{"id":17782,"date":"2016-04-18T13:12:48","date_gmt":"2016-04-18T17:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/its-cuthemedev1.carleton.ca\/law\/?post_type=cu_people&p=17782"},"modified":"2026-01-22T11:32:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T16:32:31","slug":"ozsu-umut","status":"publish","type":"cu_people","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/people\/ozsu-umut\/","title":{"rendered":"Umut \u00d6zsu"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n \n \n \n <\/h1>\n\n \n <\/header>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Umut \u00d6zsu is a scholar of public international law, the history and theory of international law, and Marxist critiques of law, rights, and the state. He is the author of Completing Humanity: The International Law of Decolonization, 1960\u201382<\/a><\/em> (Cambridge University Press, 2023). Recounting the struggle to transform international law during the last major wave of decolonization, Completing Humanity<\/em> documents and reassesses post-1945 decolonization from the standpoint of the \u201cThird World\u201d and the jurists who elaborated and defended its interests. He is also the author of Formalizing Displacement: International Law and Population Transfers<\/a><\/em> (Oxford University Press, 2015), which situates \u201cpopulation transfer\u201d within the broader history of international law by examining the interwar exchange of minorities between Greece and Turkey\u2014the first legally structured large-scale endeavour in compulsory population exchange in modern international history. Umut is also co-editor of the Research Handbook on Law and Marxism<\/a><\/em> (Edward Elgar, 2021) and The Extraterritoriality of Law: History, Theory, Politics<\/a><\/em> (Routledge, 2019), as well as several journal symposia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2011, when he took up his first teaching position, Umut has taught thousands of BA, MA, PhD, JD, and LLM students, his courses ranging from the law of contracts through public international law and international human rights law to specialized seminars in citizenship, human rights, transitional justice, and legal and socio-legal theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For further information, including links to publications below, please see here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selected publications<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Books<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Completing Humanity: The International Law of Decolonization, 1960\u201382<\/a><\/em> (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formalizing Displacement: International Law and Population Transfers<\/a><\/em> (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edited volumes and special issues<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cambridge History of International Law<\/em>, vol. 8: International Law in the Islamic World<\/em>\u00a0(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming in 2027). [Co-edited with Intisar Rabb.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research Handbook on Law and Marxism<\/a><\/em> (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2021). [Co-edited with Paul O\u2019Connell.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCLR James and ‘World Revolution’<\/a>” 26 (2020) The CLR James Journal<\/em> 179\u2013240. [Co-edited with Philip Kaisary.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Extraterritoriality of Law: History, Theory, Politics<\/a> <\/em>(London: Routledge, 2019). [Co-edited with Daniel S. Margolies, Ma\u00efa Pal, and Ntina Tzouvala.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSymposium on Land-Grabbing<\/a>\u201d 32 (2019) Leiden Journal of International Law <\/em>205\u201374. [Symposium co-edited with Surabhi Ranganathan.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInternational Legal Histories of the Ottoman Empire<\/a>\u201d 18 (2016) Journal of the History of International Law<\/em> 1\u2013145. [Symposium co-edited and introduced with Thomas Skouteris.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Book chapters and journal articles<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Colonialism and Decolonization on a World Scale\u2014Three Perspectives<\/a>” 120 (2026) American Journal of International Law<\/em> 147\u201363.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Human Rights and Self-Determination” in Samuel Moyn and Meredith Terretta, eds., The Cambridge History of Rights<\/a><\/em>, vol. 5: <\/a>The Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries<\/a><\/em> (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025) 188\u2013210.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Critiquing TWAIL<\/a>” in Antony Anghie et al., eds., Research Handbook on Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL)<\/a> <\/em>(Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2025) 105\u201311.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Marx, Marxism, and the Critique of Law” 87 (2025) Law and Contemporary Problems<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“International Law, Palestine, and Socialism<\/a>” in Greg Albo and Stephen Maher, eds., Socialist Register 2025: Openings and Closures\u2014Socialist Strategy at a Crossroads<\/a><\/em> (London: Merlin Press, 2025) 29\u201347.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Necessity of Contingency: Method and Marxism in International Law<\/a>” in Ingo Venzke and Kevin Jon Heller, eds., Contingency in International Law: On the Possibility of Different Legal Histories<\/a><\/em> (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021) 60\u201376.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHydrocarbon Humanitarianism: Ibrahim Shihata, \u2018Oil Aid\u2019, and Resource Sovereignty<\/a>\u201d 23 (2021) Journal of the History of International Law<\/em> 137\u201360.