Durham Law School Annual Lecture 2026

Speaker: Professor Jan Klabbers

Venue: Hogan Lovells Lecture Theatre (PCL 048), Durham Law School

Speaker Bio:

Professor Klabbers is currently Whewell Professor of International Law at the University of Cambridge. He was educated in international law and political science at the University of Amsterdam. In 1996 he was appointed professor of international law at the University of Helsinki, a position he recently left to take up the Whewell Chair in Cambridge. Professor Klabbers is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading experts in the law of treaties and the law of international organisations. He is currently leading a research project, funded by a €2.5 million European Research Council grant, on relations between intergovernmental organisations and the private sector. 

Chair: Prof Ming Du, Professor of Transnational Law and Deputy Dean for Research, Durham Law School

Dr Henry Jones, Associate Professor in Law, Durham Law School

Prof Robert Schuetze, Professor of European and Global Law, Durham Law School

Prof Catherine Turner, Professor of International Law, Durham Law School

International organizations have always been considered to be fairly technical entities, performing a particular function for their member states, and thereby somehow contributing to global peace. That perspective has proved highly influential, but leaves a few gaps. Surely, not all organizations unequivocally contribute to peace; surely, their decisions and activities are not purely technical, and are not solely affecting member states – or even solely inspired by member state concerns. Even a cursory glance at the field will suggest that international organizations generally play a role in the global economy, whether by means of setting up infrastructures or through distributing costs and benefits. As a result, there might be merit in adopting a different perspective on international organizations, one informed by political economy considerations. This lecture will provide an overview as to how international organizations serve the global economy, both through their very establishment and through their activities, in hoping of achieving a better understanding of these hugely relevant global governors.