Harold Hongju Koh, Sterling Professor of Law
(Oxford University Press)
This book seeks to answer the question: Who is winning the battle of Donald Trump versus international law?
Since Trump’s administration took office, the author contends, this question has haunted almost every issue area of international law. Harold Koh argues that President Trump has thus far enjoyed less success than many believe, because he does not own the pervasive “transnational legal process” that governs these issue areas. This book shows how those opposing Trump’s policies during his administration’s first two years have successfully triggered that process as part of a collective counter-strategy akin to Muhammad Ali’s “rope-a-dope.”
The book surveys immigration and refugee law, human rights, climate change, denuclearization, trade diplomacy, relations with North Korea, Russia and Ukraine, America’s war against Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, and the ongoing conflict in Syria. Koh illustrates the many techniques that players in the transnational legal process have used to blunt Trump’s early initiatives.
