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Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election was illegal because it violated the American people's right of self-determination.
List of contents
Introduction; 1. What is election interference?; 2. Election interference is not cyberwar; 3. Limits of the sovereignty framework; 4. The promise of self-determination; 5. Foreign electioneering and transparency; 6. Free speech and elections; 7. The value of criminal prosecutions; 8. Soliciting foreign interference; Conclusion.
About the author
Jens David Ohlin is Vice Dean and Professor of Law, Cornell Law School. His work stands at the intersection of three related fields: criminal law and procedure, international law, and the laws of war. Trained as both a lawyer and a philosopher, Professor Ohlin has tackled diverse research questions that include the philosophical foundations of international law, collective criminal action, and the role of new technologies in war. He is the author of leading textbooks in international law and criminal law.
Summary
Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election produced the biggest political scandal in a generation. An essential guide for anyone interested in protecting election integrity, this book explains why 'information operations' violate international law, how the US can dilute their effectiveness, and how soliciting foreign interference should be punished.
Additional text
'We are only beginning as international lawyers to assess the toxicity of election interference. With a knack for intrigue and a keen sense of the limitlessness of cyberspace, Jens Ohlin deftly takes readers through some of the normative dilemmas. In the process, he wrong-foots the discipline's instinct to invoke sovereignty by suggesting the much more challenging possibility that what is at stake is really a violation of the right to self-determination. He thus manages the double feat of both informing our thinking about one of the central challenges of the day and breathing new normative life into a dusty old pillar of international law. A true invitation to use international legal crises to reinvent what it means to do international law!' Frédéric Mégret, Professor of Law and William Dawson Scholar, McGill University
