Episode 7: Professor Gerry Simpson on his latest book, “The Sentimental Life of International Law”

Professor Gerry Simpson’s aim in his intriguing and highly original new book, “The Sentimental Life of International Law”, is “to speak international law” – not to describe it. In this wide-ranging conversation he draws on his extensive knowledge of literature, language, psychology, philosophy and history as he considers what international lawyers are,  how they strike a balance between dryness and excessive sentimentality and the bathetic nature of international criminal law and the arguments for and against war crimes trials – and alternatives to them. Finally, he asks whether international law is an appropriate way to think about and change the world. Fascinating.

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