Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
I studied law at the University of Essex, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the University of Michigan where I obtained a doctoral degree (S.J.D.). I taught international law at the Hebrew University, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Helsinki and Leipzig University. Before joining Roehampton Law School, I worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross, in diplomatic service, and in policy thinktanks.
Research interests
I am a historian of international law— the laws of law in particular—and my research explores historical intersections of theory, ideas, power, culture, and race. My current work involves law and colonial war—with a special focus on the South African war of 1899-1902. I am also interested in the meeting points between the history of international law and modern Jewish history. Recently, I started a new project on corporal punishment that explores the nexus between the human body, law, and political authority—in particular in imperial contexts.
I am happy to supervise doctoral students interested in international law and human rights, history, war, empire, and race.
Research projects
The Law and Customs of Colonial War: History, Theory, Critique
Funded by a Southlands Methodist Trust grant, and in partnership with Jochen von Bernstorff (Tubingen University), this project begun as a February 2023 author workshop held at Roehampton and The National Archives, Kew. We are now preparing an edited volume on the law governing colonial wars.
Corpus Politicum: Political Authority and the Human Body
This multidisciplinary project forms a new partnership around a research agenda that examines the human body as a site where political authority is exercised and marked. To these ends, a December 2023 international workshop was held at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland, supported by a Capacity-Building/Seed Funding Grant (‘Corpus Politicum: Body Politics Through History’). Research into several episodes of judicial floggings is under way.
Nathan Feinberg and His Contemporaries: Jewish International Lawyers and the Sovereign Condition
Professional affiliations
Teaching
I taught a wide scope of international law courses at the Hebrew University Law Faculty, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Helsinki and Leipzig University. At Roehampton Law, I teach Public Law and Human Rights; Law & Legal Research; Public Law and Human Rights.
Consultancy work
To governmental departments, humanitarian organisations, and thinktanks—in particular in the context of the Mideast peace process and conflict and humanitarian law and action
Qualifications
S.J.D. University of Michigan Law School, 2011
LL.M. University of Michigan Law School, 2009
LL.M. magna cum laude, Hebrew University, 2001
LL.B. University of Essex, 1993
External positions
Associate Researcher , Leibnitz Institute for Jewish History and Culture—Simon Dubnow, Leipzig
1 Jul 2017 → …
Keywords
- KZ Law of Nations
- International law
- history
- theory
- culture
- organisations
- D204 Modern History
- global history
- war
- empire
- colonialism
- legal history
- diplomatic history
- Jewish history
- JX International law
- history
- theory
- culture
- laws of war
- institutions
- courts and tribunals
- genocide
- human rights
- refugee law
- race
- JV Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration
- empire
- race
- colonialism
- law
- history
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
-
Empire’s Others: The Captivity and Burial of Colonial Soldiers and the Making of the Laws of War
Giladi, R. (PI)
1/01/25 → 31/12/28
Project: Research
-
-
The Laws and Customs of Colonial War
Giladi, R. (PI) & von Bernstorff, J. (CoPI)
1/02/23 → 31/01/26
Project: Research
-
Corpus Politicum: Political Authority and the Human Body
Giladi, R. (PI), Gehrig, S. (CoI) & Garapich, M. P. (CoI)
31/03/23 → 21/07/23
Project: Research
-
Jews, Sovereignty, and International Law: Ideology and Ambivalence in Early Israeli Legal Diplomacy
Giladi, R., 15 Jul 2021, Oxford: Oxford University Press (OUP). 368 p. (The History and Theory of International Law)Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
-
Nathan Feinberg (1895—1988)
Giladi, R., 2024, (Accepted/In press) International Law and History: Eastern Europe in A Global Perspective. Troebst, S., Löhr, I., Müller, D. & Richardson-Little, N. (eds.). RoutldegeResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
-
Review of David Fraser, Nazi Antisemitism and Jewish Legal Self-Defense: The Turn to Law in Liberal Democracies, 1932–39 (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge 2024)
Giladi, R., 8 Apr 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: Comparative Legal History .Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review
-
The Jewish Yearbook of International Law: Form, Knowledge, and Time
Giladi, R., 4 Feb 2025, (Accepted/In press) The Journals of International Law . van Hulle, I. & Landauer, C. (eds.). The Netherlands: Brill, 30 p. (Brill Studies in the History of International Law).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
-
‘Alberico Gentili’s Ghost’: Review of Claire Vergerio’s War, States, and International Order: Joseph Fletcher Prize Forum, Cambridge Review of International Affairs
Giladi, R., 31 Mar 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: Cambridge Review of International Affairs .Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
Activities
-
Emancipatory Flogging: Jewish Bodies, Corporal Punishment, and the Empire’s Political Authority
Giladi, R. (Speaker)
10 Jul 2025 → 12 Jul 2025Activity: Talk or presentation for an academic audience › Oral presentation for an academic audience
-
Legal Histories of Empire IV: Empires in Touch
Giladi, R. (Keynote/plenary speaker)
10 Jul 2025 → 12 Jul 2025Activity: Participating in or organising an academic event › Participation in academic conference
-
Whipping Whites: Corporal Punishment and Racial Hierarchy in the Union of South Africa
Giladi, R. (Speaker)
1 Jul 2025 → 3 Jul 2025Activity: Talk or presentation for an academic audience › Oral presentation for an academic audience
-
Agency and Authority: The British Empire, Corporal Punishment, and Jewish Body Politics, 1915—1950
Giladi, R. (Speaker)
20 Mar 2025Activity: Talk or presentation for an academic audience › Invited talk for an academic audience
-
The ‘National Home’, Empire, and Jewish Body Politics: The Long History of the Whipping (Abolition) Act—1950
Giladi, R. (Speaker)
22 Jan 2025Activity: Talk or presentation for an academic audience › Invited talk for an academic audience
Press/Media
-
Private, National? Professor Feinberg's Inheritance בין הפרטי ללאומי: עזבונו של פרופסור פיינברג
26/01/23
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Press / Media