Steven Wheatley

About/Bio

Steven Wheatley is Professor of International Law at the University of Lancaster. Whilst his recent work has focused on using complexity theory to make sense of international law (see The Idea of International Human Rights Law (OUP, 2019)), he retains an interest in the relationship between international law and democracy.

Recently Published

Cyber and Influence Operations Targeting Elections: Back to the Principle of Non-Intervention

After the 2016 US presidential election, President Obama criticized Russia for interfering in the vote, but stopped short of alleging a violation of international law. The intervening period has seen a vigorous debate on the rules governing interference in elections, but no consensus has emerged. The 2020 presidential election would seem, then,…

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Democracy beyond the state and the problem of too much democracy – Observations on Chapter 6: ‘Dual Democracy’

 In Chapter 6 of The Constitutionalization of International Law which deals with ‘Dual Democracy’, Anne Peters engages (see post here) with the challenges presented by regulation by non-state actors and the reduction in the importance of sovereign consent in international law to the practice of domestic democracy. The two-track solution depends on the…

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Constructing the Global Constitutional Community – A Response to Anne Peters

Steven Wheatley is Professor of International Law at the University of Leeds, and author of The Democratic Legitimacy of International Law (Oxford, Hart, 2010).  It is a pleasure to comment on this publication and especially the arguments developed and summarized on EJIL Talk! by Professor Anne Peters (see here), whose writings…

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