The Yeoh Tiong Lay Centre for Politics, Philosophy & Law

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1 The Yeoh Tiong Lay Centre for Politics, Philosophy & Law Spring term newsletter prepared for the Yeoh family May 2018 Introduction from Professor John Tasioulas Yeoh Professor of Politics, Philosophy and Law and Director of YTL Centre Our academic year began in great sadness with the passing of the Centre s benefactor and namesake, Tan Sri Seri Datuk Dr Yeoh Tiong Lay. I was privileged to meet him on a number of occasions and to benefit from the warmth of his welcome and calm wisdom. His loss is deeply felt by us all. We are proud that the Centre is an important and enduring part of his great legacy. Our sense of loss was further compounded in February by the sudden death of our former Dean, Professor David Caron. David was not only a brilliant scholar and much-admired personal friend, he was also someone who truly understood the meaning of leadership, which is to enable those you are leading to flourish in their own lives. He, more than anyone, laid the foundations for the success of the Centre. Amidst the deep sense of loss, there is also gratitude that I was fortunate to know two such remarkable men. The memory of the just is blessed (Proverbs 10:7). The Centre kicked off a rich programme of activities this year, beginning with the launch of Professor Michael Ignatieff s new book, The Ordinary Virtues. Professor Ignatieff, who is the Rector of the Central European University, is a much-valued friend of the Centre, having been one of the key speakers at our inaugural event in His book makes the case that the universalist discourse of human rights, although prominent among the global elite, does not have a strong foothold in the moral operating systems of most people throughout the world. The manuscript of this book had been in January 2017 coincidentally, the day of Donald Trump s inauguration as US President the object of a one-day workshop at the Centre, and Professor Ignatieff generously acknowledged the revisions he had made in the light of comments received at that event. Our panel, which included Dr Vasanthakumar, engaged Professor Ignatieff in a fascinating discussion of these matters in front of a packed audience. I want to express the Centre s collective delight that Professor Ignatieff has agreed to be appointed a Visiting Professor at the Dickson Poon School of Law. 1

2 Another book-centred event was the panel discussion of Sir Noel Malcolm s new book Human Rights and Political Wrongs. This event exemplified the core goal the Centre hopes to achieve: to foster serious interdisciplinary discussion of topics, such as the UK s relationship with the European Court of Human Rights, that are of real public significance but are often treated in an overly superficial or partisan fashion. I am deeply grateful to Sir Noel, a historian venturing into the turbulent waters of human rights law and theory, for responding with such equanimity and grace to the sceptical grilling his views elicited from some human rights lawyers and philosophers in attendance. Another distinguished visiting speaker this year was the eminent Australian judge and human rights defender, the Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG. Justice Kirby, in a display of tremendous intellectual vitality and versatility, was a key speaker at two of our events. The first was a Law and Justice forum, organised by Drs Massimo Renzo and Ashwini Vasanthakumar, on the topic of rogue states. Here Justice Kirby brought to bear insights derived from his work as lead author on the United Nations report on human rights abuses in North Korea. The second was a symposium on Global Health Justice which examined connections between the UN Secretary-General s High Level Panel report on Access to Medicines, and the two reports I authored for the World Bank on minimum core obligations and their bearing on the human right to health. As someone who was born and raised in Australia, it was both a great honour and deeply moving to have one of my legal heroes one of Australia s great exemplars of the pursuit of justice through law engage with my work in such a fruitful, inspiring and encouraging way. Finally, the YTL Centre Annual Lecture was delivered in March by Professor Tim Scanlon of Harvard University. Professor Scanlon is not only a brilliant moral and political philosopher, he is also someone who spreads enlightenment and good will wherever he goes. It was very gratifying to see a packed Great Hall listen to Professor Scanlon engage with the thorny problems raised by notions of identity in both ethics and politics. The discussion continued on the following day with a standing-room-only panel discussion featuring some of the UK s leading moral and political philosophers, and chaired by our Advisory Board member, Baroness Onora O Neill. In addition to these events, we also had a very stimulating set of KJuris workshops featuring, among others, another Advisory Board member, Professor Rainer Forst of the University of Frankfurt. We now look forward to our Law and Justice forum on 1 June on the topic of Human Rights and Non- State Actors, with speakers including Professor John Ruggie, the author of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The more technical discussions during the day will be rounded-off by an evening panel discussion aimed at a more general audience and chaired by Bridget Kendall, Master of Peterhouse College, Cambridge and former BBC foreign correspondent. In the midst of all this public activity, the members of the Centre are also quietly continuing with their own respective research activities. It is always a pleasure when these come to fruition. In this respect, warm congratulations are due to Dr Christoph Kletzer, whose important new book on The Idea of a Pure Theory of Law was published earlier in the year. 2

