Staff Profile

Ruth is the DPD for the Global Legal Studies LLB and a co-ordinator of the Law School's Constitutionalism and Governance research group.

Ruth joined Newcastle Law School as a Lecturer in September 2017. She worked at Durham Law School as a Graduate Teaching Assistant from 2013 to 2016.

Ruth's research is situated within global constitutional scholarship. She is particularly interested in the debates on democracy and constituent power within global constitutional literature.

She is currently working with Professor Aoife O'Donoghue on feminist approaches to global constitutionalism, with work that explores utopianism, science-fiction literature, and feminist manifestos. 

Qualifications

• PhD (Durham University)
• Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (Durham University)
• LLM (University College London)
• GDL (University of Birmingham)
• BA in English and History (University of York)

Roles and Responsibilities

• DPD for Global Legal Studies LLB
• PGR Deputy DPD and NINE DTP/Northern Bridge Lead (2021-)
• Co-coordinator of the Constitutionalism and Governance Group at Newcastle Law School (2021-)
• North East Law Review, Academic Lead (2019-2023)
• Director of Impact (2018-2021)
• Client Interviewing Coordinator (2019-2020)
• Client Interviewing and Client Negotiation Coordinator (2018-2019)

Memberships

• Associate Member of the International Association of Electoral Law
• Fellow of the Global Policy Institute (Durham University)
• Society of Legal Scholars
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Honourable Society of the Inner Temple

Throughout her research in global constitutionalism and international law, Ruth uses feminist methodologies and constitutional and political theory to challenge the disciplinary assumptions on democracy and constituent power. Ruth's most recent work utilises law and humanities methodologies, including work on speculative fiction, utopias and feminist manifestos (with Professor Aoife O'Donoghue), as well as theatre productions to understand (re)constructions of constitutional moments and provide novel re-imaginings of constituent power.

Research Topics

• Global Constitutionalism
• International Law
• Democratic Theory
• Constitutional Theory
• International Organisations
• Feminist Theory
• Utopia

Research Projects

AHRC Network, Failure and Utopia

Alongside Professor Mathias Thaler (Edinburgh) and Davina Cooper (KCL), Ruth is organising three workshops as part of this AHRC funded network. This network will explore critical perspectives on utopia and failure alongside others that re-evaluate failure - conceptually, methodologically, and practically. Information about the project is available on the website: https://failingbetter.sps.ed.ac.uk/

Open Research Area 7, Unwritten Constitutional Norms and Principles: A Comparative Study

Led by the Principal Investigator, Dr Se-shauna Wheatle, Ruth is a member of the UK Team on this comparative study investigating unwritten constitutional norms.

Research Funding

• 2021 - British Academy Virtual Sandpits: 'Understanding international law's role in mis- and disinformation' (with Dr Nora Jansen)
• 2021 - British Academy Virtual Sandpits: 'Bridging the Local and the Global: Women's Collectives and Spaces of Action/Reflection' (with Dr Jane Rooney and Dr Aliya Khalid, and Dr Kate Spencer-Bennett and Alana Farrell)
• 2020 - Society of Legal Scholars (SLS): 'Finding Magna Carta in Shakespeare's King John'
• 2015-2017 - Durham University Institute of Advanced Study: 'Scaling Global Governance' and 'Scale, Constitutionalism and Tyranny' (with Prof. Aoife O'Donoghue, Dr Maria Anna Corvaglia and Dr Alan Greene)
• 2015 - Durham Global Security Institute: 'Global and Comparative Law' (with Dr Se-shauna Wheatle)

PhD Supervision

I welcome PhD applications within the fields of Global Constitutionalism, Public International Law and Constitutional Theory. 

Current PhD Supervisions

• Membership of the European Union

Completed PhD Supervisions

• Dr Yuki Motoyoshi - The Legality of Military Operations against Non-State Actors, when the Territorial State is Unwilling or Unable to Suppress the Threat of Non-State Actors
• Dr Li Wang - An Analysis of Constitutional Environmental Design in China

