Karen Alter, Ph.D.

kalter@northwestern.edu

Northwestern University

Phone: 8474914842

Address: 601 University Place

City: Evanston, Illinois - 60201

Country: United States

Twitter

Website

About Me:

Karen J. Alter is Professor of Political Science and Law at Northwestern University, a permanent visiting professor at the iCourts Center for Excellence, University of Copenhagen Faculty of Law, and the co-director Research Group on Global Capitalism and Law at Northwestern University. Alter is author of the award-winning book  The New Terrain of International Law: Courts, Politics, Rights (Princeton University Press, 2014), and also International Legal Transplants: Law and Politics of the Andean Tribunal of Justice (Oxford University Press, 2017, with Laurence Helfer), The European Court’s Political Power (Oxford University Press, 2009) and Establishing the Supremacy of European Law (Oxford University press, 2001), and more than fifty articles and book chapters on the politics of international law, comparative international courts, and international regime complexity.  She is also co-editor of the Oxford Handbook on International Adjudication (Oxford University Press, 2014) and International Court Authority (Oxford University Press, forthcoming). Fluent in Italian, French and German, Alter’s research has been supported by the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Berlin, the Howard Foundation, the German Marshall Fund, the DAAD, and the Bourse Chateaubriand Scientifique. Alter is member of the New York Council on Foreign Relations. She serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of International Law, International Studies Review, and the Journal of International Dispute Settlement and (previously) International Organization, Law and Social Inquiry, European Union Politics.

Research Interests

International Law & Organization

Judicial Politics

Human Rights

Political Economy

International Courts

International Cooperation

Regional Integration

International Regime Complexity

Multilateralism

Global Capitalism

My Research:

Karen J. Alter is an expert in international relations and international law. She is the author or editor of six books and over fifty articles. Her interests span international relations, multilateralism, the law and politics of international courts, international regime complexity, the politics of backlash, global ethics and global capitalism and law. Her award winning book The New Terrain of International Law: Courts, Politics, Rights (Princeton University Press, 2014) provides a framework for comparing and understanding the influence of the twenty-four international courts, and for conceptualizing how different domains of domestic and international politics are transformed through the creation of international courts. Alter also co-edited the Oxford Handbook on International Adjudication (Oxford University Press, 2014). Alter has  published extensively on judicial politics in the European Union, including two books: The European Court’s Political Power (Oxford University Press, 2009) and Establishing the Supremacy of European Law (Oxford University press, 2001). With Laurence R. Helfer she has researched the law and politics of international legal transplants in the Andes and Africa. Her most recent book, International Court Authority (Oxford University Press, 2018) includes a new approach to studying international court authority, applied by nineteen interdisciplinary scholars to thirteen different international courts. Alter continues her research on international courts as co-director of the institutionalization research cluster at the iCourts Center of Excellence, Copenhagen University Faculty of Law.  She is also co-director of Northwestern's Global Capitalism and Law Research Group.