Renowned legal philosopher Jeremy Waldron delivered a though-provoking lecture at the Blavatnik School on 5 November, exploring the debate on torture and the laws designed to define and deal with the issue.

When does uncomfortable interrogation become torture? Is ‘pushing against the envelope’ of a rule against torture ever acceptable? The learning hub was filled to capacity as Professor Waldron addressed these challenging questions and took students and guests through his key arguments against the flouting of the prohibition on torture by any state. He explained why he sees law as a system rather than a set of discrete rules, and that given a deeply embedded liberal bias against ‘disrespectful coercion’, any removal of the prohibition on torture would necessarily damage the liberal system of law as a whole.

‘One of the questions that I’ve been drawn to is the practical ability of international law to deal with the problems of our time in a system which traditionally holds the sovereignty of nation-states as sacrosanct’, said MPP student Natalie Punchak. ‘Professor Waldron’s discussion of the prohibition against torture as a “legal archetype” which has importance far beyond its own normative concept helped me to understand what’s really at stake when national policy and practice derogates from international law.’

Jeremy Waldron is Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at All Souls College, Oxford. He is also a University Professor of Law and Philosophy at New York University School of Law.