home > the cfr think tank > experts > matthew c. waxman
Adjunct Senior Fellow for Law and Foreign Policy
Contact Info:
Phone: +1-212-434-9683
E-mail: matthew.waxman@law.columbia.edu
Location:
New York, NY
Media downloads:
High-resolution photo (JPG, 480K)
One-page bio (PDF, 37K)
Associate Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. Currently directing a roundtable series on the rule of law and U.S. foreign policy.
Expertise:Domestic and international legal aspects of counterterrorism.
Experience:International Affairs Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations (2007-2008); Principal Deputy Director of the U.S. State Department’s Policy Planning Staff; Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs; director of security and justice affairs, Iraq Coalition Provisional Authority, Washington, DC; Director for Contingency Planning and International Justice at the National Security Council; special assistant to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice; clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter (2000-2001) and Judge Joel Flaum in the U.S. Court of Appeals (7th Circuit, 1999-2000); consultant, RAND Corporation; member, Hoover Institution Task Force on National Security and Law.
Honors:Fulbright Scholar, Department of War Studies, University of London, King's College (1994-1995); Townsend and Gherini prizes for outstanding scholarship in international law while editor of the Yale Law Journal.
Selected Publications:The Dynamics of Coercion: American Foreign Policy and the Limits of Military Might (Cambridge University Press, 2002).
Interview:
"Guantanamo: What Should the U.S. Do?" (ABC News Nightline/Twitter Web Show; August 4, 2009)
Related Links:
CFR's International Institutions and Global Governance Program
Current Research Projects
Past Research Project
October 2009
Council Special Report No. 49
Council Special Report
Recent events in Darfur raise the familiar question of whether international law facilitates the kind of early, decisive, and coherent action needed to effectively combat genocide. Matthew C. Waxman argues that putting decisions about international intervention solely in the hands of the UN Security Council risks undermining the threat or use of intervention when it may be most potent in stopping mass atrocities.
See more in United States, Humanitarian Intervention
November 15, 2009
Interview
The Obama administration's decision to try accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed in New York but other accused terrorists by military commission will revive debate over Guantanamo Bay and the laws of war, says CFR's Matthew Waxman.
See more in United States, International Law, Terrorism and the Law
May 8, 2009
Audio
Listen to experts debate the United States' role in observing international law and differences in Bush and Obama administration policies.
This session was part of the CFR conference: The United States and the Future of Global Governance, which was made possible through the generous support of the Robina Foundation.
May 8, 2009
Video
Watch experts debate the United States' role in observing international law and differences in Bush and Obama administration policies.
This session was part of the CFR conference: The United States and the Future of Global Governance, which was made possible through the generous support of the Robina Foundation.
See more in Global Governance, International Law
May 8, 2009, New York, NY
Transcript
Do current trends in international law threaten U.S. sovereignty? What international legal or normative restraints on the use of force should the United States accept and promote? What should be the place of international law in U.S. jurisprudence? What attitude should the United States take toward the International Criminal Court?
See more in International Law, International Criminal Courts and Tribunals
February 6, 2009
Audio
Listen to CFR experts Daniel B. Prieto and Matthew C. Waxman discuss the implications of President Obama’s decision to close the Guantánamo prison camp and reverse the Bush Administration's policies on detention and interrogation.
See more in United States, Defense/Homeland Security, Homeland Security, Intelligence
February 6, 2009
Transcript
This CFR conference call with speakers Daniel B. Prieto and Matthew C. Waxman and presider Robert McMahon discusses the closure of the Guantanamo Bay Prison Camp.
See more in Cuba, Human Rights, International Law
January 21, 2009
Op-Ed
Foreign Policy
Matthew Waxman discusses the Obama administration's plan to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay and suggests solutions to the challenges to effective prosecution of dangerous detainees.
See more in Homeland Security, Democracy and Human Rights
November 18, 2008
Op-Ed
Foreign Policy
Matthew Waxman, in an interview with Foreign Policy, gives reason to why closing Guantánamo Bay won't be so easy.
See more in Defense/Homeland Security, Democracy and Human Rights
July 15, 2008
Testimony
In prepared testimony to the United States Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission), Matthew Waxman discusses the legal and policy decisions regarding the future of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and the possibility of closing it down.
See more in Democracy and Human Rights, Terrorism and the Law
Explore the international oceans regime with a new interactive from CFR's program on International Institutions and Global Governance.
This report explores how international legal rules regarding military force might evolve to better meet the challenges of mass atrocities.
The authors of this CSR explain why the United States needs to place greater emphasis on preventive action and how current organizational arrangements can be changed to meet that need.
This report addresses pan-Asian and trans-Pacific architectures and guidelines for how the United States can revise its approach in order to consolidate and improve the efficacy of these Asian institutions.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
Through compelling analysis and rich historical examples that span the globe and range from the thirteenth century through the present, Charles A. Kupchan explores how adversaries can transform enmity into amity, and exposes prevalent myths about the causes of peace.
With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine Israel's adversity-driven culture to offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
Vali Nasr reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
Complete list of CFR Books
For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:
James M. Lindsay
Senior Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
+1.212.434.9626 (NY); +1.202.509.8405 (DC)
jlindsay@cfr.org
Janine Hill
Deputy Director of Studies Administration
+1.212.434.9753
jhill@cfr.org
