Rudy Baker

Roozbeh (Rudy) B. Baker received his legal education at the University of Illinois (JD) and the University of California at Berkeley (LLM), and completed his training as a Political Scientist at the University of Southern California (PhD). Before joining the faculty at Austin Peay State University, Dr. Baker worked at the University of Surrey (School of Law) in the United Kingdom. Dr. Baker has held adjunct / visiting appointments in the United States at Pepperdine University (School of Law), in Bosnia-Herzegovina at the University of East Sarajevo (Faculty of Law), and in Serbia at Union University (Faculty of Law). He has also served as a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Comparative Law in Serbia, and the Institute of International Politics & Economics in Serbia. Outside of academia, Dr. Baker has worked on constitutional / criminal law issues in the Senate of Canada (Opposition Research Office, Progressive-Conservative Party); war crimes / organized crime issues in the U.S. Embassy – Serbia (U.S. Department of Justice Resident Legal Advisor's Office); and WMD counter-proliferation issues in the U.S. Department of Defense (Defense Intelligence Agency). In addition to the English language, Dr. Baker speaks Persian / Farsi, Serbo-Croatian, and some French.

Dr. Baker's areas of expertise center mainly upon courts & judicial politics in a comparative context; international law / international criminal law; comparative constitutional and criminal law; socio-legal studies; democratic transitions; and multi-method research design. Dr. Baker's current research focuses upon the role of transnational epistemic communities in international and domestic norm formation. 

• Dušan Proroković, Rich Mifsud, Rudy B Baker, and Zuokui Liu (eds), 80 Years Since the End of World War II: Changes in International Relations, 1945–2025 (Belgrade: Institute of International Politics and Economics, Austin Peay State University, and Institute of World History of the Chinese Academy of Historical Sciences 2025).

• Arman Sarvarian, Rudy Baker, Filippo Fontanelli, and Vassilis Tsevelekos (eds), Procedural Fairness in International Courts and Tribunals (London: British Institute of International & Comparative Law 2015).

 

• Roozbeh (Rudy) B Baker, ‘International Law and the South China Sea: A New Path for an Old Dispute?’ in Katarina Zakić and Dragan Trailović (eds), Recalibrating the Global Compass: China and a Shared Future in a Fragmented World (Institute of International Politics and Economics 2025) 468–480.

• Rich Mifsud and Roozbeh (Rudy) B Baker, ‘Security Cooperation in Ukraine: A Profile of the State Partnership Program’ in Dušan Proroković, Rich Mifsud, Rudy B Baker, and Zuokui Liu (eds), 80 Years Since the End of World War II: Changes in International Relations, 1945–2025 (Belgrade: Institute of International Politics and Economics, Austin Peay State University, and Institute of World History of the Chinese Academy of Historical Sciences 2025) 21-34.

• Roozbeh B Baker, ‘Rethinking Transnational Influence: A New Framework for Understanding State Dynamics’ in Dušan Proroković, Paolo Sellari, & Rich Mifsud (eds), Global Security and International Relations After the Escalation of the Ukrainian Crisis (Belgrade: Institute of International Politics & Economics, Austin Peay State University, Sapienza University, and University of Belgrade Faculty of Security Studies 2024) 69-101.

• Roozbeh (Rudy) B Baker, ‘Direct Democracy and European Union Foreign Policy: Lessons from California’ in Ilija Vujačić & Bojan Vranić (eds), Decline or Eclipse of Democracy in Europe’s New Democracies? (Belgrade: University of Belgrade Faculty of Political Science 2016) 107-126.

• Roozbeh (Rudy) B Baker and Arman Sarvarian ‘Procedural Fairness and the Institutional Dynamic: Where We Are and Where We Should Be Going’ in Arman Sarvarian, Rudy Baker, Filippo Fontanelli, & Vassilis Tzevelekos (eds), Procedural Fairness in International Courts and Tribunals (London: British Institute of International & Comparative Law 2015) 381-394.

 

• Roozbeh (Rudy) B Baker, ‘Transnacionalni odnosi i svetska politika: novi pristup’ (2023) 75(2) Međunarodni problemi 263-291. (Serbo-Croatian)

• Roozbeh (Rudy) B Baker, ‘Customary International Law: A Reconceptualization’ (2016) 41(2) Brooklyn Journal of International Law 439-489.

• Roozbeh (Rudy) B Baker, ‘Legal Recursivity and International Law: Rethinking the Customary Element’ (2016) 14(1) Dartmouth Law Journal 41-66.

• Roozbeh (Rudy) B Baker and Zoran S Nikolić, ‘Between Politics and Science: The Dilemma of Reason’ (2014) 22 The Journal Jurisprudence 81-99.

• Roozbeh (Rudy) B Baker, ‘Individualizam i demokratska država’ (2012) 3 Diskursi: društvo religija kultura 131-142. (Serbo-Croatian)

• Roozbeh (Rudy) B Baker, ‘Model Švajcarskog federalizma’ (2012) 32(2) Politička revija 157-178. (Serbo-Croatian)

• Zoran S Nikolić and Roozbeh (Rudy) B Baker, ‘Intelektualci i politika’ (2011) 8 Kultura polisa 37-56. (Serbo-Croatian)

• Roozbeh (Rudy) B Baker, ‘Novi institucionalizam i međunarodni odnosi: korak napred’ (2011) 63(3) Međunarodni problemi 343-358. (Serbo-Croatian)

• Roozbeh (Rudy) B Baker, ‘Customary International Law in the 21st Century: Old Challenges and New Debates’ (2010) 21(1) European Journal of International Law 173-204.

• Roozbeh (Rudy) B Baker, ‘Balancing Competing Priorities: Affirmative Action in the United States and Canada’ (2009) 18(3) Journal of Transnational Law and Contemporary Problems 527-543.

• Roozbeh (Rudy) B Baker, ‘Towards a New Transitional Justice Model: Assessing the Serbian Case’ (2009) 11(1) San Diego International Law Journal 171-225.

• Roozbeh (Rudy) B Baker, ‘Universal Jurisdiction and the Case of Belgium: A Critical Assessment’ (2009) 16(1) ILSA Journal of International and Comparative Law 141-167.

• Roozbeh (Rudy) B Baker, ‘Racial Formation in Quebec: A Legal Retrospective’ (2008) 10(1) Journal of Law in Society 1-30.

• Roozbeh (Rudy) B Baker, ‘Proportionality in the Criminal Law: The Differing American versus Canadian Approaches to Punishment’ (2008) 39(3) University of Miami Inter-American Law Review 483-502.