Dr Isobel Roele
Position: Lecturer
School: Law
Tel: +44 (0)29 208 74140
Fax: +44 (0)29 208 74097
Email: RoeleIH@cf.ac.uk
Ext: 74140
Point of contact:
Mike Beardsworth
Introduction
Isobel joined Cardiff Law School in September 2008. She gained her PhD from the University of Nottingham in December 2009. She was also awarded an LL.M (with distinction) in Public International Law from Nottingham in 2005. She completed her LL.B at King’s College, London in 2003.
Isobel’s research interests concern public international law and legal and political theory. In particular, she is interested in collective security and the United Nations and in the work of Michel Foucault and Jürgen Habermas.
The overarching theme of her work is the relationship between validity and power. At present, she is interested in the ambivalent role of law and institutions in both resisting domination and perpetuating it. She is engaged in exploring the possibilities of minimizing the role of international law in hegemonic strategies and entrenched inequalities.
Isobel’s current research focuses on the UN Security Council. She is particularly interested in the sovereign inequalities flowing from and manifested in that body. In particular, she is interested in the position of aggressive, illiberal and weak nations in the Middle East. As well as criticizing the SC for its hegemonic tendencies, she is also interested in considering the bounds of its potential for change. In particular, she is interested in the strategic use of responsibility as a means of holding dominant actors to account.