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOrganizing Internationally: Georges Abi-Saab, the Congo Crisis, and the Decolonization of the United Nations<\/a>\u201d 31 (2020) European Journal of International Law<\/em> 601\u201319.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOttoman International Law?<\/a>\u201d in L\u00e2le Can, Michael Christopher Low, Kent F. Schull, and Robert Zens, eds., The Subjects of Ottoman International Law<\/a> <\/em>(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2020) 238\u201345.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Historical Origins and Setting of the Friendly Relations Declaration<\/a>\u201d in Jorge E. Vi\u00f1uales, ed., The UN Friendly Relations Declaration at 50: An Assessment of the Fundamental Principles of International Law<\/a><\/em> (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020) 23\u201347. [Co-authored with Samuel Moyn.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGenocide as Fact and Form<\/a>\u201d 21 (2020) Journal of Genocide Research<\/em> 62\u201371.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGrabbing Land Legally\u2014A Marxist Analysis<\/a>\u201d 32 (2019) Leiden Journal of International Law<\/em> 215\u201333.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDetermining New Selves: Mohammed Bedjaoui on Algeria, Western Sahara, and Post-Classical International Law<\/a>\u201d in Jochen von Bernstorff and Philipp Dann, eds., The Battle for International Law: South-North Perspectives on the Decolonization Era<\/a> <\/em>(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019) 341\u201357.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLegal Form<\/a>\u201d in Jean d\u2019Aspremont and Sahib Singh, eds., Concepts for International Law: Contributions to Disciplinary Thought<\/a><\/em> (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2019) 624\u201335.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHumanitarian Intervention Today<\/a>\u201d, in Leo Panitch and Greg Albo, eds., Socialist Register 2019: A World Turned Upside Down?<\/a><\/em> (London: Merlin Press, 2018) 271\u201388.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNeoliberalism and Human Rights: The Brandt Commission and the Struggle for a New World<\/a>\u201d 81 (2018) Law and Contemporary Problems<\/em> 139\u201365.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNeoliberalism and the New International Economic Order: A History of \u2018Contemporary Legal Thought\u2019<\/a>\u201d in Justin Desautels-Stein and Christopher L. Tomlins, eds., Searching for Contemporary Legal Thought<\/a><\/em> (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017) 330\u201347.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018Let us first of all have unity among us\u2019: Bandung, International Law, and the Empty Politics of Solidarity<\/a>\u201d in Luis Eslava, Michael Fakhri, and Vasuki Nesiah, eds., Bandung, Global History, and International Law: Critical Pasts and Pending Futures<\/a> <\/em>(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017) 293\u2013307.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAn Anti-Imperialist Universalism? Jus Cogens and the Politics of International Law<\/a>\u201d in Martti Koskenniemi, Walter Rech, and Manuel Jim\u00e9nez Fonseca, eds., International Law and Empire: Historical Explorations<\/a><\/em> (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017) 295\u2013313.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Ottoman Empire, the Origins of Extraterritoriality, and International Legal Theory<\/a>\u201d in Anne Orford and Florian Hoffmann, eds., The Oxford Handbook of the Theory of International Law<\/a><\/em> (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016) 123\u201337.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018In the interests of mankind as a whole\u2019: Mohammed Bedjaoui\u2019s New International Economic Order<\/a>\u201d 6 (2015) Humanity<\/em> 129\u201343.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom the \u2018Semi-Civilized State\u2019 to the \u2018Emerging Market\u2019: Remarks on the International Legal History of the Semi-Periphery<\/a>\u201d in Ugo Mattei and John D. Haskell, eds., Research Handbook on Political Economy and Law<\/a><\/em> (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2015) 246\u201359.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOttoman Empire<\/a>\u201d in Bardo Fassbender and Anne Peters, eds., The Oxford Handbook of the History of International Law<\/a><\/em> (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) 429\u201348.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19073,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cu_people_first_name":"Umut","cu_people_last_name":"\u00d6zsu","cu_people_initials":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_people_type":[22],"cu_people_expertise":[],"class_list":["post-17782","cu_people","type-cu_people","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_people_type-faculty"],"acf":{"cu_people_job_title":"Professor","cu_people_degree":"B.A. (Alberta); M.A., J.D., LL.M., S.J.D. (Toronto)","cu_building":"","cu_people_office_num":"","cu_people_pronoun":"","cu_people_designation":"","cu_people_email":"Umut.Ozsu@carleton.ca","cu_people_phone":"","cu_people_phone_ext":"3682","cu_people_linkedin":"","cu_people_bluesky":"","cu_people_twitter":"","cu_people_instagram":"","cu_people_facebook":"","cu_people_website":"","cu_people_orcid":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/17782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_people"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/17782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33736,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/17782\/revisions\/33736"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_people_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people_type?post=17782"},{"taxonomy":"cu_people_expertise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people_expertise?post=17782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}