Mary Ellen O'Connell

About/Bio

Mary Ellen O'Connell , JD, PhD is the Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law and is Professor of International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame. She is also Visiting Professor of Law (Fall 2022) at University of Chicago. O’Connell’s research is in the areas of international law on the use of force and international legal theory.

Recently Published

The Lessons of 9/11 for October 7

October 7 is being called Israel’s 9/11. The comparison is apt for the lessons that can be learned as to the legality of launching a ground offensive to respond to terrorism. The United States and the United Kingdom invaded Afghanistan in response to 9/11. Israel has announced it will undertake a full-scale…

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Twenty Years of Drone Attacks

On November 2, 2002, the United States conducted its first targeted killings using a drone. CIA agents based in Djibouti launched the drone’s two Hellfire missiles at a vehicle traveling in rural Yemen, killing six. Several weeks later the Los Angeles Times reported details, including the fact that while the U.S. Air Force controlled the…

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Russia-Ukraine: Resolving the World’s Most Dangerous Conflict

Since late 2021, Russia has massed around 100,000 troops on the border with Ukraine, raising the specter of another use of force against its neighbor. The Russia-Ukraine crisis began in earnest in February 2014, when Russian troops spread out from their Black Sea naval base to take control of the Crimean Peninsula. Russia put forward a variety of…

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