The authors begin by observing that most obligations of international law are still regarded as ‘based’ on State consent. There are good reasons for this, especially from a democratic legitimacy perspective. Still, the principle of State consent, even in its qualified version of ‘democratic State’ consent, suffers from important shortcomings that call for correctives. The chapter starts by accounting for the democratic value of State consent in International Organizations (hereafter IOs) before addressing some of its democratic deficits. It then articulates several institutional proposals to correct or, at least, complement the role of equal State consent in the institution, the operation and the control of IOs. The authors develop a non-ideal normative argument for the latter’s political re-institution. That re-institution has to start with the replacement of the principle of equal State consent by that of equal public participation in IOs: this does not only avoid reducing State consent in IOs to State veto or refusal rights, but it also extends the personal scope of those participatory rights to other non-State public institutions.

The author details her team’s research investigating sex differences in serial murder from an evolutionary perspective. Per Trivers’ (1972) Parental Investment Theory, evolved psychological mechanisms serve sex-specific interests to maximize reproductive fitness (genes represented in subsequent generations). As predicted, men – who produce millions of sperm daily and have an increased sex drive – commit serial murder primarily for sexual reasons. Women, who have limited reproductive opportunities compared to men, have evolved to place great importance on resources. As such, women commit serial murder primarily for monetary gain. Moreover, mirroring ancestral agrarian tendencies, male serial killers (MSKs) are hunters (stalkers) of victims, and female serial killers (FSKs) are gatherers of profit and “gather” victims in their immediate environment, including relatives. The author stresses that an evolutionary perspective (ultimate perspective) does not explain the entirety of serial murder. We must consider converging perspectives, including evolutionary, proximate biological, clinical, traumagenic, cultural, historical, social, and gender-role forces that contribute to the development and growth of the human psyche.