Yuan Yi Zhu
Assistant professor
- Name
- Y.Y. Zhu
- Telephone
- +31 70 800 9512
- y.y.zhu@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0002-3091-7341
Yuan Yi Zhu is Assistant Professor of International Relations and International Law at Leiden University’s Institute of Political Science.
Yuan Yi Zhu is Assistant Professor of International Relations and International Law at Leiden University’s Institute of Political Science. He studies historical international relations, international law, Chinese foreign policy, as well as public and constitutional law.
Yuan’s current research agenda mainly focuses on the historical developments of the legal and political rules which underly the modern international order. He is currently working on a book on the evolution of the legal rules governing the extinction of states, and has published articles on semi-sovereignty and imperialism and the transposition of sovereignty norms to the cyberspace (with Katharin Tai). He also writes about the relationship between judicial power and democratic politics: his co-edited volume (with Dr Richard Johnson) on constitutional reform in the United Kingdom is forthcoming with Bloomsbury/Hart.
His research has won awards such as the International Studies Association’s English School Junior Scholar Award, its Barbara W. Tuchman Prize for Best Paper in Historical International Relations by a Graduate Student, and the Asian Society of International Law’s Young Scholar Prize.
Yuan regularly advises national governments and legislators on a range of matters related to his areas of expertise, and his work has been cited in the British and Canadian parliaments. He regularly writes for a range of leading publications, including The Spectator, The Telegraph, The Times (London), and many others.
Yuan is a research fellow at Harris Manchester, Oxford, a research associate at the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Constitutional Law and Legal Studies, and a senior research fellow at Policy Exchange.
PhD supervision
Yuan Yi Zhu is available to supervise PhD students and invites PhD candidates to send research proposals in the areas of:
- historical international relations
- international law
- international relations of China
See more information on PhD positions:
Assistant professor
- Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen
- Instituut Politieke Wetenschap
- Zhu Y.Y. (2024) International relations and political philosophy. Review of: Martin Wight (2022), International relations and political philosophy: Oxford University Press. International Affairs 100(1): 408-409.
- Zhu Y.Y. (2024), Upholding standards; unsettling conventions: the constitution and the regulation of political standards. London: Policy Exchange.
- Zhu Y.Y. (2024), Intimidation as foreign policy: how Mauritius has attempted to criminalise UK sovereignty over the Chagos Islands. London: Policy Exchange.
- Johnson R. & Zhu Y.Y. (Eds.) (2023), Sceptical perspectives on the changing constitution of the United Kingdom. Oxford: Hart Publishing.
- Zhu Y.Y., Grant T. & Ekins R. (2023), Sovereignty and security in the Indian Ocean: why the UK should not cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. London: Policy Exchange.
- Tai K. & Zhu Y.Y. (2022), A historical explanation of Chinese cybersovereignty, International Relations of the Asia-Pacific 22(3): 469-499.
- Zhu Y.Y. (2022), Putting royal assent in doubt?: One implication of the supreme court’s prorogation judgment. London: Policy Exchange.