Lawfare Daily: Oona Hathaway on the Collapse of Norms Against the Use of Force

The Lawfare Podcast

The Lawfare Institute

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4.7 • 6.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Lawfare Legal Fellow Mykhailo Soldatenko sits down with Oona Hathaway, Yale Law Professor and President-elect of the American Society of International Law, to discuss how the current world events are harming the norm prohibiting the use of force in international relations, why that's troubling, and what to do about it. They chat about the current U.S. administration's policies, recent strikes on Iran, and the implications for the norm from a potential negotiated settlement in the Russia-Ukraine war.

You may want to look at the following pieces relevant to the discussion:

“Might Unmakes Right: The Catastrophic Collapse of Norms Against the Use of Force,” by Oona A. Hathaway and Scott J. Shapiro
“There’s Still No Reason to Think the Kellogg-Briand Pact Accomplished Anything,” by Stephen M. Walt
“Trump's Strikes on Iran Were Unlawful. Here's Why That Matters,” by Oona A. Hathaway

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