HESBURGH LECTURE SERIES 2012 Program - Alumni Association ...

Mary Ellen O’Connell
Robert and Marion Short Professor, Law; Research Professor, Joan
B. Kroc Institute for Peace Studies; Fellow, Kellogg Institute for
International Studies
Biography
Mary Ellen O’Connell holds the Robert and Marion Short Chair in Law and is a research
professor of International Dispute Resolution in the Kroc Institute for Peace Studies at the
University of Notre Dame. She is a specialist on the international law regulating the use of force
and is the author of numerous books and articles on the subject, including, The Power and
Purpose of International Law, Insights from the Theory and Practice of Enforcement (OUP 2008).
O’Connell chairs the Use of Force Committee of the International Law Association, and she is a
vice president of the American Society of International Law. O’Connell has been a professional
military educator for the Department of Defense at the George C. Marshall European Center
for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
O’Connell earned her B.A. in history from Northwestern University with highest honors. She received a Marshall Scholarship for
two years of graduate work in the United Kingdom, where she earned an M.Sc. in international relations at the London School
of Economics, and an LL.B. with first class honors in international law from Cambridge University. She has a J.D. from Columbia
University, where she won the Berger Prize in international law. O’Connell practiced law in Washington, D.C., with the law firm of
Covington & Burling before joining the academy in 1989.
Lectures
Deadly Drones
The U.S. has been using unmanned aerial vehicles or drones to fire missiles and drop bombs since 2001. The technological
breakthrough represented by drones can save the lives of combatants and civilians alike, but the technology also poses legal,
moral, and strategic challenges.
Piracy, Pillages, and Other Problems of World Order
Pirates, war-time pillage, and other ancient problems are back in the news. They never left the “inbox” of international lawyers.
How does international law handle these and other challenges facing the world today?
Recapturing the Power of International Law for America
Once, every American diplomat, Supreme Court justice, and lawyer-president knew well the power and purpose of international
law for America. By the 1960s, that knowledge was waning. What happened and how can we recapture the power of international
law for America?
86 The Hesburgh Lecture Series, 2012 Program
Categories
Government, Law