Kal Raustiala

Promise Institute Distinguished Professor of Comparative and International Law
Director, UCLA Ronald W. Burkle Center for International Relations
Faculty Director, International and Comparative Law Program

  • B.A. Duke University
  • J.D. Harvard Law School
  • Ph.D. University of California, San Diego
  • UCLA Faculty Since 2000

Kal Raustiala is the Promise Institute Distinguished Professor of Comparative and International Law at UCLA Law School, Professor at the UCLA International Institute, Faculty Director of the International and Comparative Law Program, and Director of the UCLA Ronald W. Burkle Center for International Relations. From 2012-2015 he served as UCLA’s Associate Vice Provost for International Studies and Faculty Director of the International Education Office.

Professor Raustiala's research focuses on international law, international relations, and intellectual property. His recent publications include “Why the United Nations Still Matters,” Foreign Affairs, June 2023 (with Viva Iemanja Jeronimo); “Multistakeholder Regulation and the Future of the Internet,” 75 Federal Communications Law Journal 2 (2023); “The Fight Against China’s Bribe Machine,” Foreign Affairs, October 2021 (with Nicolas Barile); “Faster Fashion: The Piracy Paradox and its Perils,” 39 Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal, (Spring 2021)(with Christopher Sprigman); “NGOs in International Treatymaking,” in Duncan Hollis, ed, The Oxford Guide to Treaties, 2nd Edition (Oxford University Press, 2020); and “Innovation in the Information Age: The United States, China, and the Struggle Over Intellectual Property in the 21st Century,” 58 Columbia Journal of Transnational Law (June 2020). His books include Global Governance in a World of Change (Michael Barnett, Jon Pevehouse, and Kal Raustiala, eds, Cambridge, 2021); The Knockoff Economy: How Imitation Sparks Innovation (Oxford, 2012) (with Christopher Sprigman), which has been translated into Chinese, Korean, and Japanese; and Does the Constitution Follow the Flag? The Evolution of Territoriality in American Law (Oxford, 2009). His biography of the late UN diplomat, civil rights advocate, and UCLA alum Ralph Bunche, The Absolutely Indispensable Man: Ralph Bunche, the United Nations, and the Fight to End Empire, was published in 2023 by Oxford.

In 2016 Professor Raustiala was elected Vice President of the American Society of International Law. He has been a visiting professor at Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, Princeton University, the University of Chicago Law School, Melbourne University in Australia, and Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In 2016, he was the Yong Shook Lin Visiting Professor of Intellectual Property at the National University of Singapore. A graduate of Duke University, Professor Raustiala holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, San Diego.

Prior to coming to UCLA, Professor Raustiala was a research fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution, a Peccei Scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems, and an assistant professor of politics at Brandeis University. A life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Professor Raustiala has served on the editorial boards of International Organization and the American Journal of International Law and is a frequent media contributor whose writing has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the New Republic, the New Yorker, Wired, Slate, the International Herald Tribune and Le Monde. Along with Catherine Amirfar of Debevoise & Plimpton, he is co-host of the American Society of International Law’s International Law Behind the Headlines podcast.

