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Professor Jan Wouters

Jan

Profile

Jan Wouters is Full Professor of International Law and International Organizations, Jean Monnet Chair ad personam EU and Global Governance, and founding Director of the Institute for International Law and of the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, an interdisciplinary research centre with the status of Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven). He studied law and philosophy at Antwerp University, obtained an LL.M. at Yale University and was Visiting Researcher at Harvard University. As Visiting Professor at Sciences Po (Paris), Luiss University (Rome) and the College of Europe (Bruges) he teaches EU external relations law. As Adjunct Professor at Columbia University he teaches comparative EU-US perspectives on international human rights law. He is a Member of the Royal Academy of Belgium for Sciences and Arts, is President of the United Nations Association Flanders Belgium, and practises law as Of Counsel at Linklaters, Brussels. He is Editor of the International Encyclopedia of Intergovernmental Organizations, Deputy Director of the Revue Belge de Droit International, and an editorial board member in ten other international journals.

Research

Publications

Jan Wouters has published widely on international and EU law, international organizations, global governance and financial law, including 60 books, 130 journal articles and 200 chapters in international books.

His recent books include:

  • The European Union and Multilateral Governance (2012)
  • International Prosecutors (2012)
  • Informal International Lawmaking (2012)
  • Private Standards and Global Governance  (2012)
  • China, the European Union and Global Governance  (2012)
  • The EU’s Role in Global Governance (2013)
  • National Human Rights Institutions in Europe (2013)
  • The Law of EU External Relations (2nd ed. 2015)
  • China, the EU and the Developing World (2015)
  • Global Governance of Labour Rights (2015)
  • Global Governance Through Trade: EU Policies and Approaches (2015)
  • The Contribution of International and Supranational Courts to the Rule of Law (2015)
  • Global Governance and Democracy: A Multidisciplinary Analysis (2015)
  • Armed Conflicts and the Law (2016)
  • Judicial Decisions on the Law of International Organizations (2016) 
  • Internationaal Recht in Kort Bestek (2nd ed. 2016).

Public Engagement

Apart from his participation in international scientific networks, Jan Wouters advises various international organizations and governments, trains international officials and is often asked to comment international events in the media. He is coordinator of a large-scale FP7 Programme FRAME, “Fostering Human Rights Among European (External and Internal) Policies”, and of the Baillet Latour EU China Chair, at KU Leuven. In the academic year 2016-2017 Jan Wouters is Visiting Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Herbert Smith Freehills Visiting Professor at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, Cambridge University.

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