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Mohammed Bedjaoui

Interview coming soon.

Judge Mohammed Bedjaoui, Diploma of the Institute of Political Studies and Doctor of Law (Grenoble), is a former ICJ judge, Algerian diplomat and a pivotal jurist whose scholarship on international law and development still remains vital and essential reading for newer generations of international jurists. 

He was Legal-Adviser to the F.L.N, and the provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (G.P.R.A.) (1956-1962);  Expert of the Algerian Delegation in Evian and Lugrin Negotiations for Algeria independence (1961 – 1962); Secretary General of the Government (Algiers 1962); Minister of Justice, Keeper of the Seals (Algiers 1964 – 1970); Special Rapporteur of the International Law Commission with respect to Succession of States with respect of matters other than treaties (1968-1974; 1976-1981); Ambassador to France (1970 – 1979); Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations in New York  (1979 – 1982); Co-President of the investigating Committee of the United Nations in Iran for the Release of the American Diplomats Hostages, Teheran (1980); Chair of the G-77; Judge at the International Court of Justice of the Hague for almost twenty years (19 March 1982 – 20 September 2001); President of Chamber (1984 – 1986), President of the Court (1994 – 1997); President of the Algerian Constitutional Council (2002 – 2005); State Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Algeria (2005 – 2007). 

He is a Holder of Doctorate Honoris Causaof the Universities of: Aix en Provence (France); Kuwait City (Kuwait); Madrid Complutense (Spain); Madrid Carlos III (Spain); Hyderabad (India); Brussels (U.L.B., Belgium); Bucharest (Romania); and Sidi-Bel-Abbès (Algeria). Commander of the French Legion of Honour, Paris (Presidential decree of 21 September 1979), and High-Ranking Officer (Presidential decree of February 2005)He is the author of Fonction publique internationale et influences nationales (1958);Law and the Algerian Revolution (1961);Terra nullius, “droits” historiques et autodétermination(1975); Towards a New International Economic Order (1979); International Law: Achievements and Prospects (1992); The New World Order and the Security Council: Testing the Legality of its Acts (1995).

Interview Coming Soon.

This wide-ranging and fascinating biographical interview with Professor Mohammed Bedjaoui was conducted over the course of two weekends in November 2016 and January 2017 by Professor Grégoire Mallard. Here is an abridged version of more than ten hours of conversation. A more complete exploration of Mohammed Bedjaoui’s ideas in the French, Algerian and global academic and political contexts can be found in Grégoire Mallard’s 2019 book, Gift Exchange, especially in Chapter 6, titled “Decolonizing the Gift”. The full book Gift Exchange is freely downloadable on the Open Access platform of Cambridge University Press.

A young Mohammed Bedjaoui.