Cyber changes nothing and everything: Revisiting some fundamental debates in international law

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Abstract: International law as we know it applies to information and communication technologies (ICTs). Nevertheless, the rapid spread and development of ICTs has not only changed our lives, but also forced states and lawyers to think again about some fundamental concepts in international law, such as territorial sovereignty, jurisdiction, non-intervention or the threshold between war and peace. These ongoing, and very important debates, hinge to a large degree on how we think about sovereignty, relations between states as well as about the nature of “cyberspace”.

Speaker: Pål Wrange (Ph.D, LL.M) is a professor of public international law at Stockholm University and the Director of the Stockholm Center for International Law and Justice. He is also a former principal legal advisor at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, where he first encountered issues relating to international law and cyberspace as a member of an inter-agency committee on information operations in 2001. He is a member of the Swedish government’s Advisory Committee on International Law, a member of the board of the Swedish National Human Rights Institutions, a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration as well as a member of a number of scientific advisory and editorial boards. Professor Wrange has published widely on international law, including on cyber issues. He is currently engaged in the Sino-European Expert Working Group on the Application of International Law in Cyberspace.

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The Public International Law Discussion Group at the University of Oxford is a key focal point for PIL@Oxford and hosts regular speaker events. Topics involve contemporary and challenging issues in international law. Speakers include distinguished international law practitioners, academics, and legal advisers from around the world.

PIL Discussion Group Convenor: Ayako Hatano

The Discussion Group's meetings are part of the programme of the British Branch of the International Law Association and are supported by the Law Faculty and Oxford University Press.

The speaker will commence at 12:45pm UK Time and the speaker will present for around 30-40 minutes, with around 30 minutes for questions and discussion. The meeting should conclude by 2pm UK Time.

Practitioners, academics and students from within and outside the University of Oxford are all welcome.