Mark Wu Chair Lecture: Security Internationalism

Quick Overview

Professor Mark Woo argues that the future of international law relies on recreating arrangements of "security internationalism," drawing lessons from Henry Stimson's career, which demonstrated that international law requires security alignment among actors rather than relying solely on universal, flexible rules or values harmonization efforts.

Key Points: Mark Woo received the Henry L. Stimson Professorship of Law appointment, noting that he had held the chair for seven years before delivering the required lecture due to family care responsibilities. Henry Stimson's career arc reveals three phases in international law application: early unpreparedness (1911-1913), diplomatic attempts failing to stop aggression (Stimson Doctrine against Japan's Manchuria invasion), and finally establishing the post-war order after learning harsh lessons. The post-WWII liberal international order, established by Stimson and others, consists of three parts: general international law (often expressive), interface rules between rival systems, and security internationalism (flexible rules for values-aligned states). The Stimson Doctrine articulated that the U.S. would not recognize territorial change brought about by force alone, stating the government "cannot admit the legality of any situation de facto" regarding China's integrity. The Bretton Woods economic order, part of the post-war structure, initially formed a coalition of like-minded states (GATT founding membership) suggesting that economic security requires alignment among actors sharing a system and values. Contemporary challenges include bridging states that seek security arrangements with one side while maintaining economic interaction with another, making traditional block-based rule crafting difficult. Woo suggests solutions for security internationalism involve finding narrow, values-aligned security arrangements for existential threats, structuring economic relationships with flexible, differentiated trade arrangements, and using ex-post liability rules over ex-ante formalism.