3 Spotlight on events A few highlights Despite industrial action and snowy conditions, the YTL Centre has managed to keep up its vibrant calendar of activities and high profile public lectures on politics, philosophy and law. These offered ample opportunity to host some of the world s leading political, philosophical and legal minds. Book Launch: Professor Michael Ignatieff s The Ordinary Virtues 29 September, Somerset House East Wing (Strand) Professor Ignatieff Professor John Tasioulas with Mark Carney (Governor of the Bank of England) The YTL Centre for Politics, Philosophy and Law was thrilled to start a new academic year with the book launch for The Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World by Professor Ignatieff. Professor Ignatieff took ethics out of the seminar room by examining the role of ordinary virtues such as trust, forgiveness, tolerance and reconciliation in local contexts and settings among favela dwellers in Brazil, South Africans and Zimbabweans living in shacks, Japanese farmers, gang leaders in Los Angeles, and monks in Myanmar. Ignatieff found that while human rights may be the language of states and liberal elites, the moral language that resonates with most people is that of everyday virtues: tolerance, forgiveness, trust, and resilience. These ordinary virtues are the moral operating system in global cities and obscure shantytowns alike, the glue that makes the multicultural experiment work. Ignatieff seeks to understand the moral structure and psychology of these core values, which privilege the local over the universal, and citizens claims over those of strangers. Ordinary virtues, he concludes, are antitheoretical and anti-ideological. They can be cheerfully inconsistent. When order breaks down and conflicts break out, they are easily exploited for a politics of fear and exclusion reserved for one s own group and denied to others. But they are also the key to healing, reconciliation, and solidarity on both a local and a global scale. He was joined by Professor Guglielmo Verdirame, Dr Ashwini Vasanthakumar, Dr Octavio Ferrari and Professor Leif Wenar for a lively panel debate. The Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, pictured above, was in attendance. 3

4 YTL symposium: Human rights and political wrongs with Sir Noel Malcolm 22 February, Nash Lecture Theatre, King s Building Professor Tasioulas, Jessica Simor QC, Sir Noel Malcolm, Professor Gillian Douglas and Professor Amos The YTL Centre for Politics, Philosophy and Law was honoured to host Sir Noel Malcolm, one of the UK s most eminent historians of ideas, for a special symposium on his latest book, Human Rights and Political Wrongs. Sir Noel was joined in conversation by Professor Merris Amos (Queen Mary University of London), leading specialist in human rights law Jessica Simor QC, and Professor John Tasioulas. The event was chaired by Professor Gillian Douglas (Executive Dean of The Dickson Poon School of Law). During the event, Sir Noel offered a powerful and controversial critique of the existing system of human rights law, and an original analysis of the fundamental principles on which any such law should be based. Rights belong to political theory, said Sir Noel, not in the domain of moral philosophy. They are the criteria of legitimacy of democratic governments. He concluded that the UK should withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights because several of the basic methods and principles used in its decision-making are unprincipled and undemocratic. Sir Noel s claims were challenged by the panel in what made for an exciting debate. Professor Merris Amos focused on the value that the European Court of Human Rights brings at the individual, national and global levels, while Jessica Simor criticised the assumption that British courts would be superior to the European Court of Human Rights in defending genuine human rights. Professor John Tasioulas criticised Sir Noel s reliance on the beliefs and feelings of citizens for determining the existence of human rights, before the questions were thrown open to a lively audience discussion. 4

