Happy New Year; Farewell (Not Really); and our Most Read Posts of 2025

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On behalf of the EJIL: Talk! editorial team, I would like to extend our best wishes to our readers and their families for the new year. Hopefully it will be a bit better than the ones before it.

This has been a very busy year for the blog. We published about 20% more posts this year than last year, and last year too was a very busy one. We had about 10% more views than last year. The number of submissions was also about 20% higher. Our rejection rate similarly remains high, with many otherwise publishable posts not making the cut for various reasons – we publish around one third of all submissions that we receive. Virtually all posts that we publish are unsolicited. (See also Dapo’s new year’s post from last year and this post on stats). We solicit posts exceptionally rarely, and this is is normally in the context of special symposia. 

As Sarah has already announced, I’ve decided to resign as editor of the blog, and resign as well from the Executive Board of the EJIL. I’ve worked in that role for 13 years, and that’s a lot by any measure. So this is my first and last ‘most read posts’ post – they were very much Dapo’s thing! I am very happy with everything that we’ve accomplished with the blog, and the editors now in charge are a fabulous bunch. I will still be writing for the blog, as I’ve done since December 2008 (it’s been a while!). I will just have no editorial role any longer. I am very grateful to all of my colleagues at the blog and the Journal for the many years of collaboration.

Here, finally, is the top 20 list of most read posts on the blog in 2025 (note, as always, that not all of these were written in 2025). As usual, current events dominated this list, including the conflicts in the Middle East, the ICJ’s advisory opinion on climate change, and the policies of the Trump administration:

  1. Marko Milanovic, Is Israel’s Use of Force Against Iran Justified by Self-Defence? (June 13, 2025);
  2. Marko Milanovic, No, Recognizing Palestine Would Not Be Contrary to International Law (July 31, 2025);
  3. Marko Milanovic, The Illegal Israeli-American Use of Force Against Iran: A Follow-Up (June 23, 2025);
  4. Jacques Hartmann, US Withdrawal from NATO and Its Impact on Access to Greenland (April 14, 2025);
  5. Marko Milanovic, Does Israel Have the Right to Defend Itself? (November 14, 2023);
  6. Federica Paddeu and Miles Jackson, State Responsibility in the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on Climate Change (July 25, 2025);
  7. Julian Arato and Justina Uriburu, Treaty and Custom in the ICJ’s Climate Change Opinion (July 24, 2025);
  8. Ekaterina Antsygina, The Legal Debate Surrounding Greenland and Denmark: Unpacking Donald Trump’s Statements (January 24, 2025);
  9. Tal Mimran, Immunity of State Officials from Criminal Jurisdiction: The Debate Continues (February 5, 2025);
  10. Marko Milanovic, The European Court’s Merits Judgment in Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia: As Good as It Gets (Almost) (July 10, 2025);
  11. Marko Milanovic, Proving Genocide (September 18, 2025);
  12. Alexander Lott, Christmas Day Cable Cuts in the Baltic Sea (December 31, 2024);
  13. Guglielmo Verdirame, The British Statement on Recognition of Palestine: A Reply to Marko Milanovic (August 6, 2025);
  14. Giulia Bosi, Sex in Prison: The International Human Rights Framework on Conjugal Visits, Starting from the Case of Italy (June 10, 2025);
  15. Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh and Jorge Viñuales, The Great Reset: The ICJ Reframes the Conduct Responsible for Climate Change Through the Prism of Internationally Wrongful Acts (August 4, 2025);
  16. Philippa Webb and Lydia Kim, Six Viewpoints on the Future of the International Legal Order and the Role of International Courts (August 20, 2025);
  17. Coalter Lathrop, The Latest Trump Threat to International Law: Unilaterally Mining the Area (May 6, 2025);
  18. Ardi Imseis, On Palestine and the Death of the West’s International Legal Order (November 26, 2025);
  19. Marko Milanovic, The Bottom Line of the ICJ’s UNRWA Advisory Opinion (October 23, 2025);
  20. Marko Milanovic, Trump’s Coercion of America’s Allies and the Prohibition of Intervention (January 13, 2025).
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    Dapo Akande says

    January 1, 2026

    Many thanks to Marko for all his wonderful work on the blog! When the blog started in December 2008, one of the best decisions we made was to reach out to Marko to ask him to be a guest blogger for "a few weeks". Thankfully, we eeked out a bit more time from him! Marko was at time a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge, and though I had not met him person his talents were already clear for all to see.

    While this is Marko's first "most read posts" post, he has, of course, been ever present in this series of posts. The fact that very frequently, the top read post of the year was written by him and often two or three of the top five were by him, is testament to how widely sought after his views and voice is. (What was going on in your life in 2014 Marko? That was the only year when the top 5 most read posts did not include one by you).

    And what may go unseen to most readers but will be appreciated by the many who have submitted posts is the careful and painstaking editorial work that he (and the wonderful team of editors and associate editors) have carried out over the years.

    Thankfully, this is not farewell but au revoir!

    Diane Desierto says

    January 4, 2026

    Congratulations Marko, and thank you for 17 years of brilliant editorship and leading scholarship for EJIL:Talk! It was a privilege to have worked with you and Dapo for 12 of those years. Always joyful, sharp, critical, thoughtful, constructive, and dare I say, "fun" back when international law was more about growth in cooperation and accountability, and less about today's retreats from and assaults to the Charter-based system.

    I look forward to reading even more of your scholarship in the years ahead.

    Geraldo Vidigal says

    January 4, 2026

    Thanks a lot for the great reads over they years, Marko - and I really hope you will give us all the grace of a last Milanovic reaction post in this already bewildering 2026!