EUI Alumnus, François Delerue was awarded the 2021 European Society of International Law (ESIL) Book Prize for his book Cyber Operations and International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2020). Delerue, who is a Senior Researcher in Cybersecurity Governance at Leiden University and a Lecturer at Sciences Po, researched this topic during his time at the EUI, submitting his PhD dissertation on State-sponsored cyber operations and international law at the EUI’s Law Department.
The award was granted to François Delerue by the jury member Dr. Vasilka Sancin, Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Ljubljana, during the 16th ESIL Annual Conference, which took place in Stockholm in September 2021. Each year, publishers are invited to submit outstanding works in the field of international law books for consideration for the prize.
The jury, which decided unanimously to confer the ESIL Book Prize to Delerue’s book, based its decision on several criteria such as the originality of the work and the rigour of analysis. It also considered the plurilingualism of the sources used by the author and the clarity of expression in the textbook.
International law applicable to cyber operations is a new emerging theme which is increasingly gaining global visibility as a consequence of the effects of the digitalisation process. In particular, the monograph investigates countermeasures as a form of remedy in cyber-hostilities and explores the shortcomings of international law in finding solutions to issues stemming from cyber operations, offering a new perspective on states’ intervention in cyberspace.
For more information about the ESIL Book Prize and a comprehensive overview of previous winners, consult the ESIL website.