Professor Steven Wheatley

Professor

Research Overview

Steven Wheatley was appointed Professor of International Law at the University of Lancaster in 2012. Before that he was Professor of International Law at Leeds University. He has two principal areas of research interest: human rights theory and democracy.

The Idea of International Human Rights Law (OUP, 2019) explains the emergence, evolution, and normative power of human rights through the lens of complexity theory. He has recently applied these insights to the work of the ECHR (HRLR, forthcoming).

Steven has also written on the problem of cyber operations targeting democratic elections, examining the issue through the lens of the non-intervention principle (Duke JCIL, 2020) and rule of sovereignty (Leiden JIL, 2023).

He retains an interest in foundational issues of international law and has written on the challenges posed by the doctrine of inter-temporal law (OJLS, 2021).

Selected Publications

The Democratic Legitimacy of International Law
Wheatley, S. 2010 Oxford : Hart Publishing. 425 p. ISBN: 1841138177.
Book

Lying in the Philosophy of Law
19/02/2020 → …
Research

Protecting Democracy from Outside Interference
19/02/2020 → …
Research

Human rights and boundaries
01/03/2013 → …
Research

The Moral Power of Human Rights
Invited talk

“Systems Theory and Human Rights”
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

  • CILHR Centre for International Law and Human Rights
  • Lancaster Intelligent, Robotic and Autonomous Systems Centre
  • LIRA - Society and Human Behaviour