Invited Papers and Seminars

• 'Feminist Constitutionalism in Global Constitutionalism' Keio University, Japan (June 2023)
• 'Feminist Constituent Power in International Law: The City Born Great/The City We Became and The World We Make' (with Aoife O'Donoghue) Birmingham University Law and Gender Research Group (May 2023
• Feminist Constitutionalism: feminist law-making workshop (6 May 2021)
• 'Utopias, Colonialism & International Law' (with Aoife O'Donoghue) Warwick Centre for Critical Legal Studies and Critical Legal Thinking Online Seminar Series (February 2021)
• ‘Utopias, Colonialism & International Law’ (with Aoife O’Donoghue) Birmingham Global Legal Studies Reading Group (10 December 2020)
• ‘Ourworld’: A feminist approach to global constitutionalism’ (with Aoife O’Donoghue) Global Constitutionalism webinar series (5 June 2020)
• ‘Constituent Power as a new approach for International Law and Democracy’ Workshop on Constituent Power (The University of Liverpool, 28th June 2019
• 'Weaving Communities: Reading Feminist Science Fiction for Global Constitutionalisation’ Who are “We the People”? Community beyond the state (Institute of Advanced Study, Durham University, 12 February 2019) (project with Aoife O’Donoghue)
• 'Constituent Power and Referenda: Tales from Global Constitutionalisation’ The Role of Referendums in the UK Constitutional order (Durham, 31 January 2019)
• ‘Attempts to democratise the UN: representation, participation, and NGOs’ UN and Global Order Programme (University of Reading, 26 April 2018)
• ‘International perspectives’ Treaties, Brexit and the Constitution (Jesus College, Oxford University, 23 March 2018)
• ‘Where is Magna Carta in Shakespeare’s King John’ Dark Side of Magna Carta (Newcastle Law School, July 2015)

In 2023, Ruth was named 'Law Teacher of the Year' at the Northern Law Awards. In 2021, Ruth was awarded a Newcastle Teaching Excellence Award (TEA) for Outstanding Contribution to Personal Support.

Ruth has been a Guest Lecturer at the Durham Global Security Institute (DGSI) (2015-2019), the University of Verona (Online, March 2020), São Paulo State University in Brazil (Online, July 2023), and the German Studienstiftung Summer Academy in Flensburg (July-August 2023).

Undergraduate Teaching

• LAW3017: Public International Law (LLB) (Module Leader 2021- )
• LAW3034: Fundamentals of Human Rights Law (LLB) (Seminars 2023)

Previous teaching:

• LAW1110/LAW1210: Legal Institutions and Methods (LLB) (Module Leader 2018- 2022)
• LAW2163: Equity (LLB) (Seminars 2017-2019)
• LAW8091: Legal Research: Theory and Method (PGT Seminar 2022)
• LAW8559: Contemporary Problems of International Law and Dispute Settlement (LLM) (PGT seminar 2017-2018)

PhD Supervision

I welcome PhD applications within the fields of Global Constitutionalism, Public International Law and Constitutional Theory. 

Current PhD Supervisions

• Membership of the European Union

Completed PhD Supervisions

• Dr Yuki Motoyoshi - The Legality of Military Operations against Non-State Actors, when the Territorial State is Unwilling or Unable to Suppress the Threat of Non-State Actors
• Dr Li Wang - An Analysis of Constitutional Environmental Design in China

• Articles

  • Houghton R, O'Donoghue A. Utopia as "No-Place": Utopias, Colonialism and International Law. Law Text Culture 2024, 27, 204-227.
  • Houghton R, O'Donoghue A. Manifestos as constituent power: Performing a feminist revolution. Global Constitutionalism 2023, 12(3), 412-437.
  • Houghton R, O'Donoghue A. Introduction to special issue: Feminist manifestos and global constitutionalism. Global Constitutionalism 2023, Epub ahead of print.
  • Houghton R, O'Donoghue A. “Ourworld”: a feminist approach to Global Constitutionalism. Global Constitutionalism 2019, 9(1), 38-75.
  • Houghton R. Looking at the World Bank’s safeguard reform through the lens of deliberative democracy. Leiden Journal of International Law 2018, 32(3), 465-482.
  • Freedman R, Houghton R. Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: Politicisation of the Human Rights Council. Human Rights Law Review 2017, 17(4), 753-769.
  • McGlynn C, Rackley E, Houghton R. Beyond 'Revenge Porn': The Continuum of Image-Based Sexual Abuse. Feminist Legal Studies 2017, 25(1), 25-46.

