Staff profile

Lecturer in International Peace and Security

Sarah is a Lecturer in International Peace and Security at Durham Law School and the Acting Deputy Director of the Durham Global Security Institute. She joined the Law School in January 2023, relocating from the Netherlands where she was teaching and completed her PhD research. Originally from South Africa, in a previous life Sarah was a practising attorney in the field of administrative, constitutional and human rights law.

Sarah obtained her LLB (cum laude) at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and later her LLM (specialising in International Law) at the University of Cambridge, UK, where she was a Mandela Magdalene Scholar. She conducted her PhD research under the supervison of Professor Jure Vidmar and Dr Wim Muller at Maastricht University, Netherlands. That research focused on the international legal capacity and responsibility of non-state effective territorial entities, including Crimea, ISIL in Syria, Somaliland and Taiwan.

Sarah convenes several courses in international law and peace and security at Durham, for both the Law School and the Durham Global Security Institute at the School of Governance and International Affairs. Sarah is currently also the Deputy Director of the Durham Global Security Institute.

Sarah remains a visiting scholar at Maastricht University's Faculty of Law. She is also currently a member of the Dutch Research Council-funded project, Development Rights of Children Living in Unrecognised States.

 

• Critical Approaches to International Law
• Public International Law
• Non-State Actors in International Law
• Statehood
• Use of Force
• International Peace & Security
• International Human Rights Law
• State Responsibility

Chapter in book

• McGibbon, S. (2022). Seceding from Failed Stated: Reconsidering the Cases of Somaliland. In J. Vidmar, S. McGibbon, & L. Raible (Eds.), Research Handbook on Secession. Edward Elgar Publishing

Edited book

• Vidmar, J., McGibbon, S., & Raible, L. (Eds.). (2022). Research Handbook on Secession. Edward Elgar Publishing

Journal Article

• McGibbon, S., & Abdullah, I. (2022). Belonging in the New South Africa: Justice Froneman’s Search for a Fundamental Constitutional Identity for the People of South Africa. Constitutional court review, 12(1), https://doi.org/10.2989/ccr.2022.0011
• McGibbon, S. (2019). The ‘Unwilling or Unable’ Doctrine Unmasked: A Case Study of ISIL in Sria. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004507975_004
• McGibbon, S. (2015). Risky Business: Witnesses and Africa’s ICC Withdrawal. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004354098_006
• McGibbon, S., & Cronje, R. (2011). Osama Bin Laden: A War Waged within the Gaps in International Law