taiwan?

  • What Does International Law Say about Taiwan?

  • What Does US Law Say about Taiwan?

• Bruce Aronson, Andrew McDermott: Hostile Takeovers and Economic Growth in Japan

• Christina L. Davis, Pasha Hsieh: What the US-China Trade War Means for Partners in Asia

• William Chou, Bruce Aronson, Hiroyuki Nishimura: Global Japan: Nippon Steel, U.S. Steel, and the Implications for US-Japan Relations

• Hiroaki Shiga: Global Japan: Before BRI: Japan’s Overseas Development Assistance

• Nilufer Oral, Phoebe Okowa: The Current Agenda of the UN’s International Law Commission

• Matthew Erie: Law as Infrastructure: China in the World.

Online Essays

USALI launched its online essay series, USALI Perspectives, in October 2020 in order to advance dialogue between the US and East Asian legal communities. The short essays are intended to be relevant and accessible to readers beyond academe who are interested in law and policy in and about Asia. Essays published over the past 12 months that addressed topics in international law and policy include: 

• Yoichiro Hamabe: Focusing on ESG Could Prevent Disasters Like Fukushima

• Symposium on Nippon Steel and the New Era in US-Japan Economic Relations

• Christian Contardo: The Nippon Steel Decision Is Not About Japan

• Paul Sheard: The National Security Arguments about Nippon Steel Don’t Survive Scrutiny

• Andrew McDermott: Why America’s Steel Industry Needs Nippon Steel: An Investor’s Reflections

• Bruce Aronson: Why Blocking the Nippon Steel Deal May Seriously Harm US-Japan Relations

• Railla Puno: Implications of the Trump Presidency for Global Climate Action

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

• Bruce Aronson: Manufactured Threat? Assessing Nippon Steel’s Plan to Buy US Steel

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).

Annual International Law Conference

USALI hosts an annual high-profile conference on an international law topic that has broad interest to both governments and academics and deserves 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.