5 Professor Tasioulas comments on Sir Noel were subsequently published in a blog symposium hosted by the Judicial Power Project, with a reply from Sir Noel. Brilliant questions from our packed audience Sir Noel and panellists YTL Law & Justice forum: Rogue states 19 March, King s Buildings The YTL Centre hosted its first Law and Justice forum for 2018 in March, this time on the topic of rogue states. Organisers Drs Massimo Renzo and Ashwini Vasanthakumar were honoured to have been able to bring together a high calibre list of speakers, consisting of Justice Kirby, Sonja Biserko (founder and president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia), Professor Richard Miller (Cornell University), Dr Gina Heathcote (SOAS) and Dr John Nilsson-Wright (Chatham House and Cambridge University). The forum started with an insightful exchange between Professor Miller and Dr Heathcote about the notion of rogue states, itself controversial as a way of referring to states that violate important norms of international justice. Particular attention was devoted to a number of important issues that the behaviour of such states raise from a feminist perspective. In the second session of the day, Justice Kirby and Sonja Biserko expertly related some of the more abstract philosophical questions that emerged in the first session to their own experience as members of the United Nations Commission of Enquiry that investigated systematic violations of human rights in North Korea. Justice Kirby provided an illuminating account of a number of difficult choices he had to make in writing his report for the UN. The third session was open to the public and moderated by Dr Nilsson-Wright. All the speakers engaged in a stimulating discussion with the audience, addressing many challenging questions about some of the themes that arose throughout the day. Particular attention was paid to the issue of what 5

6 could be the appropriate moral, legal and political responses to the long-standing problem of rogue states, and the vexed question of whether the very label, rogue state, had any utility. From left to right: Dr Gina Heathcote, Justice Kirby, Sonja Biserko, Dr Massimo Renzo, Professor Richard Miller, Dr John Nilsson-Wright, and Dr Ashwini Vasanthakumar 6

7 YTL symposium: Global health justice with the Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG 20 March, Somerset House East Wing Justice Kirby speaking on Professor Tasioulas reports for the World Bank This YTL symposium brought together a diversity of disciplinary perspectives in order to examine the relationship between two vital concepts in global health law and policy: access to medicines and minimum core obligations, as they relate to the human right to health. Justice Kirby gave us an insider account of his work on the UN report on access to medicines and Professor Tasioulas presented his World Bank reports on minimum core obligations and their application to the right to health. A special focus was on the essential medicines which are those to which all states should, in accordance with minimum core obligations, ensure immediate access. Commentators included former President of the European Health Parliament Eleni Antoniadou, Professor Sarah Hawkes (University College London) and Professor Gorik Ooms (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine). Professor Tasioulas The event was well attended 7

8 YTL Centre Annual Lecture in Politics, Philosophy and Law: Ideas of Identity and their Normative Status by Professor Thomas M. Scanlon March, Great Hall, King s Building Professor Thomas M. Scanlon This year s annual YTL Centre lecture was delivered by one of the world s leading moral and political philosophers, Professor Tim Scanlon of Harvard University. Professor Scanlon addressed the controversial topic of appeals to identity in ethics and politics. His thesis was that such appeals are generally unhelpful because they obscure the underlying reasons that have ultimate significance. In the course of a lucid discussion, Professor Scanlon covered various topics, such as reasons generated by identities that are ascribed to people and the normative significance of national identity. He was joined the following day by panellists Baroness Onora O Neill, Dr Ulrike Heuer (University College London), Professor Alison Hills (University of Oxford), Professor Joseph Raz (Columbia Law School), Professor John Skorupski (University of St Andrews) and a capacity audience who probed in various ways Professor Scanlon s scepticism about identity. A video and revised draft of Professor Scanlon s lecture will soon be available to download on the Centre s webpage, along with comments from the various panellists. 8

9 KJuris workshops Legal Philosophy at a glance The KJuris workshop programme covering legal philosophy has been particularly rich this year. Ten speakers, including prominent legal and political philosophers as well as rising stars, have joined us to present their most recent work. As always, the quality of the discussion has been outstanding. 22 March A Critical Theory of Transnational (In-) Justice: Realistic in the Right Way by Professor Rainer Forst (Goethe University Frankfurt) Professor Forst developed his critical theory of transnational justice, which accounts for some of the conceptual, normative and empirical issues at stake in discussions over (in)justice. 21 February Soft Law, Authoritative Advice, and Nonbinding Agreements by Professor Andrei Marmor (Cornell University) The last few decades have contained more endorsement of norms, commitments or directives that explicitly avoid the imposition of legal obligations than ever. In this workshop, Professor Marmor considered the rationale of nonbinding legal instruments from the vantage point of practical reason. 7 February The New Conspiracism by Professor Nancy Rosenblum (Harvard University) Professor Rosenblum reflects on the era of fake news and why, in contrast to his presidential predecessors, Donald Trump instinctively resorts to accusations of conspiracy with such appetite and brio. 24 January The Democratic Deficit by Professor Joseph Raz (Columbia University & King s) The seven most important advantages of democratic government are, according to Professor Raz, i) civil and political rights, ii) more extensive opportunities for people to engage in public affairs, iii) responsiveness to the expressed preferences of the people, iv) stability, v) peaceful transfer of power, vi) loyalty and vii) solidarity. In this workshop, Professor Raz surveyed these seven advantages, explored the role of legitimation in securing them and suggested how they can be effectively replicated. 9

