By Annie Hagstrom
Michigan Law
Jimmy McDonough, Hannah Juge, and Achutha Raman are the recipients of Michigan Law’s 2024 Jon Henry Kouba Prize.
The Kouba Prize recognizes the best papers on European Union law or on international peace and security among nations. Michigan Law alum Jon Henry Kouba established the prize in 2003, and the winners receive a $1,000 stipend.
—————
Jimmy McDonough, ’24
“A Tool of Last Resort? Applying the Law of War to El Salvador’s War on Gangs”
McDonough’s work examines Latin American politics and security policy, focusing on El Salvador.
He surveyed whether El Salvador’s long-running gang conflict meets the conditions to apply international humanitarian law and what the impact of doing so might be.
Before law school, McDonough worked with charities in El Salvador, where he focused on anti-violence initiatives.
Professor Steven Ratner’s Law of Armed Conflict seminar gave him the opportunity to critically assess the impact of legal doctrine against the backdrop of Salvadoran politics.
Although the four international legal regimes McDonough analyzed for his paper provide different formulations for when the laws of war apply to a non-international conflict, they generally apply when there is a protracted conflict between a state and an
organized militia or insurgency.
“When I set out to write the paper, I thought it would be a clear-cut case that the law of war must apply, but there were gray zones I hadn’t anticipated,” said McDonough.
“Even though the intensity of El Salvador’s gang conflict is at a level that exceeds other wars, the law of war often assumes the non-state group has revolutionary or political means. However, it applies less neatly where the organized armed group seeks to subvert
rather than overthrow the state.”
A further challenge, he noted, was that “it’s not at all clear that classifying El Salvador’s war on gangs as a non-international armed conflict would incentivize the gangs or the Salvadoran state to do a better job of protecting civilians.”
Notwithstanding those challenges, McDonough suggested that applying international humanitarian law to El Salvador’s war on gangs could bring more benefits than harm, suggesting that police and military forces might be more mindful of their obligations to protect civilians than they currently are.
—————
Hannah Juge, ’24
“Creating a Near-Term Cost to Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Through Sanctions”
In her paper, Juge examines the use of economic sanctions by individual states against perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), considering whether this state-by-state approach is good and why access to justice for survivors of CRSV is so elusive.
Juge is Japanese American, and her identity has fueled a long-standing interest in the law of war and military history.
“Due to increasing dysfunction in the UN Security Council and the long process associated with international criminal trials, the US, UK, and EU implemented sanctions against individuals for perpetrating CRSV in Russia, Afghanistan, South Sudan, and elsewhere,” she said.
“Recent conflicts in Russia and South Sudan also highlighted the disparity between the coverage CRSV receives and the legal infrastructure in place to combat it.”
Juge attended Professor Steven Ratner’s Law of Armed Conflict class and Professor Kristina Daugirdas’s United Nations seminar, which she says were instrumental in developing her research and understanding the legal infrastructure of international organizations.
“Both classes provided structure and intellectual anchoring for a topic I came into law school wanting to research,” said Juge.
—————
Achutha Raman, ’24
“Algorithmic Collusion in the European Union: Retrieving Competition Policy for the Digital Economy”
Raman’s paper examines the idea that European Union competition policy, as it’s currently understood, is inadequate in addressing the challenges raised by algorithms.
He presented his argument in three parts: a history of competition law in the EU, a survey of cases in which EU courts have addressed issues at the intersection of algorithms and competition law, and potential paths to address systemic issues raised by algorithm use.
Before matriculating at Michigan Law, Raman worked at a privacy startup, focusing on the General Data Protection Regulation, the EU regulation on information privacy.
During his first summer at the Law School, he clerked at the Federal Trade Commission, a formative experience for his legal interests. While there, he worked for Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, who has extensive expertise in competition, privacy, and consumer protection.
In examining the history of EU competition policy, Raman asserts that competition law shouldn’t be reduced to a monothematic project. Instead, history, practice, and pragmatics show that competition policy should balance multiple goals, including consumer welfare. He suggests that in some cases, European courts have contorted market definitions to capture the harmful effects of algorithms.
Raman ends his paper by proposing supplemental paths, beyond competition policy, that courts and member states in the EU might use to address harms raised by algorithm use in the short term. However, he argues that competition law will ultimately need to be revisited and rebalanced to address the modern flow of information.
“Competition policy is in a period of revolution right now,” said Raman.
“There are critics and proponents of change, but either way, it’s a lively and crucial debate and an incredibly exciting space to explore. Moreover, I think how competition policy changes—or doesn’t—is bound to shape not just law and economics in the next 15 to
30 years but technology, politics, and daily life altogether.”