Bibliography

  • Books
    • The Absolutely Indispensable Man: Ralph Bunche, the United Nations, and the Fight to End Empire. Oxford University Press (2022). Full Text
    • The Knockoff Economy: How Imitation Sparks Innovation (with Christopher Sprigman). Oxford University Press (2012). Introduction
    • Does the Constitution Follow the Flag? The Evolution of Extraterritoriality in American Law. Oxford University Press (2009). Introduction and Chapter 1
    • Reporting and Review Institutions In Ten Multilateral Environmental Agreements. United Nations Environment Programme (2001).
    • The Implementation and Effectiveness of International Environmental Commitments: Theory and Practice (edited by Kal Raustiala, David G. Victor and Eugene B. Skolnikoff). International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), MIT Press (1998).
  • Articles And Chapters
    • Cultural Appropriation and the Global Fashion Industry, UCLA School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 23-23 (2023). Full Text
    • Multistakeholder Regulation and the Future of the Internet, 75 FCLJ 161.
    • The Rarity of Rewards (with Andrew Guzman), 115 AJIL Unbound 221 (2021).
    • Faster Fashion: The Piracy Paradox and its Perils (with Christopher Sprigman), 39 (2) Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal (2021). Full Text
    • Innovation in the Information Age: The United States, China, and the Struggle over Intellectual Property in the 21st Century, 58 Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 531 (2020).
    • The Second Digital Disruption: Streaming & the Dawn of Data-Driven Creativity (with Christopher Sprigman), 94 New York University Law Review 1555 (2019). Full Text
    • Intellectual Property in the Information Age: American & Chinese Perspectives, Penn Volume on the US, China & International Law (2019). Full Text
    • The Rise of International Regime Complexity (with Karen Alter), 14 Annual Review of Law and Social Sciences 329 (2018). Full Text
    • Rethinking Post-Sale Confusion (with Christopher Sprigman), 108 Trademark Reporter 881 (2018). Full Text
    • When are IP Rights Necessary? Evidence from Innovation in IP's Negative Space (with Christopher Sprigman), in Research Handbook on the Economics of Intellectual Property Law, Vol. 1, (edited by Peter Menell & Ben Depoorter, Edgar Elgar Publishing, 2016). Full Text
    • Governing the Internet, 110 American Journal of International Law 491 (2016). Full Text
    • The Council and the Court: Law and Politics in the Rise of the International Criminal Court (with David Kaye), 94 Texas Law Review 713 (2016). Review Essay of Rough Justice: The International Criminal Court in a World of Power Politics (Oxford 2014), by David Bosco. Full Text
    • Let Them Eat Fake Cake: The Rational Weakness of China’s Anti-Counterfeiting Policy, in The Luxury Economy and Intellectual Property: Critical Reflections, (edited by Barton Beebe, Haochen Sun, and Madhavi Sunder, Oxford University Press, 2015). Full Text
    • Institutional Proliferation and the International Legal Order, in Interdisciplinary Perspectives on International Law and International Relations: The State of the Art, (edited by Jeffrey L. Dunoff and Mark A. Pollack, Cambridge University Press, 2012). Full Text
    • The Role of NGOs in International Treaty-Making, in The Oxford Guide to Treaties, (edited by Duncan Hollis, Oxford University Press, 2012). Full Text
    • Empire and Extraterritoriality in Twentieth Century America, 40 Southwest Law Review 605-15 (2011). Full Text
    • Al Maqaleh v. Gates, 104 American Journal of International Law 647-54 (2010). Full Text
    • Suspension Clause - Extraterritorial Reach of Habeas Corpus - Jurisdiction to Review Military Detention of Noncitizens Held at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, 104 American Journal of International Law 647 (2010).
    • The Uneasy Case for Intellectual Property Rights in Traditional Knowledge (with Stephen R. Munzer), 27 Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal 37-97 (2009). Full Text
    • Nonstate Actors in the Global Climate Regime (with Natalie Bridgeman), UCLA School of Law Public Law & Legal Theory Working Paper No. 07-29 (2007). Full Text
    • The Global Struggle Over Geographic Indications (with Stephen R. Munzer), 18 European Journal of International Law 31-65 (2007). Full Text
    • Density and Conflict in International Intellectual Property Law, 40 UC Davis Law Review 1021 (2006). Full Text
    • The Evolution of Territoriality: International Relations and American Law, in Territoriality, and Conflict in an Age of Globalization, (edited by Miles Kahler and Barbara Walter, Cambridge University Press, 2006). Excerpted in The Forum: Citizenship at Home and Abroad, 7 International Studies Review (Fall 2005). Full Text
    • The Piracy Paradox: Innovation and Intellectual Property in Fashion Design (with Christopher Sprigman), 92 Virginia Law Review 1687 (2006). Full Text
    • Refining the Limits of International Law, 34 Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law 423-44 (2006). Full Text
    • Form and Substance in International Agreements, 99 American Journal of International Law 581-614 (2005).
