Professor Matias Spektor of Fundação Getulio Vargas’ School of International Relations delivered this year’s Justice Stephen Breyer International Law Lecture at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. on April 5. This annual series of lectures explores critical issues at the intersection of international law, justice and foreign policy, seeking to offer effective solutions for an increasingly interconnected world.

Titled “The United States, the West and International Law in an Age of Strategic Competition,” the lecture discussed alternative ways to overcome tensions between the West and the Global South in the context of the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

During his talk, Professor Spektor addressed the following questions:

Can Western countries still sustain a rules-based international order?

Is the current international legal framework adequate to regulate relations between nations?

How can multilateral institutions help preserve international law and ensure accountability in cases where it is violated?

Which aspects of the international order need to change, and how?

“It is an immense honor to deliver the Justice Breyer Lecture at Brookings, amid great challenges in the current international political context. After all, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza are putting unprecedented pressure on international law,” said Professor Matias Spektor of the FGV School of International Relations.

You can see a full recording of the lecture here.