Simon Chesterman
Encyclopedia
Simon Chesterman is Vice Dean and law professor at the National University of Singapore
, and "Global Professor and Director" of the Singaporean branch of the NYU School of Law
. His research concerns international law
, conceptions of public authority, state-building and post-conflict reconstruction. He is critical of what he sees as the changing and increasingly expanding role of intelligence agencies. Chesterman is the author or editor of twelve books.
He will replace Tan Cheng Han
as Dean of the Faculty of Law at the National University of Singapore on 1 January 2012. Chesterman is married to Patricia Tan, the daughter of the President of Singapore, Tony Tan Keng Yam.
, where he won the Supreme Court Prize as the top student. He obtained a Rhodes Scholarship
and completed his Ph.D in international law at Oxford University under the supervision of the late Sir Ian Brownlie
.
article notes, Chesterman condemns NATO's intervention in the Kosovo War
as being "completely outside the United Nations system of security and a threat to global stability". Chesterman writes as a co-author in one article "Has US power destroyed the UN?" that "the system created in 1945 to preserve peace and security has been seriously compromised."
His doctoral thesis as a Rhodes Scholar, became one of his first books, Just War or Just Peace? Humanitarian Intervention and International Law. Before publication as a book, the work had originally won a 2000 Dasturzada Dr Jal Pavry Memorial Prize for "best thesis in international relations". One review article of this book by Nico Krisch in the European Journal of International Law described Chesterman's book as being pessimistic about humanitarian intervention
, when compared to his contemporary Nicholas J. Wheeler
who is more optimistic about establishing an international framework for "ideal humanitarian intervention".
Chesterman does not believe that "ideal humanitarian intervention" exists; according to Krisch, he instead belongs to the school of thought that argues that states should "justify their action based on political arguments" rather than relying on a "[humanitarian] recognition of exception to the use of force". Though the intervention would go against international law, it would be in Chesterman's words, a "venial sin". As Krisch analyses, Wheeler also raises "plausible" opposition to this — it would create a "perception" that "powerful states" could ignore international law whenever they wished, pushing other countries to treat international law "equally cavalierly". Noting Chesterman's position, Krisch writes, "law loses much of its weight if its deviation from moral standards is openly admitted and other ways of justification are recognised." Chesterman further argues in Just War or Just Peace that the enforcement of the Iraqi no-fly zones
and the Operation Deny Flight
(the no-fly zone
in Kosovo) went outside the framework of the United Nations, but Krisch calls this claim "overstated".
Nevertheless the book received an American Society of International Law
Certificate of Merit.
In Just War or Just Peace, Chesterman rejects the idea that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY)'s repression of the Kosovars represented a "supreme humanitarian emergency". Instead, as Nicholas Wheeler notes, Chesterman and his allies are "sympathetic" to Russia's historical argument before the Security Council (SC) "that the crisis did not merit an armed response". Going against the widely-accepted view is that Russia's threat to use its UN Security Council veto against UN intervention in Kosovo was an act of "mere contrariness" to NATO, Chesterman instead argues NATO "never seriously contemplated that there might be genuine objections to the policies of NATO member states in their dealings with [the FRY]." Chesterman and his allies, Wheeler writes, would actually believe that Russia's official SC position matched its actual belief on the matter; to Chesterman, Russia would have changed its position had the situation "worsened along the apocalyptic lines predicted by NATO governments".
Wheeler's difficulty with such arguments of Chesterman and his allies however, is that, "it is uncertain how many Kosovars would have had to die
or be expelled
before Russia or China
[would have] sanctioned the use of force...the problem with using force in response to indicators of an impending disaster is that it can never be known whether intervention was justified; we can never know what would have happened had the intervention not taken place." Chesterman's position is further questioned: "If the threshold of intervention is defined as genocide or mass murder, does this mean that the bodies have to pile up to this level before intervention can occur?"
More recently, Chesterman has written on the regulation and oversight of intelligence services
, including a monograph published by Australia’s Lowy Institute for International Policy
. In an opinion piece published in the global edition of the New York Times in November 2009, he argued for limits to the outsourcing of intelligence activities to private contractors such as Blackwater
.
Oxford University Press
published Chesterman’s twelfth book in March 2011. Entitled One Nation Under Surveillance: A New Social Contract to Defend Freedom Without Sacrificing Liberty
, it examines what limits — if any — should be placed on a government's efforts to spy on its citizens in the name of national security.
Other publications have focused on the United Nations
, particularly the role of its Secretary-General, and the rise and regulation of private military and security companies.
(Chesterman's home institution) and published from 2011 by Cambridge University Press
and a co-editor of the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding. He is on the editorial boards of other journals including Global Governance
, Security Dialogue, and The Hague Journal on the Rule of Law.
National University of Singapore Faculty of Law
The National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law is the older of Singapore's two law schools. The Faculty was initially established as the Department of Law in the then University of Malaya in 1956, with the first batch of students matriculating in the following year...
, and "Global Professor and Director" of the Singaporean branch of the NYU School of Law
New York University School of Law
The New York University School of Law is the law school of New York University. Established in 1835, the school offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in law, and is located in Greenwich Village, in the New York City borough of Manhattan....
