About ILAR

Exploring issues from environment and energy to human rights, trade and security, the Laboratory on International Law and Regulation (ILAR) probes into when and why international laws actually work. It is located at UC San Diego's School of Global Policy and Strategy (GPS).

Overview

Among scholars, this question of when and why international laws work has triggered a lively debate that ILAR strives to help settle with better theories and evidence. For policymakers, ILAR helps craft more effective treaties to solve global problems, such as insecure energy supplies and clearing barriers to international trade of goods and services.

In 2010, ILAR launched an ongoing major project that examines the role of firms in intergovernmental regulation. In addition, the lab has completed and published two progressive books—one on human rights, the other on global warming—as well as a series of scholarly and policy articles. In conjunction with UC San Diego Professor James Fowler, ILAR also has rolled out a program of experimental research on the design and implementation of international law.

Support

ILAR’s anchor funding comes from the nonpartisan Electric Power Research Institute, the Norwegian Research Foundation Jacobs Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, UC Office of the President, UC San Diego and from GPS. ILAR works with a network of faculty members and employs a team of a dozen graduate students at UC San Diego and other universities. It also sponsors fellowships for students who are preparing for careers broadly in international law and regulation.

About GPS

The UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy (GPS) addresses the crucial societal challenges of the 21st century. The School’s pioneering research builds on internationally recognized expertise of the Americas and Asia, integrates analysis of public policy and markets, and explores global issues of conflict and cooperation.

Leveraging our West Coast location and UC San Diego’s renowned programs in science and technology, GPS develops new analytic tools with real-world applications, while rigorously training the next generation of global leaders. Through collaborations across campus and counterparts around the globe, GPS shapes cutting-edge solutions for a transforming world.