"The Importance of Research Collaboration on the History of the Nuremberg Trials and International Law"

The importance of collaborative scholarly research is itself an undeniable facet of modern academic life in an era of globalizing education and communication. When coupled with the study of Nuremberg’s legacy, however, this importance expands on many levels. Historians, political scientists, archivists, criminologists, policymakers, attorneys and legal academicians, and even some philosophers, are coming together at this conference to share their experiences and findings with regard to the Trials of Nazi War Criminals at Nuremberg . 

Such face-to-face information sharing generates new research possibilities, new avenues of inquiry, new scholarly partnerships, and new perspectives on one of the seminal events of the mid-20^th Century. But it also has a positive and measurable impact on the further development of international law and policy. This is true in both the direct and indirect sense. Directly, writings of the most highly qualified publicists (scholars) in an area of international concern are viewed under Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice as subsidiary means for determining international law. Indirectly, such research impacts the structural development of new international criminal institutions like the International Criminal Court in The Hague, and informs the decisions of judges such as those now wrestling with difficult post-conflict adjudications before the U.N.-backed tribunals for Rwanda, the Former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone, and the forthcoming court for Cambodia.

The synergy of collaborative research is well-known. But its spill-over application to real-world problems and the development of law and policy is underappreciated. We hope to appreciate that aspect in a more formal sense at this conference.

Hosted by the Office of Research Collaboration

Speaker: Professor Michael Kelly

Michael Kelly is Professor of Law at Creighton University School of Law. He received his LL.M. in International & Comparative Law with distinction from Georgetown University and his Juris Doctor from Indiana University. Following graduation, Professor Kelly served as an attorney in the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. Before joining the Creighton faculty in 2001, he taught at Michigan State University College of Law.

Professor Kelly is author of the book Nowhere to Hide: Defeat of the Sovereign Immunity Defense for Crimes of Genocide & the Trials of Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein (Peter Lang Pub. 2005) with a foreword by Desmond Tutu, and co-author of the book Equal Justice in the Balance: America’s Legal Responses to the Emerging Terrorist Threat (Univ. of Mich. Press 2004). He has published articles on a variety of issues, including most recently “Pulling at the Threads of Westphalia: Involuntary Sovereignty Waiver, Revolutionary International Legal Theory or Return to Rule by the Great Powers?”, 10 UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs, (forthcoming Spring 2006) and “The Tricky Nature of Proving Genocide Against Saddam Hussein before the Iraqi Special Tribunal,” 38 Cornell Journal International Law Journal, 983 (Fall 2005).

Professor Kelly has presented his ideas on United Nations Security Council reform to the Academic Council of the U.N. System in New York and at the Irish Association of Law Teachers in Derry. His Op-Ed columns have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, San Diego Union Tribune, Detroit News, Chicago Sun-Times and Houston Chronicle.  Recent op-ed’s appearing on the Jurist Network include: “The Milosevic Trial Legacy: If Not Outcome, Hope” (Mar. 11, 2006), “Sovereignty Redux: The ICJ Ruling in Congo v. Uganda” (Dec. 22, 2005), “Sovereign Immunity for Saddam? Not Likely” (Oct. 18, 2005), “The Irony of a Possible ICC Finding of Genocide in Darfur” (June 9, 2005), “Reaping the Whirlwind: Departures From International Law Helped Create Climate for Iraq Prison Abuses” (May 19, 2004) and “Could the New International Criminal Court Try Americans for War Crimes in Iraq?” (Mar. 17, 2003).

Professor Kelly teaches Public International Law, Native American Law, Comparative Constitutional Law, European Union Law, International Criminal Law, and National Security Law.

Hosted by the Social Philosophy and Policy Center, Bowling Green State University

Attendees are encouraged to view the following art exhibit currently on display:

COLOR: TEN AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTISTS

With titles like Biting Bling,  the objects in this exhibition include 40 remarkable pieces ranging from oversize beads to a small-scale shantytown. Described as edgy  and evocative,  COLOR weaves together personal expressions of race and identity from ten African American artists working with craft media such as clay, glass, metal, wood, fiber, and mixed/found materials.

This exhibition was organized by the Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is made possible through the generous support of the Ohio Arts Council and the BGSU Ethnic Cultural Arts Program.