By Marcelo Rodríguez There is no doubt that a couple of current events outside of the United States, namely the Israel-Hamas War and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine are dominating the news cycle in this country. I just finished teaching my course at the University of Arizona College of Law called, Foreign, Comparative and International […]

By Marcelo Rodríguez Over the past few months, I have participated in several webinars and virtual conversations organized by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) under the framework of their new year-long Ambassador program for Higher Education professionals. As one of the inaugural ambassadors, it has been a fantastic and enriching opportunity to share notes, […]

By Marcelo Rodríguez I just attended the Guadalajara International Book Fair and to my pleasant surprise, this fantastic book fair also included an entire track on Human Rights, Mexican Public Law, Judicial Reforms, Comparative Law, Geopolitics and so on. One of the panels focused on the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine specifically on the siege […]

By Marcelo Rodríguez We are all witnessing how one international conflict or emergency overtakes the news media cycle and everyone’s attention span is dominated by its prevalence and urgency. There is no doubt that the tragic loss of civilians’ lives in this Israel/Hamas war should demand our close attention. However, as comparative and international law […]

By Marcelo Rodríguez When I teach Foreign, Comparative and International Legal (FCIL) Research at the University of Arizona College of Law, I spend an entire class explaining to students the importance of keeping track of the countries or jurisdictions they are interested in and how to do it. In my experience, researchers are at times […]

By Marcelo Rodríguez Back to school is upon us! Inevitably, the return of students and faculty to the law school means more research questions to answer for most Foreign, Comparative and International Law (FCIL) librarians. Beyond academia, FCIL librarians working in law firms and the government are also asked to work on research questions concerning […]

By Marcelo Rodríguez During this past month of June 2023, we have all witnessed several foreign and international events which captivated most major media outlets in the world, especially here in the United States. The tragic demise of hundreds of immigrants dying in a shipwreck in Greece, a short-lived Wagner mutiny in Russia, escalation of […]

By Marcelo Rodríguez Welcome back to Through the FCIL Lens series! Several important events took place this past month of May 2023 in different flashpoints all over the world. Per usual, in this series, I aim to shed some light on rapidly (d)evolving events which can potentially become of interest to Foreign, Comparative and International […]

By Marcelo Rodríguez Welcome back to Through the FCIL Lens! I recently won an award as the FCIL-SIS Blog Post of the Year for this series (YAY!). I’m honored by this award and it gives me motivation to continue writing. As I finish teaching my Foreign, Comparative and International Legal Research class at the University […]

By Marcelo Rodríguez Welcome back to Through the FCIL Lens. As I have said before, this series aims to shed some light on developing flashpoints around the world which might be of importance to anyone engaged in FCIL work. In this series, I’m defining “flashpoints” as events and/or situations happening in different geographical regions which […]