• Book Chapters

  • Houghton R. The Individual in Feminist Approaches to International Law. In: Thomas Sparks and Anne Peters, ed. The Individual in International Law: The History and Theory of International Law. Oxford University Press, 2024.
  • Houghton R. Feminist approaches to global constitutionalism. In: Lang AF: Wiener A, ed. Handbook on Global Constitutionalism. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2023, pp.185–206.
  • Freedman R, Houghton R. Dissecting the Institution: A Response to Jan Klabbers. In: Fassbender B; Traisbach K, ed. The Limits of Human Rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.
  • O'Donoughe A, Houghton R. Can Global Constitutionalisation be Feminist?. In: Rimmer SH; Ogg K, ed. Research Handbook on Feminist Engagement with International Law. Cheltenham, UK; Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019.
  • Houghton R. Hybrid processes for hybrid outcomes: NGO participation at the United Nations Human Rights Council. In: Lemay-Herbert N; Freedman R, ed. Hybridity: Law, Culture and Development. London and New York: Routledge, 2017, pp.74-88.
  • Houghton R. Comment on McGimpsey v Ireland. In: O'Donoghue, A, Enright, M, McCandless, J, ed. Northern / Irish Feminist Judgments Judges' Troubles and the Gendered Politics of Identity. Hart Publishing, 2017.
  • Turner C, Houghton R. Constitution Making and Post Conflict Reconstruction. In: Saul, M; Sweeney, J, ed. International Law and Post Conflict Reconstruction Policy. Routledge, 2015.

• Online Publications

  • Houghton R, O'Donoghue A. Three Tales of Omelas - Utopia, Harm and International Law. Online: OpinioJuris, 2023. Available at: https://opiniojuris.org/2023/10/30/three-tales-of-omelas-utopia-harm-and-international-law/.
  • Houghton R, O'Donoghue A. Manifestos & Counter-Manifestos: An explainer for the 1776 Commission. 2021. Available at: https://criticallegalthinking.com/2021/01/21/manifestos-counter-manifestos-an-explainer-for-the-1776-commission/.
  • O'Donoghue A, Houghton R. A Manifesto for Feminist Global Constitutionalist Order. 2018. Available at: https://criticallegalthinking.com/2018/08/01/a-manifesto-for-feminist-global-constitutionalist-order/.
  • Houghton R. The Unspoken Legacies of Magna Carta. 2015. Available at: https://lacuna.org.uk/openlacuna/the-unspoken-legacies-of-magna-carta/.

• Reports

  • Houghton R, Hickey R, de Londras F, Strecker A, King A, Munro VE, Andrade LY, Bunworth R, Fanning A, Crompton L. Feminist Approaches to PhD Supervision. Doing Feminist Legal Work, 2024. Best Practice Guides 3.
  • Houghton R. Bridging the Local and Global: Archiving Women's Collectives in Spaces of Action/Reflection. Literature Review. Rochester, NY: SSRN, 2022.
  • Houghton R, Jansen N. Mis/Disinformation in the Covid-19 pandemic: What are the challenges for International Law?. Newcastle upon Tyne: Newcastle University, 2021. Newcastle Law School Research Briefing.

• Reviews

  • Houghton R. Book Review: Ruth Rubio-Marin, Global Gender Constitutionalism and Women’s Citizenship: A Struggle for Transformative Inclusion. Cambridge University Press, 2022. Pp. 368.$ 29.99 ISBN: 9781316630303. International Journal of Constitutional Law 2023. In Press.
  • Houghton R. Book Review, 'Mathias Thaler, No Other Planet: Utopian Visions for a Climate-Changed World (Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2022). Global Policy 2023.
  • Houghton R. Inventions of Nemesis: Utopia, Indignation, and Justice. By Douglas Mao, (Princeton University Press 2020) in the Encounters with Books from Other Disciplines series. International Journal of Law in Context 2023, 19(Special Issue 1), 91-95.
  • Houghton R. Book Review: The Public Law of Gender: From the Local to the Global, by Kim Rubenstein (ed.) and Katharine G. Young (ed.), (Cambridge University Press, 2016), ISBN: 978-1-107-13857-5. European Human Rights Law Review 2019, (4), 453-455.
  • Houghton R. Justice among Nations: A History of International Law, by Stephen C. Neff [Book review]. Legal Studies 2015, 35(1), 189-190.
  • Houghton R. Book Review: Negotiating in Civil Conflict: Constitutional Construction and Imperfect Bargaining in Iraq by Haider Ala Hamoudi. LSE Review of Books 2014.
  • Houghton R. Book Review: Free Country: Selected Lectures and Talks by Sydney Kentridge QC. LSE Review of Books 2013.
  • Houghton R. Book Review: Democracy, Social Resources and Political Power in the European Union by Niilo Kauppi. LSE Review of Books 2013.
  • Houghton R. Book Review: After the Spring: Probation, Justice Reform and Democratization from the Baltics to Beirut by Johannes Wheeldon. LSE Review of Books 2013.