Peter Brett

Peter Brett is a Senior Lecturer in International Politics at the School of Politics and International Relations, Queen Mary University of London. He joined the School in 2015 after completing his graduate studies at SOAS (MSc and PhD) and has previously held positions as a Teaching Fellow at SOAS and as an Adjunct Professor at Richmond – the American International University in London. He also teaches at the University of Paris (Panthéon-Sorbonne) and regularly at the University of London in Paris.

Dr. Brett's research focuses on the politics of Sub-Saharan Africa, international law, legal sociology, the politics of rights, and the history of international relations, with specializations in Southern and Francophone West Africa. His work includes a biographical project investigating the international career of Irish lawyer and statesman Seán MacBride. He has received research funding from a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Grant (2017-9) for his work on judicial appointments with Sara Dezalay.

Dr. Brett's publications reveal a consistent scholarly trajectory examining how legal frameworks and judicial processes shape political dynamics in Africa, particularly in Southern Africa. His research demonstrates how international legal norms interact with domestic political realities, often through unexpected pathways like 'extraversion' strategies employed by African states. His work spans judicial appointments, international courts, human rights litigation, and constitutional politics across multiple African contexts.

• British Academy/Leverhulme Small Grant (2017-9) for research on judicial appointments

As a supervisor, Dr. Brett guides PhD students working on topics related to the politics of rights, international law and courts, and African states in the international system. His current PhD students include Isaac Kimani Wangunyu, Nicolas Anakwue, Meredith Warren, and Qi Xu, whose research spans East African legislative behavior, digital activism in Sub-Saharan Africa, climate change litigation, and Chinese institutional arrangements. He is also the co-convenor of the British International Studies Association working group on Africa.