Kal Raustiala is director of the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations, which fosters interdisciplinary research and policy-oriented teaching on the role of the U.S. in global cooperation and conflict and military, political, social and economic affairs. As a professor, he holds a joint appointment at the UCLA School of Law and the UCLA International Institute, where he teaches in the Program on Global Studies, a multidisciplinary undergraduate program on globalization.

 

Raustiala specializes in international cooperation on regulatory issues, particularly issues involving the environment. He has written extensively on the Kyoto Protocol international treaty on climate change; the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); United Nations environmental programs; disputes over genetically modified crops; human rights issues; and intellectual property.

His most recent book, "Does the Constitution Follow the Flag?: The Evolution of Territoriality in American Law," traces the origins of territoriality in law, focusing on how the legal limits of territorial sovereignty have diminished to accommodate the expanding American empire, and how these limits ought to look in the wake of Iraq, Afghanistan, and the war on terror.

 

Raustiala teaches courses in international law, international relations, environmental law and global environmental politics. He is a member of the UCLA Environmental Law Center and the UCLA Institute of the Environment.