Umut Özsu
Professor
- B.A. (Alberta); M.A., J.D., LL.M., S.J.D. (Toronto)
- Email Umut Özsu
Umut Özsu 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 (Cambridge University Press, 2023). Recounting the struggle to transform international law during the last major wave of decolonization, Completing Humanity documents and reassesses post-1945 decolonization from the standpoint of the “Third World” and the jurists who elaborated and defended its interests. He is also the author of (Oxford University Press, 2015), which situates “population transfer” within the broader history of international law by examining the interwar exchange of minorities between Greece and Turkey—the first legally structured large-scale endeavour in compulsory population exchange in modern international history. Umut is also co-editor of the (Edward Elgar, 2021) and (Routledge, 2019), as well as several journal symposia.
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.
For further information, including links to publications below, please see .
Selected publications
Books
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023).
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).
Edited volumes and special issues
The Cambridge History of International Law, vol. 8: International Law in the Islamic World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming in 2027). [Co-edited with Intisar Rabb.]
(Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2021). [Co-edited with Paul O’Connell.]
“” 26 (2020) The CLR James Journal 179–240. [Co-edited with Philip Kaisary.]
(London: Routledge, 2019). [Co-edited with Daniel S. Margolies, Maïa Pal, and Ntina Tzouvala.]
“” 32 (2019) Leiden Journal of International Law 205–74. [Symposium co-edited with Surabhi Ranganathan.]
“” 18 (2016) Journal of the History of International Law 1–145. [Symposium co-edited and introduced with Thomas Skouteris.]
Book chapters and journal articles
“” 88 (2026) Law and Contemporary Problems27–55.
“” 120 (2026) American Journal of International Law&Բ;147–63.
“” in Samuel Moyn and Meredith Terretta, eds., The Cambridge History of Rights, vol. 5: (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025) 188–210.
“” in Antony Anghie et al., eds., (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2025) 105–11.
“” in Greg Albo and Stephen Maher, eds., (London: Merlin Press, 2025) 29–47.
“” in Ingo Venzke and Kevin Jon Heller, eds., (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021) 60–76.
“” 23 (2021) Journal of the History of International Law 137–60.
“” 31 (2020) European Journal of International Law 601–19.
“” in Lâle Can, Michael Christopher Low, Kent F. Schull, and Robert Zens, eds., (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2020) 238–45.
“” in Jorge E. Viñuales, ed., (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020) 23–47. [Co-authored with Samuel Moyn.]
“” 21 (2020) Journal of Genocide Research 62–71.
“” 32 (2019) Leiden Journal of International Law 215–33.
“” in Jochen von Bernstorff and Philipp Dann, eds., (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019) 341–57.
“” in Jean d’Aspremont and Sahib Singh, eds., (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2019) 624–35.
“”, in Leo Panitch and Greg Albo, eds., (London: Merlin Press, 2018) 271–88.
“” 81 (2018) Law and Contemporary Problems 139–65.
“” in Justin Desautels-Stein and Christopher L. Tomlins, eds., (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017) 330–47.
“” in Luis Eslava, Michael Fakhri, and Vasuki Nesiah, eds., (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017) 293–307.
“” in Martti Koskenniemi, Walter Rech, and Manuel Jiménez Fonseca, eds., (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017) 295–313.
“” in Anne Orford and Florian Hoffmann, eds., (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016) 123–37.
“” 6 (2015) Humanity 129–43.
“” in Ugo Mattei and John D. Haskell, eds., (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2015) 246–59.
“” in Bardo Fassbender and Anne Peters, eds., (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) 429–48.