The National Security Constitution in the 21st Century

** Please note 4:30 PM start time **

Register for The National Security Constitution in the 21st Century here

Please join us for a special afternoon session of the International Relations Faculty Colloquium, cosponsored with the Program in Law and Public Policy

Since the beginning of the American Republic, a package of norms has evolved in the U.S. Constitution to protect the operation of checks and balances in national security policy. This “National Security Constitution” promotes shared powers and balanced institutional participation in foreign policymaking. Today it is under attack from a competing claim of executive unilateralism generated by recurrent patterns of presidential activism, congressional passivity, and judicial tolerance. This dynamic has pushed presidents of both parties to press the limits of law in foreign affairs.

In his award-winning National Security Constitution (1990), Harold Hongju Koh traced the evolution of this constitutional struggle across America’s history. His new book,  The National Security Constitution in the 21st Century, brings the story to the present, placing recent events into constitutional perspective and explaining why modern national security threats have given presidents of both parties incentives to monopolize foreign policy decision-making, Congress incentives to defer, and the courts reasons to rubber-stamp. Koh suggests both a workable strategy and crucial prescriptions to restore the balance of our constitutional order in addressing modern global crises.

Harold Hongju Koh is Sterling Professor of International Law and former dean at Yale Law School, and former State Department Legal Adviser and Assistant Secretary of Human Rights. He has received eighteen honorary degrees, more than thirty human rights awards, and prizes from Columbia and Duke Law Schools and the American Bar Association for his lifetime achievements in international law.

Moderating the discussion is Anne-Marie Slaughter, the president and CEO of New America. She previously served as director of policy planning at the U.S. State Department, the first woman to serve in that position. She is former dean of Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs.

IR Colloquium Events are open to faculty, fellows, researchers, staff, and undergraduate and graduate students from various academic departments, including Politics, Economics, and the School for Public and International Affairs.

Contributions to and/or sponsorship of any event do not constitute departmental or institutional endorsement of the specific program, speakers or views presented.