House of Wisdom: How Ideas Can Shape the World Aniq Ahmed & Deepak Mawar

Like any discipline international law is influenced by a variety of philosophical ideas and ideologies. When exploring the legal system the influence of certain ideologies during specific timepoints becomes evident. When the international community is in the midst of great catastrophe, utopian ideologies seem to play a decisive role. On the other hand, when the legal system is being undermined, realism plays a strong influence. So why do States bind together around utopian ideas in times of need, and why do States undermine international law? In this episode we talk to our very own Dr. Deepak Mawar about his book States Undermining International Law, utopia and more. We also have a special guest-host, Dr. Carl Lewis joining us for this episode.

In a covid stricken world, we have seen many instances of countries pursuing an isolationist strategy that have left us wondering how we are going to solve some of the biggest global issues. Now more than ever, countries need to come together. In this special episode some familiar faces return to discuss why global cooperation matters, the importance of States for tackling global issues and science communication.

Mahatma Ghandhi famously said that ‘Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man’… but how true is such an assertion? In this episode, we talk to Dr. Luke Abbs about the use of nonviolent resistance and its effect on achieving peace and democracy.

The House of Wisdom Podcast is proud to present our very first Academics Assemble event. We will bring back some of our most popular guests to talk about Global Cooperation in a Post-Covid World. Register to attend this live online event on www.kcl.ac.uk/law/events.

International Law has expanded vastly in the last hundred years with the development of human rights, various movements of independence around the world and the breakout of a plethora NGOs focused on shining a light on important global issues. However, how much as international law done to protect minorities, especially in postcolonial states? In Professor Shahabuddin’s recently released book ‘Minorities and the Making of Postcolonial States in International Law’, we explore this theme to unravel the western orientated nature of international law and how this has affected ethnic minorities such as the Rohingyas in Myanmar and the Rakhine Buddhists in Bangladesh.

Bringing together nearly 190 countries for the Paris Agreement is an amazing achievement. Tackling a planetary challenge such as climate change is no easy feat, however, it requires coordinated solutions and innovations at every level. But how do we translate a big goal like preventing a 2 degrees rise in warming into actions the state, the private sector and us can understand and work towards, especially when there is no precedent for solving such a challenge? In this episode, we talk to Dr. Robert Charnock about how we can coordinate the diverse array of action that is required to tackle global complex challenges.