An engaging talk by York University Professor Steven Hoffman will examine global governance in the next instalment of the Markham Public Library Scholars Hub speakers series on March 14.
“If An International Law Breaks In The Forest, Does Anyone Hear It? Good Thing Professors Are Listening” runs from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Markham Village Library and is free to attend.
A partnership between the Markham Public Library and York University, the series brings some of York’s top academic minds from the Faculties of Health, Science, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, Osgoode Hall Law School and the Schulich School of Business to York Region.
In this talk, Hoffman will ask, “How do you hold countries accountable when they break international law?” As the world gets smaller, we are increasingly counting on international law to help solve global challenges like human rights, disease and climate change. Global governance institutions like the United Nations have limited ability to enforce laws. Though there are few international legal scholars working in any given area, the role of monitoring and enforcing international laws largely falls to them.
Hoffman is a lawyer in the area of global health, and recent events such as the Ebola crisis and cannabis legalization have demonstrated the challenges facing international law and the importance of institutions that help to defend it.
Hoffman is the director of the Global Strategy Lab, a professor of global health, law and political science at York University. He is also the scientific director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Population & Public Health.
Upcoming events in the series include:
- April 11 – Peter Backx (professor and Canada Research Chair, Faculty of Science), “Exercise And The Heart: What Every Sports Buff Should Know”;
- May 9 – Amin Mawani (associate professor, Schulich), “Taxes and Decision Making”; and
- June 13 – André Robert (professor, LA&PS), “The World’s Majestic Rivers in Peril: Views of the Yangtze, Ganges and Mekong Rivers.”
For more information, visit the event page.