Mark R. Shulman
Research and Publications Current Research
In January 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt articulated his vision for a post-war world order, one which protected the Four Freedoms. The Freedoms -- Freedom of Expression and Religion, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear -- were constructed upon traditional American notions of civil liberties as well as more recent concerns about alleviating poverty and reducing violence. I examine the history of the Four Freedoms with an eye toward understanding the roles they can play today. They offered an enlightened and progressive vision for the 1940s and still provide a useful recipe for peace and prosperity today. If we take them as our guidepost, they can generate meaningful insights into how to secure human rights in our own tumultuous age. A version of this article appeared in the Fordham Law Review in October 2008. A revised and expanded version appears in the summer 2009 issue of the Journal of National Security Law and Policy
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Lately, I have been trying to understand the complex relationship between trade and human rights. Working with Professor Albert Kritzer of Pace's Institute of International Commercial Law, I have been examining how the UN sales convention (the CISG) is implemented in the P.R. China. The ultimate objective is to find the mechanisms that expand adherence to the rule of law in this critical country. At this point, I have formed a tentative conclusion that the serious work of international commercial arbitration is generating ever greater expectations for the rule of law in China.
This link will bring up the text of the presentation I gave at the Wuhan University School of Law in October 2007, to launch the Pace-Wuhan seminar on The Application and Interpretation of the CISG in Member States.
While I am working with Lachmi Singh to expand this paper into a law review article that will appear in this winter's issue of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, the original presentation remains available at: Wuhan Presentation
This link will bring up the text of the presentation I gave at the Wuhan University School of Law in October 2007, to launch the Pace-Wuhan seminar on The Application and Interpretation of the CISG in Member States.
While I am working with Lachmi Singh to expand this paper into a law review article that will appear in this winter's issue of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, the original presentation remains available at: Wuhan Presentation
The Proliferation Security Initiative
In 2006, I took a hard look at the Proliferation Security Initiative, a multinational activity launched three years before to enable the United States and like-minded countries to interdict the flow of weapons of mass destruction. This Initiative may also bring dramatic changes the international security system by enabling concerned states to interdict international trade in weapons of mass destruction regardless of the location or nationality of their owners. As such, the Proliferation Security Initiative not only addresses one of the most urgent threats to peace and security that the world has ever witnessed but it does so in an innovative way that has the potential to change the basic paradigm of peace and security by legitimizing the proportional and discriminating use of force to prevent a great harm. This monograph argues that the Initiative can be most successful by building broad support through increased transparency and a greater willingness to address forthrightly the legal challenges that it faces.
The following link will bring up an extensive bibliography on the PSI and UN Security Council Resolution 1540. PSI Bibliography
My father, Robert G. Shulman, is Sterling Professor Emeritus of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University. He is pictured above along with my stepmother Stephanie Spangler and my brothers Joel and James at the christening of James's daughter Kaiulani. My father and I wrote a chapter together for a book (New York University Press, 2007) honoring the lifetime of contributions made by political scientist Robert Dahl. A paperback edition was released in 2009 and is suitable for classroom adoption.
The point of the work is to illustrate how even the most reliable physical science encounters contingency when its researchers run into the complexity of human subjects or as in themselves as they design experiments or explain their results. Based on my father's research, we present two cases illustrating how biophysical research proceeds unbounded until it runs head long into unyielding contingent events.
The point of the work is to illustrate how even the most reliable physical science encounters contingency when its researchers run into the complexity of human subjects or as in themselves as they design experiments or explain their results. Based on my father's research, we present two cases illustrating how biophysical research proceeds unbounded until it runs head long into unyielding contingent events.
© Mark R. Shulman 2009