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Félicitations aux gagnants de la bourse John Peters Humphrey de l'année 2018

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Godwin Dzah

Godwin Dzah

 

PhD Candidate

Peter A. Allard School of Law

University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

 

Master of Laws

Harvard Law School

Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

 

Qualifying Certificate in Law

Ghana School of Law, Accra, Ghana

 

Bachelor of Laws

School of Law

University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana

 

Bachelor of Arts

School of Social Sciences

University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana

 

Proposed Program of Study  

 

Between International Law’s Universality and Epistemic Silences: Locating Africa’s Legal Contribution to the Law and Practice of Sustainable Development

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Godwin’s doctoral research explores the evolution of the concept of sustainable development within the global governance architecture. It interrogates the ways in which the concept is practicalised to conceal the contributions of African legal scholarship and African legal conceptions to its emergence and consolidation, as well as to the development-environment nexus. This project’s objective is not only to historicise African contributions to the law and practice of sustainable development, but also to elevate and scrutinise the peculiarities in the law and politics of Africa’s relationship with the concept. This inquiry thus showcases and invites an analysis of how Africa generally utilises environmental rights as the primary vehicle for operationalising sustainable development. While this project is undertaken within the context of a limited political geography, it is intended that the understanding elicited from the analysis will inevitably illuminate the blind spots in the global pursuit of sustainable development. 

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Ryder McKeown

Ryder McKeown

PhD Candidate

University of Toronto

 

Master of Arts, Politiccal Science

University of British Columbia

 

Bachelor of Arts, Political Science

University of British Columbia

Proposed Program of Study

Ryder is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at the University of Toronto specializing in international law, emerging technologies and military strategy. His thesis, entitled "Weaponizing the Social: Emerging Practices of Strategy in Outer Space, Cyberspace and International Law", explores the challenges and opportunities of conducting strategy in shared global environments, including international law, where military priorities of war-winning and deterrence must be balanced against societal expectations of cooperation and restraint. It seeks to develop a theory of restrained conflict in shared environments, explore the normative implications of such conflict, and, ultimately, make recommendations to guide national strategy and policy. 

As part of this project, Ryder will treat international law as an environment (a 'lawspace') and explore how it is used as a non-violent means of 'harm', similar to emerging strategy in cyberspace and outer space. In doing so, he draws on previous publications such as "The Power and Perils of International Law: A Review on Lawfare, Constructivism and International Lawpower," International Politics Reviews (2017), "International Law and its Discontents: Exploring the Dark Sides of International Law in International Relations," Review of International Studies 2017, and "Legal Asymmetries in Asymmetric Warfare" (Review of International Studies 2015). 

 

Ryder holds a BA and MA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia. Prior to returning to school, he worked for several years  as a Policy Officer within the Government of Canada.

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