Katerina Linos’ research and teaching interests include international law, comparative law, European Union law, employment law and migration law. To address questions in these fields, her work combines legal analysis with empirical methods.
Her research examines why law reforms and policy innovations spread around the world in waves. Linos’ book The Democratic Foundations of Policy Diffusion: How Health, Family, and Employment Laws Spread Across Countries (Oxford University Press, 2013), explains the politics of legal transplantation. Democratic Foundations won the 2014 Chadwick Alger prize as the best book on international organization and multilateralism, the 2014 Peter Katzenstein prize for an outstanding first book in international relations, the 2014 Giovanni Sartori prize as the best book on qualitative methods, and was reviewed by nine international law professors for an Opinio Juris symposium.
The law and politics of the European Union are another key area of Linos’ research. Despite being the most integrated international legal order we know, the European Union has stumbled in its efforts to fully harmonize the laws of its member states. Linos finds that member states delay the implementation of EU directives not out of strategic motivations, but mostly due to limitations in state capabilities.
To further explore the gap between widely diffused, internationally accepted norms and their uneven implementation on the ground, Linos’ recent work focuses on human rights. With the support of the Hellman Family Fund, Linos has investigated empirically how over 100 countries adopted National Human Rights Institutions, and what makes some of these agencies particularly effective.
In 2017, Linos was awarded a Carnegie fellowship to study the European refugee crisis. She will investigate how communication barriers frustrate fundamental rights, and explore the potential of new technologies to facilitate refugee and migrant integration.
Linos’ research appears in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed journals, including the American Journal of International Law, the American Journal of Political Science, the American Political Science Review, the California Law Review, the Chicago Law Review, Comparative Political Studies, the European Sociological Review, and International Organization. She holds a J.D. and Ph.D. from Harvard, and was a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows.
Education
B.A., Harvard College (2000)
Diploma, European University Institute (2002)
J.D., Harvard Law School (2006)
Ph.D., Harvard University (2007)
Katerina Linos is teaching the following courses in Spring 2022:
• 206C sec. 001 - Note Publishing Workshop
• 261 sec. 001 - International Law
• 261.15 sec. 001 - Colloquium on International Law and Politics
Courses During Other Semesters
| Semester | Course Num | Course Title |  Teaching Evaluations | Fall 2022 | 261.1 sec. 001 | International Business Transactions | Summer 2022 | 261.1S sec. 001 | International Business Transactions | Fall 2021 | 261.1 sec. 001 | International Business Transactions | View Teaching Evaluation | Summer 2021 | 261.1S sec. 001 | International Business Transactions | Spring 2021 | 261 sec. 001 | International Law | View Teaching Evaluation | 261.17 sec. 001 | International Organizations | View Teaching Evaluation |
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US welcomes International Criminal Court action against Putin
Professor Katerina Linos and Professor Laura Fletcher weigh in on the powers and importance of how the ICC investigates war crimes allegations against Russia
As the World Watches Ukraine, Berkeley Law Experts Discuss Recent Events and What to Expect
With Russia ratcheting the nuclear tension to the breaking point, can the international community find an off-ramp for Vladimir Putin?
Top EU Antitrust Official Calls for ‘New Ways of Safeguarding Competition’ at Annual Symposium
The annual Stefan A. Riesenfeld Symposium honored Margrethe Vestager, who discussed proposals to safeguard competition and user safety.
Podcast: Using Postcards to Make People Interact with Government More Easily
Professor Katerina Linos appears on the GovExec Daily podcast to discuss how to make customer service more effective in government in a very low-tech way
‘Terrific Teachers, Superb Scholars, and Wonderful Colleagues’: Six Professors Awarded Faculty Chairs
Professors Katerina Linos, Steven Davidoff Solomon, Abbye Atkinson, Elisabeth Semel, Laurel E. Fletcher, and Jeffrey Selbin are honored for their contributions to scholarship and legal education.
New Podcast and Human Rights Blog Series Further Expand Miller Institute’s International Reach
“Borderlines” and a blog series on human rights broadens the reach of Berkeley Law’s hub for international law.
Faculty Members Share Research Findings and Insights Leading Into World Refugee Day
With nearly 80 million refugees and displaced people worldwide, the school’s wide-ranging research identifies core concerns and sensible solutions.
Scattered But Not Distant
While COVID-19 brought in-person events to a screeching halt, Berkeley Law’s intellectual life has continued at full speed through a steady stream of timely online offerings. Other than brief pauses for spring break and final exams, the event schedule bustled throughout the spring and summer. Many gatherings, including those open to the public, addressed the
Virtual Vigor: Keeping Berkeley Law’s Intellectual Life Vibrant from a Distance
While students, faculty, and staff are scattered around the world, Berkeley Law has brought them together through a variety of online events—many focused on the pandemic and the implications of the death of George Floyd.
Q&A: Linos’ Carnegie Fellowship and the Global Refugee Crisis
Linos will study an urgent global challenge: the European refugee crisis.
Katerina Linos Awarded a Prestigious Andrew Carnegie Fellowship
Each fellow receives up to $200,000 to fund significant research in the social sciences and humanities—the most generous stipend of its kind.