10 6 December Prospective Duties and the Demands of Beneficence by Professor Chiara Cordelli (University of Chicago) Considering debates on how demanding is beneficence and questions of moral responsibility, Professor Cordelli asked the extent to which considerations of both personal sacrifices and incapacities can, respectively, limit an agent s obligations of beneficence and free her from blame for her failures to assist. 29 November Property Rights for the Common Good by Dr Rowan Cruft (University of Stirling) Debating whether property is a common-good-grounded system or an individualistically grounded natural right, Dr Cruft explained why property rights should be construed as a shared or an aggregated good. 15 November What was the point of equality? by Dr Teresa Bejan (University of Oxford) In her workshop, Dr Bejan analysed the genealogy and conceptual problems of equality. In light of its many different concepts and relations she questioned whether there was ever any point of it to begin with. 8 November Approximation, Deviation, and the Use of Political Ideals by Professor David Estlund (Brown University) Professor Estlund identified the features of the democratic deliberative system that are responsible for reducing or destroying the value of knowledge on political questions and suggested ways of improvement. 25 October Moral Luck by Professor Andew Simester (National University of Singapore) Professor Simester spoke on the role of luck in criminal law and punishment, and elaborated on the differences between circumstantive, outcome and constitutive luck, and how these affect our moral responsibilities. 11 October Aggregation and Risk by Dr Seth Lazar (Australian National University) Many people think that, faced with a choice between saving a life and averting a headache, one must save the life no matter how many people one could otherwise spare from suffering a headache. Dr Lazar claimed that within the debate lies an underlying problem to do with a certain kind of aggregation, and asked how to apply a kind of anti-aggregationism to decision-making under risk. 10

11 Spotlight on staff The focus of the YTL Centre is to foster interdisciplinary research at the intersection of politics, philosophy and law, while bridging the gap between academic disciplines and public decisionmaking. King s College London was glad to learn in February that, in the latest QS World University Rankings, it independently ranked in the top five universities in the UK in Politics, Philosophy and Law. Professor John Tasioulas Professor Tasioulas two reports written as a consultant for the World Bank, and supported by the Nordic Trust Fund, were published by the World Bank in January. So far, they have received combined downloads in excess of 1,500. The first report Minimum Core Obligations: Human Rights in the Here and Now explains the idea of the minimum core obligations associated with economic, social and cultural human rights obligations that must be immediately realised by all states, as opposed to obligations that may be progressively realised over time. The report offers a five-step procedure for identifying such obligations and defends the idea of minimum core obligations against the objections that are levelled at them. This is in the top 20 most downloaded World Bank working papers so far this year. The second report, The Minimum Core of the Human Right to Health explores the idea of minimum core obligations in relation to the human right to health, drawing on international law, as well as regional and domestic legal systems. It argues that the minimum core obligations associated with the right to health can help us better advance the Sustainable Development Goals concerned with health especially when it comes to questions of prioritisation in relation to scarce health resources. In addition, Professor Tasioulas published two further articles so far this year: Exiting the Hall of Mirrors: Morality and Law in Human Rights, in K. Bourne and T. Campbell (eds.) Political and Legal Approaches to Human Rights (Routledge, 2018), pp and Philosophizing the Real World of Human Rights: A Reply to Samuel Moyn, in A. Etinson (ed.), Human Rights: Moral or Political? (OUP, forthcoming, 2018), pp During the year, Professor Tasioulas gave talks at the Colloquium in Legal and Political Philosophy at Queen s University in Kingston, Ontario and at a conference on the right to a dignified human existence at the University of Potsdam, Germany. 11

