Law in Context: Rapid Response Events

Past events

Catch all episodes from our past events on the University of Sheffield Player, accessible for free! You can also find Law in Context on your favourite podcast platforms, including Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, or any app of your choice via our RSS link—all conveniently available here.

Elections Special Part I: US Presidential Elections 2024

The 2024 US Presidential Election has wrapped up but the legal and policy issues surrounding the change in leadership are just getting started. Still wondering how the US electoral system really works? Or why swing states were such a focus of this election? And what about the role of campaign tech, online influencers, and fake news in shaping public opinion and, ultimately, the outcome? What were the core policy issues at stake and were the expected global ramifications of the electoral result?

In this episode, recorded a few days before the elections in the context of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2024, we dived into these questions, breaking down the key factors that influenced the 2024 US presidential election results with some of the sharpest minds in the game:

Rachel Gibson, Professor of Political Science at the University of Manchester, specialising on the impact of new technologies on political parties, elections and campaigning. Bojan Bugarič, Professor of Law at the University of Sheffield, specialising in public and comparative constitutional law. David Dunn, Professor in International Politics at the University of Birmingham, expert on US foreign and security policy. 

Elections Special Part II: Elections and Digital Technologies

Curious about how international law navigates the intersection of modern elections and digital technology? In Part II of our Elections Special, recorded for the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2024, we delved into the legal frameworks that address electoral interference through cyber-operations and targeted digital campaigns, the use of personal data in electoral campaigns and algorithmic transparency, freedom of speech and the rise of disinformation campaigns, and the responsibilities of big tech in safeguarding human rights. We were joined by legal experts in the field of international law & digital tech:

Dr Jack Kenny, Lecturer at the University of Manchester and research leader in international law at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) Dr Mando Rachovitsa, Associate Professor of Human Rights Law at the University of Nottingham Professor Nicholas Tsagourias, Professor of International Law at the University of Sheffield

Episode 4: Social Movements and Protests

From the French Revolution and the women's suffrage movement to the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, social movements and protests have served as catalysts for some of the most important events in world history. Still today, social and political change is sought through local and global collective action, such as the ‘Occupy’ or the LGBTQ+ rights movement, the Black Lives Matter, the Rhodes Must Fall, or Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil.

These movements and the means employed to raise awareness and drive political change often spark controversy. If we look at the headlines of international media, only in the past few monhts we had Stonehenge covered in powder paint by Just Stop Oil protesters, pro-Palestine protesters targeting Barclays bank branches, a milkshake thrown over Nigel Farage after the launch of his electoral campaign, animal rights activists plastering the official portrait of King Charles, and many others. And of course in response to the war in Gaza, we had sit-ins and student encampments in universities all over the UK and the world relating to Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

In this episode, together with ⁠Audrey Cherryl Mogan⁠, barrister at Garden Court Chambers, and ⁠SJ Cooper-Knock⁠, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Sheffield, we discuss the legal framework regulating the activities of social movements, the right to protest, and the role of the police, and explore the broader political and social context within which these movements operate.

Episode 3: The Safety of Rwanda Bill

This episode discusses the ⁠Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill⁠, which was introduced by the UK government in December 2023 and was at the time of the recording discussed in the House of Lords. The Bill, after a long legal and a political battle, passed both Houses of Parliament and received royal assent on 25 April 2024. It is now the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024. The episode unpacks the legal issues that arise from the Act from an immigration, human rights, and public law perspective, and discusses the politics of asylum in the UK and their practical implications for migrants and asylum-seekers. In this talk, the hosts were joined by:

Dr Jonathan Collinson⁠, School of Law, University of Sheffield ⁠Sam Guy⁠, School of Law, University of Sheffield ⁠Dr Lucy Mayblin, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield

Episode 2: Russia-Ukraine War and International Litigation

This episode unpacks the recent judgments of the International Court of Justice in the disputes initiated by Ukraine against Russia in respect of the latter’s military operations in Ukraine in 2014 and 2022, under the Genocide Convention, the Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. It addresses the decision of Ukraine to use the legal instruments in question (which are not about the legality of Russia’s military operations), the arguments of the parties, the content of the relevant judgments, the political context of the disputes, and their implications for global governance and security. In this talk, the hosts were joined by ⁠Dr Barış Çelik⁠, Teaching Associate, Department of Politics and International Relations.

Episode 1: South Africa v. Israel

On 26 January 2024, the International Court of Justice handed down its first order on provisional measures in the case brought by South Africa challenging Israel’s military operations in Gaza under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

In this first episode of our series, the hosts are joined by Dr Awol Allo, Senior Lecturer in Law, and Dr Emma Heywood, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, Radio, and Communication, University of Sheffield. The episode explains how the ICJ is engaged in an international dispute, what is the meaning of ‘provisional measures’, what is the crime of Genocide, what are the arguments of the parties in this case, what is the relationship of this order with the main proceedings on the claims of South Africa, what is the practical significance of this order, and others. The episode further discusses the role of journalists in armed conflicts and the relevance (or not) of international judicial proceedings in the media coverage of international disputes.