DETROIT (Feb. 17, 2010) - The Wayne State University Law School Program for International Legal Studies and the International Law Students Association are pleased to host "International Promotion of Democratic Government: The Strange Case of the 2009 Honduran Coup" at 12:15 p.m. on Feb. 24, 2010 in Room 2103 of the Law School.

Part of the Program's Winter 2010 Speaker Series, this event will feature Brad Roth, Wayne State University professor of both law and political science, and Sharon Lean, WSU political science professor. Roth and Lean have both written extensively on Latin American politics and efforts to promote democracy in the region.

The event will examine the 2009 Honduran coup in which the military, with the support of the Honduran Congress and Supreme Court, deposed and exiled President Manuel Zelaya. It will review international reactions to the event and ask what those reactions tell us about international efforts to promote democracy.

"This is an absolutely fascinating topic," said Gregory Fox, Wayne Law professor and director of the Program for International Legal Studies. "On the one hand the international community seeks to promote democratic government, especially in existing democracies threatened by military coups. On the other, to know whether any particular change in government is 'undemocratic' requires an analysis of the country's constitution."

He added, "Do we really want organizations like the UN deciding that countries have violated their own constitutions? Here the Honduran Supreme Court ruled that President Zelaya's ouster was constitutional. Should outsiders second-guess that ruling? The Honduran coup is really the perfect case about which to ask these kind of questions."

This event is free and open to the public. Lunch will be served.

For more information, please contact Holly Hughes at (313) 577-3620 or at hhughes@wayne.edu. For directions to the Law School or to view a campus map, please visit http://www.campusmap.wayne.edu/location/LAW. Parking is available in Structure #1 for $4.25 across from the Law School on West Palmer Street.

For more information on Wayne Law's Program on International Legal Studies, visit its website at http://law.wayne.edu/international-studies/index.php.

Additional upcoming international events

• "Guantanamo: Learning from the Past to Confront the Future"
  March 9, 2010 at 12:15 p.m.
  Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium, Wayne State University Law School
  Jonathan Hafetz, National Security Project, American Civil Liberties Union National Headquarters, New York
  Lunch will be served.
  
  
• "Restoring Faith in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime: Why Treaty Rules Matter"
  April 6, 2010 at 12:15 p.m.
  Distance Learning Room (2103), Wayne State University Law School
  Deepti Choubrey, Carnegie Endowment for Peace in Washington, D.C.
  Lunch will be served.
  
  
• "The Prospects for a New International Agreement on Climate Change"
  April 8, 2010 at 12:15 p.m.
  Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium, Wayne State University Law School
  Dan Bodansky, Emily and Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law at the University of Georgia Law School
  Lunch will be served.
  

About Wayne Law
Wayne State University Law School has educated and served the Detroit metropolitan area since its inception as Detroit City Law School in 1927. Located at 471 West Palmer Street in Detroit's re-energized historic cultural center, the Law School remains committed to student success and features modern lecture and court facilities, multi-media classrooms, a 250-seat auditorium, and the Arthur Neef Law Library, which houses one of the nation's 30 largest legal collections. Taught by an internationally recognized and expert faculty, Wayne Law students experience a high-quality legal education via a growing array of hands-on curricular offerings, client clinics, and access to well over 100 internships with local and non-profit entities each year. Its 11,000 living alumni, who work in every state of the nation and more than a dozen foreign countries, are experts in their disciplines and include leading members of the local, national and international legal communities. For more information, visit www.law.wayne.edu.