12 Dr Christoph Kletzer In January 2018, Dr Kletzer s book, The Idea of a Pure Theory of Law appeared with Hart Publishing. The book will be officially launched at the YTL Centre in May at a public book launch event, where Professor John Gardner from Oxford University will be giving the honorary lecture. Dr Massimo Renzo Dr Renzo has presented his research at a number of workshops and events. Among others, the Surrey Centre for Law and Philosophy, the Centre for Ethics, Law and Public Affairs at the University of Warwick, the Centre for Ethics and Metaethics at the University of Leeds, the Singapore Centre for Legal Theory at the National University of Singapore and the Centre for Moral, Social and Political Theory at the Australian National University. He was also a speaker at a conference on The Public Uses of Coercion and Force: From Constitutionalism to War at the University of Amsterdam, and at a conference in honour of Professor John Gardner at the University of Oxford. Dr Renzo has been awarded two research fellowships: one to visit the National University of Singapore and one to visit the ANU School of Philosophy. Finally, he has been awarded a KURF fellowship to support his project on Manipulation, Fake News and Election Interference. His paper Political Authority and Unjust Wars has appeared in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (early view). Dr Ashwini Vasanthakumar Dr Vasanthakumar's manuscript, The Ethics of Exile: A Political Theory of Diaspora is now under contract with Oxford University Press. The book is the first systematic treatment of exile politics in normative political theory and explores the relationship between exile communities and their homelands. Her article, Privatising Border Control, is also forthcoming from the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. 12

13 Dr Vasanthakumar spoke at the Frei Universitat Berlin; the Institute for Futures Studies, where she is a researcher; the American Philosophical Association Annual Convention (Central Meeting); and the National University of Singapore. She also commented at Professor Michael Ignatieff's book launch hosted by the YTL Centre and a symposium in honour of Professor Gardner at the University of Oxford. Her future engagements include a keynote lecture at Uppsala University (Sweden), where she will be Visiting Forum Fellow; the UK-Latin America Network for Political Philosophy in Mexico City; and a keynote lecture at the Open Minds XIII Conference in Manchester. Dr Vasanthakumar recently joined the executive of the International Association of Legal and Social Philosophy (UK), and continues her tenure on the Philosophy and Law Review Panel of the Swedish Research Council. Media RightsInfo, 20 March 2018 Professor Tasioulas was interviewed on his work on minimum core obligations, RightsInfo, 16 February 2018 Professor John Tasioulas, Director of the Centre of Politics, Philosophy and Law, was interviewed on justice, privilege and what people get wrong about human rights. The lesson I ve learned the hard way, Tasioulas said, is the overwhelming and the depressing degree to which human rights talk becomes another form of the PR industry, Philosophy24/7, September 2017 Dr Vasanthakumar was interviewed by David Edmonds for the Philosophy247.com podcast on her research relating to victims' duties in the face of injustice, 13

14 Spotlight on students The YTL Centre is home to the best and brightest students from around the world, with fantastic energy and imagination. As they prepare for exams and dissertation deadlines, newly elected committees in King s student societies look forward to setting their plans in motion. Have a look at some of their recent accomplishments, which are a testament to the YTL Centre s ability to be simultaneously research-led and student-centred. The Law Society has had another successful year, maintaining fantastic partnerships with top legal firms and winning the Best Careers Event category at the Law Careers.Net awards last month. A special mention goes out to student Jakub Makowski who won an impressive 63.4 per cent of the vote to become the Law Society President for the next academic year. He has served the Law Society well as Debates Officer over the last year, and will be a great ambassador for the YTL community. Meanwhile the Politics, Philosophy and Law Society (PPL), the student society, continues to provide a close-knit support network for all on the academic course. The society has an active social calendar with various events for students to socialise and participate in extra-curricular activities. In March, they shared prosecco and a three-course meal at the PPL Ball at Roma in East London. Congratulations to Isabel Rachman on becoming elected as the new president of the society for She will be joined by Vice-President Milo Grounds, Treasurer Julia Gierveld, Networking Officer Pheobe Cook, Social Officer Joseph Stone and Secretary Agnese Modenini. Members of the PPL Society 14

15 Thank you The Centre is extremely grateful to the Yeoh family for their outstanding support, their remarkable generosity, and their continued faith in the aspirations of King s College London. Your support has been central to the achievements within this newsletter, and enables the Centre to remain a worldclass centre for political, philosophical and legal expertise. As always, thank you. 15