Jonathan Crock Professorial Lecturer SIS | Peace, Human Rights & Cultural Relations
- Additional Positions at AU
- Founding Director, Futures of Democracy, Tech & Human Rights Lab
- Faculty Fellow, Institute for Applied Artificial Intelligence, Kogod School of Business
- Research Affiliate, Grotius Center for International Legal Studies, Leiden University Law School
- Bio
-
Jonathan Crock is an expert in human rights law, democracy, and technology. He is the founding director of the Futures of Democracy, Tech & Human Rights Lab and a faculty fellow at the Institute for Applied Artificial Intelligence at American University's Kogod School of Business. Professor Crock researches the human right to democratic decision-making, including new developments in rights of direct political democracy, environmental democracy, workplace democracy, democratic control of technology, and the human right to democratic decision-making in global governance. His research focuses on how innovations in democracy that shift power can help dismantle neocolonialism and systemic racism, sexism, and classism. His forthcoming book is entitled How to Save Democracy in the Age of AI.
Professor Crock has given talks in the United States, Canada, Mexico, England, Scotland, Portugal, and Australia, including at Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Chicago, Cornell Law School, University of Michigan, University of Melbourne Law School (Australia), Georgetown University Law Center, University of Maryland School of Law, The New School, University of London (England), University of Dundee (Scotland), University Institute of Lisbon (Portugal), University of California—Santa Barbara, Fordham University, College of William & Mary, Rutgers University, and American University, among others. He holds a master’s in international human rights law (Oxford), a terminal degree in law (London), certificat universitaire in international relations and conflict analysis (Louvain), and bachelor’s in politics and international relations (London). He is completing his Ph.D. at Leiden University (Netherlands) and is a research affiliate at the Grotius Center for International Legal Studies at Leiden University Law School.
Professor Crock's previous experience includes working at the U.S. Department of State’s Office of War Crimes Issues, U.S. Institute of Peace, Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, U.S. Department of the Treasury, U.S. Agency for International Development, Supreme Court of the United States, and as a foreign policy advisor on U.S. presidential campaigns. He previously taught at George Washington University and the College of William and Mary. He has lived, worked, and traveled in over 80 countries and speaks French, Russian, and Polish.
Cutting-Edge Human Rights
I welcome new students interested in a wide range of cutting-edge human rights, including but not limited to the areas listed below. Over 200 of my students have published their coursework in leading human rights publications and have authored human rights reports that have been cited by UN and other human rights bodies in these areas.
• Artificial intelligence (AI), technology, and human rights
• Decolonizing democracy, participatory and deliberative democracy, citizens' assemblies
• Right to decolonization, right to political, economic, social, and cultural self-determination
• Intersectional rights
• Right to racial equity and non-discrimination
• Rights of Indigenous peoples
• Right to reparations
• Women’s rights, gender rights
• LGBTQIA2S+ and diverse SOGIESC rights
• Refugee and migrant persons rights
• Disability rights
• Genocide, mass atrocities, and international humanitarian law
• Transitional justice, conflict resolution, and peace-building
• Decolonization, global inequality, and poverty as a crime against humanity
• Environmental rights, animal rights, rights of nature, right to sustainable development
• Economic, social, and cultural rights
• Right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
• Modern monetary theory, monetary and fiscal policy, and human rights
• Trade, intellectual property (IP), investment, and human rights
• Business and human rights; corporate social responsibility (CSR); environmental, social, and governance (ESG)
• Workplace democracy, cooperative workplaces, and labor rights
• Inter-American, African, European, Arab, ASEAN, other human rights law and systems
Website: www.jonathancrock.com
- See Also
- Prof. Jonathan Crock Website
- Areas of Specialization
- Corporate Governance
- Feminist Legal Theory
- International Human Rights/Humanitarian Law
- International Organizations
- International Relations
- International/Comparative Law
- Jurisprudence
- Law and Development
- Law and Economics
- Minority Rights
- Post-Conflict Constitutions
- Technology Law
- Transitional Justice
- For the Media
- To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request. Explore all AU Faculty Experts in our media guide.
Teaching
Spring 2025
-
SISU-270 Justice, Ethics & Human Rights
-
SISU-270 Justice, Ethics & Human Rights
-
SISU-370 Topics Just/Ethics/Human Rgts: Human Rgts/Tech/Glbl Security
Summer 2025
-
SIS-622 Human Rights
Fall 2025
-
SIS-622 Human Rights
-
SIS-622 Human Rights
-
SISU-370 Topics Just/Ethics/Human Rgts: Human Rgts/Tech/Glbl Security
Partnerships & Affiliations
Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities
Research Interests
Democracy, International Human Rights Law, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Technology, International Law
Honors, Awards, and Fellowships
2025 F. Gunther Eyck Award