. His research concerns international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
, conceptions of public authority, state-building and post-conflict reconstruction. He is critical of what he sees as the changing and increasingly expanding role of intelligence agencies. Chesterman is the author or editor of twelve books.
He will replace Tan Cheng Han
Tan Cheng Han
Professor Tan Cheng Han, Senior Counsel, is the current dean of the Faculty of Law of the National University of Singapore where he teaches Contract law and Corporations law. Professor Tan is also a consultant at TSMP Law Corporation....
as Dean of the Faculty of Law at the National University of Singapore on 1 January 2012. Chesterman is married to Patricia Tan, the daughter of the President of Singapore, Tony Tan Keng Yam.
Education
Chesterman graduated with first class honours in arts and law from the University of MelbourneUniversity of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
, where he won the Supreme Court Prize as the top student. He obtained a Rhodes Scholarship
Rhodes Scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...
and completed his Ph.D in international law at Oxford University under the supervision of the late Sir Ian Brownlie
Ian Brownlie
Sir Ian Brownlie, CBE, QC, FBA was a British practising barrister, specialising in international law. After an education at Hertford College, Oxford, he was called to the Bar by Gray's Inn in 1958 and was a tenant at Blackstone Chambers from 1983 until his death on 3 January 2010.During his...
.
Views on humanitarian interventions
As a Modern Law ReviewModern Law Review
The Modern Law Review is a law review published in the United Kingdom by John Wiley & Sons and which has traditionally maintained close academic ties with the Law Department of the London School of Economics....
article notes, Chesterman condemns NATO's intervention in the Kosovo War
Kosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
as being "completely outside the United Nations system of security and a threat to global stability". Chesterman writes as a co-author in one article "Has US power destroyed the UN?" that "the system created in 1945 to preserve peace and security has been seriously compromised."
His doctoral thesis as a Rhodes Scholar, became one of his first books, Just War or Just Peace? Humanitarian Intervention and International Law. Before publication as a book, the work had originally won a 2000 Dasturzada Dr Jal Pavry Memorial Prize for "best thesis in international relations". One review article of this book by Nico Krisch in the European Journal of International Law described Chesterman's book as being pessimistic about humanitarian intervention
Humanitarian intervention
Humanitarian intervention "refers to a state using military force against another state when the chief publicly declared aim of that military action is ending human-rights violations being perpetrated by the state against which it is directed."...
, when compared to his contemporary Nicholas J. Wheeler
Nicholas J. Wheeler
Nicholas J. Wheeler is professor of international politics at Aberystwyth University and co-editor of the Cambridge Studies in International Relations book series, published by Cambridge University Press and the British International Studies Association...
who is more optimistic about establishing an international framework for "ideal humanitarian intervention".
Chesterman does not believe that "ideal humanitarian intervention" exists; according to Krisch, he instead belongs to the school of thought that argues that states should "justify their action based on political arguments" rather than relying on a "[humanitarian] recognition of exception to the use of force". Though the intervention would go against international law, it would be in Chesterman's words, a "venial sin". As Krisch analyses, Wheeler also raises "plausible" opposition to this — it would create a "perception" that "powerful states" could ignore international law whenever they wished, pushing other countries to treat international law "equally cavalierly". Noting Chesterman's position, Krisch writes, "law loses much of its weight if its deviation from moral standards is openly admitted and other ways of justification are recognised." Chesterman further argues in Just War or Just Peace that the enforcement of the Iraqi no-fly zones
Iraqi no-fly zones
The Iraqi no-fly zones were a set of two separate no-fly zones , and were proclaimed by the United States, United Kingdom and France after the Gulf War of 1991 to protect the Kurdish people in northern Iraq and Shiite Muslims in the south. Iraqi aircraft were forbidden from flying inside the zones...
and the Operation Deny Flight
Operation Deny Flight
Operation Deny Flight was a North Atlantic Treaty Organization operation that began on April 12, 1993 as the enforcement of a United Nations no-fly zone over Bosnia and Herzegovina...
(the no-fly zone
No-fly zone
A no-fly zone is a territory or an area over which aircraft are not permitted to fly. Such zones are usually set up in a military context, somewhat like a demilitarized zone in the sky, and usually prohibit military aircraft of a belligerent nation from operating in the region.-Iraq,...
in Kosovo) went outside the framework of the United Nations, but Krisch calls this claim "overstated".
Nevertheless the book received an American Society of International Law
American Society of International Law
The American Society of International Law is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational membership organization, based in Washington, D.C.. It was founded in 1906, and was chartered by the United States Congress in 1950...
Certificate of Merit.
In Just War or Just Peace, Chesterman rejects the idea that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY)'s repression of the Kosovars represented a "supreme humanitarian emergency". Instead, as Nicholas Wheeler notes, Chesterman and his allies are "sympathetic" to Russia's historical argument before the Security Council (SC) "that the crisis did not merit an armed response". Going against the widely-accepted view is that Russia's threat to use its UN Security Council veto against UN intervention in Kosovo was an act of "mere contrariness" to NATO, Chesterman instead argues NATO "never seriously contemplated that there might be genuine objections to the policies of NATO member states in their dealings with [the FRY]." Chesterman and his allies, Wheeler writes, would actually believe that Russia's official SC position matched its actual belief on the matter; to Chesterman, Russia would have changed its position had the situation "worsened along the apocalyptic lines predicted by NATO governments".