    • Book Review, 55 Journal of Legal Education 446-53 (2005). Reviewing The Democracy Deficit: Taming Globalization Through Law Reform, by Alfred C. Aman, Jr. Full Text
    • The Geography of Justice, 73 Fordham Law Review 2501-60 (2005). Full Text
    • Police Patrols & Fire Alarms in the NAAEC, 26 Loyola Los Angeles International & Comparative Law Review 389-413 (2004). Full Text
    • The Regime Complex for Plant Genetic Resources (with David Victor), 58 International Organization 277-310 (2004). Full Text
    • Rethinking the Sovereignty Debate in International Economic Law, 6 Journal of International Economic Law 841-78 (2003).
    • Citizen Submissions and Treaty Review in the NAAEC, in Greening NAFTA : The North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation , (edited by John Knox and David Markell, Stanford University Press, 2003).
    • The Architecture of International Cooperation: Transgovernmental Networks and the Future of International Law, 43 Virginia Journal of International Law 1-92 (2002). Full Text
    • Remote-Sensing and Multilateral Environmental Agreements (with Alex de Sherbinin and Karen Kline), 44 Environment 20-31 (2002).
    • International Law, International Relations, and Compliance (with Anne-Marie Slaughter), in The Handbook of International Relations, (edited by Walter Carlnaes, Thomas Risse and Beth Simmons, Sage Publications, Ltd., 2002). Full Text
    • Non-state Actors and the Framework Convention on Climate Change, in International Relations and the Climate Change Regime, (edited by Detlef Springz and Urs Luterbacher, MIT Press, 2001).
    • Compliance & Effectiveness in International Regulatory Cooperation, 32 Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law 387-440 (2000).
    • Book Review, 94 American Journal of International Law 803-07 (2000). Reviewing Global Governance and World Affairs, by Oran Young.
    • Sovereignty and Multilateralism, 1 Chicago Journal of International Law 401-19 (2000). Symposium: Trends in Global Governance: Do They Threaten American Sovereignty?
    • Law, Liberalization & International Narcotics Trafficking, 32 NYU Journal of International Law & Policy 89-145 (1999).
    • Introduction: Implementing International Commitments (with David Victor and Eugene B. Skolnikoff), in The Implementation and Effectiveness of International Environmental Commitments: Theory and Practice, (edited by Kal Raustiala, David G. Victor and Eugene B. Skolnikoff, IIASA; MIT Press, 1998).
    • Conclusions (with David Victor), in The Implementation and Effectiveness of International Environmental Commitments: Theory and Practice, (edited by Kal Raustiala, David G. Victor and Eugene B. Skolnikoff, IIASA; MIT Press, 1998).
    • Institutional Frameworks for Political Action (with Timothy O’Riordan et al.), in Human Choice and Climate Change: Vol. 1: The Societal Framework, (edited by Steve Rayner and Elizabeth Malone, Batelle Press, 1998).
    • The “Participatory Revolution” in Environmental Law, 21 Harvard Environmental Law Review 537-86 (1997).
    • States, NGOs and International Environmental Institutions, 41 International Studies Quarterly 719 (1997).
    • Domestic Institutions and Regulatory Cooperation: Comparative Responses to the Global Biodiversity Regime, 49 World Politics 482 (1997).
    • The Domestic Politics of Biodiversity Protection in the U.S. and UK, in The Internationalization of Environmental Protection, (edited by Elizabeth Economy and Miranda Schreurs, Cambridge University Press, 1997).
    • Biodiversity Since Rio: The Future of the Convention on Biological Diversity (with David C. Victor), Environment (May 1996).
    • International “Enforcement of Enforcement” Under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, 36 Virginia Journal of International Law 721-63 (1996).
    • Democracy, Sovereignty, and the Slow Pace of International Negotiations, 8 International Environmental Affairs 3 (1996).
    • The Political Implications of the Enforcement Provisions of the NAFTA Environmental Side Agreement, 25 Environmental Law 31-56 (1996).
    • Translating International Commitments in Domestic Law, in Elements of Change, (1995). Proceedings of a conference on “Improving the Effectiveness of the Climate Convention,” Aspen Global Change Institute, Aspen, CO August 6-19, 1995.
    • The Domestication of International Commitments: Domestic Law and International Treaties, IIASA Working Paper (1995).
  • Other
    • Book Review, 118 AMJIL 592 (2024). . Reviewing Digital Empires: The Global Battle to Regulate Technology, by Anu Bradford. Full Text
    • The New Politics of Regulatory Cooperation: The Case of Food Safety (with Daniel Drezner, Joanne Scott, and Marsha Echols), 102 American Society of International Law Proceedings 259-68 (2008).
    • Terrorists Shouldn't Be Called Soldiers (with Wesley K. Clark), 153 Chicago Daily Law Bulletin (Aug. 8, 2007).
    • Free Trade Fuels Illicit Drug Flow, Los Angeles Daily Journal (Mar. 14, 2001).
    • Dream Trek (Dreamwerks Production Group Can Sue the Studio Dreamworks), Los Angeles Daily Journal at S24 (June 29, 1998).

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