My research is in the political philosophy of international law. I address puzzles about international law by asking whether the norms at issue are justifiable to each of the persons subject to the norms.
I employ in my research contractualist reasoning, or what we might call justificatory individualism (as distinct from both the explanatory thesis of methodological individualism and substantive political theses about the appropriate relation between the political or social community and the individual). On this approach, norms must be justifiable to each person by appeal to her individual reasons, rather than to some collective, or by appeal to reasons that aggregate claims across persons.
The approach of justificatory individualism throws into sharp relief the claims of non-state actors—importantly, individual persons—whose perspectives international law scholarship often fails systematically to incorporate. By driving the justificatory project all the way down to the individual level, we get a more complete view of the claims that must be taken into account, and the kinds of argument that must be given, in order for international law to be justifiable. The approach is especially useful in theorizing about areas of positive international law that have evolved sporadically to accommodate individuals’ claims, such as human rights law and international criminal law. During my fellowship year, I plan to complete a series of papers in these areas—in particular on human rights obligations, the justifiability of human rights law in relation to economic inequality, and the regional dynamics of International Criminal Court prosecution—with an eye to bringing them together into a larger work on the justifiability of international law. (Jiewuh Song)