Wheeler's difficulty with such arguments of Chesterman and his allies however, is that, "it is uncertain how many Kosovars would have had to die
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
or be expelled
Population transfer
Population transfer is the movement of a large group of people from one region to another by state policy or international authority, most frequently on the basis of ethnicity or religion...
before Russia or China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
[would have] sanctioned the use of force...the problem with using force in response to indicators of an impending disaster is that it can never be known whether intervention was justified; we can never know what would have happened had the intervention not taken place." Chesterman's position is further questioned: "If the threshold of intervention is defined as genocide or mass murder, does this mean that the bodies have to pile up to this level before intervention can occur?"
Other books
Chesterman's book You, The People: The United Nations, Transitional Administration, and State-Building (Oxford University Press, 2004), studies the foundation of new institutions in war-torn regions such as the former Yugoslavia and southeast Asia. Noting Chesterman's intent to highlight the mutually related yet sometimes mutually opposing "ends of liberal democracy and the means of benevolent autocracy," a review article in the George Washington International Law Review however called it a "misdelivered message". Review author Marcella writes, "A reader investing in You the People might [reasonably believe] from its title that this book is meant to talk to her, one of the everyday people...she will be sorely disappointed. Chesterman himself missed an opportunity to engage the very people whose problems of access he means to address."More recently, Chesterman has written on the regulation and oversight of intelligence services
Intelligence agency
An intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information gathering for purposes of national security and defence. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public...
, including a monograph published by Australia’s Lowy Institute for International Policy
Lowy Institute for International Policy
The Lowy Institute for International Policy is an independent think tank endowed by Frank Lowy to conduct original, policy-relevant research about international political, strategic and economic issues from an Australian perspective. It is based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
. In an opinion piece published in the global edition of the New York Times in November 2009, he argued for limits to the outsourcing of intelligence activities to private contractors such as Blackwater
Blackwater Worldwide
Xe Services LLC, better known by its former names, Blackwater USA and Blackwater Worldwide, is a private military company founded in 1997 by Erik Prince and Al Clark.. Xe is currently the largest of the U.S. State Department's three private security contractors...
.
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
published Chesterman’s twelfth book in March 2011. Entitled One Nation Under Surveillance: A New Social Contract to Defend Freedom Without Sacrificing Liberty
One Nation Under Surveillance
One Nation Under Surveillance: A New Social Contract to Defend Freedom Without Sacrificing Liberty is a book by Simon Chesterman, a law professor at the National University of Singapore and global professor at the New York University School of Law....
, it examines what limits — if any — should be placed on a government's efforts to spy on its citizens in the name of national security.
Other publications have focused on the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, particularly the role of its Secretary-General, and the rise and regulation of private military and security companies.
Journals
Chesterman is an editor of the Asian Journal of International Law, founded in 2007 by a board decision in the National University of SingaporeNational University of Singapore
The National University of Singapore is Singapore's oldest university. It is the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered....
(Chesterman's home institution) and published from 2011 by Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
and a co-editor of the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding. He is on the editorial boards of other journals including Global Governance
Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations
Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations is an academic quarterly journal published by Lynne Rienner Publishers. It is published in association with the Academic Council of the United Nations System ....
, Security Dialogue, and The Hague Journal on the Rule of Law.
Reports
Chesterman has been author or co-author of various reports for the United Nations, governments, and private bodies. Examples include:- “The UN Security Council and the Rule of Law”, arguing for greater accountability and circulated as a document of the United Nations in all UN languages;
- “Assessment of Implementation of Articles 3 and 4 of the Ethical Guidelines for the Government Pension Fund – Global”, reviewing the ethical investment strategy of Norway's sovereign wealth fundSovereign wealth fundA sovereign wealth fund is a state-owned investment fund composed of financial assets such as stocks, bonds, property, precious metals or other financial instruments. Sovereign wealth funds invest globally. Some of them have grabbed attention making bad investments in several Wall Street financial...
and co-authored with the Albright GroupAlbright GroupThe Albright Group is an international strategy consulting firm founded in 2001 by former United States Secretary of State in the Clinton administration Madeleine Albright and based in Washington, D.C....
founded by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine AlbrightMadeleine AlbrightMadeleine Korbelová Albright is the first woman to become a United States Secretary of State. She was appointed by U.S. President Bill Clinton on December 5, 1996, and was unanimously confirmed by a U.S. Senate vote of 99–0...
; - “Asia’s Role in Global Governance”, a report of the World Economic Forum'sWorld Economic ForumThe World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
Global Redesign Initiative co-authored with Kishore MahbubaniKishore MahbubaniKishore Mahbubani is a notable academic and is currently Professor in the Practice of Public Policy and the Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. From 1971 to 2004 he served in the Singaporean Foreign Services, ending up as Singapore's Permanent...
.
External links
- http://www.SimonChesterman.com