Tom Dannenbaum’s scholarship draws on a combination of practical and theoretical tools to explore topics in international law relating to armed conflict, accountability, human rights, and nuclear security.
Dannenbaum joined Stanford in 2025 as Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and the Frank Stanton Professor of Nuclear Security at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, part of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, where he is also a senior fellow. He holds a courtesy appointment in Stanford’s Department of Political Science.
Dannenbaum’s recent writing has addressed a wide range of pressing issues at the nexus of law and armed conflict, including aggressive war, siege and blockade, starvation as a method of warfare, targeting and intent in urban warfare, civilian redress, the duty to end war, and the law governing nuclear installations in conflict zones. He is the author of The Crime of Aggression, Humanity, and the Soldier (Cambridge University Press 2018), a treatise on the meaning and individual significance of the crime of resorting to war without legal basis. He has published more than 30 articles and book chapters in leading journals, including the American Journal of International Law, European Journal of International Law, Yale Law Journal, and Security Studies. His work has been cited and relied upon by judicial and other legal authorities and he is a frequent media commentator, appearing in US and international outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Süddeutsche Zeitung, NPR, PBS, MSNBC, ABC, the BBC, and Deutsche Welle, among others. Dannenbaum is a member of the Editorial Board of Just Security, to which he contributes regularly on issues in his areas of expertise.
He received the American Society of International Law’s Lieber Prize in 2017 for his work on the crime of aggression and the ASIL International Legal Theory Scholarship Prize in 2022 for his work on siege starvation.
Dannenbaum joined Stanford from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, where he received multiple awards for teaching and research excellence. He has also taught at University College London and Yale Law School.