Michigan Law
Jimmy McDonough, Hannah Juge, and Achutha Raman are the recipients of Michigan Law’s 2024 Jon Henry Kouba Prize.
The Kouba Prize recognizes the best papers on European Union law or on international peace and security among nations. Michigan Law alum Jon Henry Kouba established the prize in 2003, and the winners receive a $1,000 stipend.
—————
Jimmy McDonough, ’24
“A Tool of Last Resort? Applying the Law of War to El Salvador’s War on Gangs”
McDonough’s work examines Latin American politics and security policy, focusing on El Salvador.
He surveyed whether El Salvador’s long-running gang conflict meets the conditions to apply international humanitarian law and what the impact of doing so might be.
Before law school, McDonough worked with charities in El Salvador, where he focused on anti-violence initiatives.
Professor Steven Ratner’s Law of Armed Conflict seminar gave him the opportunity to critically assess the impact of legal doctrine against the backdrop of Salvadoran politics.
Although the four international legal regimes McDonough analyzed for his paper provide different formulations for when the laws of war apply to a non-international conflict, they generally apply when there is a protracted conflict between a state and an
organized militia or insurgency.
“When I set out to write the paper, I thought it would be a clear-cut case that the law of war must apply, but there were gray zones I hadn’t anticipated,” said McDonough.
“Even though the intensity of El Salvador’s gang conflict is at a level that exceeds other wars, the law of war often assumes the non-state group has revolutionary or political means. However, it applies less neatly where the organized armed group seeks to subvert
rather than overthrow the state.”
A further challenge, he noted, was that “it’s not at all clear that classifying El Salvador’s war on gangs as a non-international armed conflict would incentivize the gangs or the Salvadoran state to do a better job of protecting civilians.”
Notwithstanding those challenges, McDonough suggested that applying international humanitarian law to El Salvador’s war on gangs could bring more benefits than harm, suggesting that police and military forces might be more mindful of their obligations to protect civilians than they currently are.
—————
Hannah Juge, ’24
“Creating a Near-Term Cost to Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Through Sanctions”
In her paper, Juge examines the use of economic sanctions by individual states against perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), considering whether this state-by-state approach is good and why access to justice for survivors of CRSV is so elusive.
Juge is Japanese American, and her identity has fueled a long-standing interest in the law of war and military history.
“Due to increasing dysfunction in the UN Security Council and the long process associated with international criminal trials, the US, UK, and EU implemented sanctions against individuals for perpetrating CRSV in Russia, Afghanistan, South Sudan, and elsewhere,” she said.
“Recent conflicts in Russia and South Sudan also highlighted the disparity between the coverage CRSV receives and the legal infrastructure in place to combat it.”
Juge attended Professor Steven Ratner’s Law of Armed Conflict class and Professor Kristina Daugirdas’s United Nations seminar, which she says were instrumental in developing her research and understanding the legal infrastructure of international organizations.
“Both classes provided structure and intellectual anchoring for a topic I came into law school wanting to research,” said Juge.
—————
Achutha Raman, ’24
“Algorithmic Collusion in the European Union: Retrieving Competition Policy for the Digital Economy”
Raman’s paper examines the idea that European Union competition policy, as it’s currently understood, is inadequate in addressing the challenges raised by algorithms.
He presented his argument in three parts: a history of competition law in the EU, a survey of cases in which EU courts have addressed issues at the intersection of algorithms and competition law, and potential paths to address systemic issues raised by algorithm use.
Before matriculating at Michigan Law, Raman worked at a privacy startup, focusing on the General Data Protection Regulation, the EU regulation on information privacy.
During his first summer at the Law School, he clerked at the Federal Trade Commission, a formative experience for his legal interests. While there, he worked for Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, who has extensive expertise in competition, privacy, and consumer protection.
In examining the history of EU competition policy, Raman asserts that competition law shouldn’t be reduced to a monothematic project. Instead, history, practice, and pragmatics show that competition policy should balance multiple goals, including consumer welfare. He suggests that in some cases, European courts have contorted market definitions to capture the harmful effects of algorithms.
Raman ends his paper by proposing supplemental paths, beyond competition policy, that courts and member states in the EU might use to address harms raised by algorithm use in the short term. However, he argues that competition law will ultimately need to be revisited and rebalanced to address the modern flow of information.
“Competition policy is in a period of revolution right now,” said Raman.
“There are critics and proponents of change, but either way, it’s a lively and crucial debate and an incredibly exciting space to explore. Moreover, I think how competition policy changes—or doesn’t—is bound to shape not just law and economics in the next 15 to
30 years but technology, politics, and daily life altogether.”
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