Saturday, August 29, 2015

New Issue: International Human Rights Law Review

The latest issue of the International Human Rights Law Review (Vol. 4, no. 1, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Marika McAdam, What’s in a Name?
  • Tenia Kyriazi, Trafficking and Slavery
  • Solon Solomon, Broadening International Criminal Jurisdiction?
  • Jamil Ddamulira Mujuzi, The Right to a Fair Trial in Criminal Proceedings and the United Kingdom Courts’ Recognition of Foreign Convictions from non-EU Member States
  • Hemang Sharma, Rights against Torture in Nepal

Friday, August 28, 2015

Zorzi Giustiniani: The Obligations of the State of Origin of Refugees: An Appraisal of a Traditionally Neglected Issue

Flavia Zorzi Giustiniani (International Telematic Univ. Uninettuno - Law) has published The Obligations of the State of Origin of Refugees: An Appraisal of a Traditionally Neglected Issue (Connecticut Journal of International Law, Vol 30, no 2, 2015). Here's the abstract:
Over the last two decades, the growing restrictive attitudes of Western States towards asylum-seekers have caused much ink to flow concerning the individual and collective responsibilities of the host countries in sharing the “burden.” In contrast, the role and the responsibilities of the State of origin of refugees have remained quite unexplored in legal doctrine. The present article strives to fill this gap, analysing both the content of the pertinent international norms as well as their practical relevance in situations of mass flows. In the first part, this article will analyse whether the source State can be held responsible, or liable, towards receiving countries for the refugee influx. The article will then investigate the precise scope of the country of origin’s obligations vis-à-vis its fleeing citizens, particularly with respect to return and reparations. As will be shown, the enjoyment of the refugees’ rights in this regard has been significantly limited as a result of the characterization by States of repatriation as the best durable solution.

Rojas Castro: La reconnaissance des gouvernements ibéro-américains. Histoire du droit international et histoire transnationale au xixe siècle

Daniel Emilio Rojas Castro has published La reconnaissance des gouvernements ibéro-américains. Histoire du droit international et histoire transnationale au xixe siècle (Relations internationales, 2015/3, no. 162). Here's the abstract:
Cet article analyse l’impact des indépendances ibéro-américaines dans la doctrine contemporaine de la reconnaissance internationale. Ce n’est qu’après l’apparition de nouvelles nations ibéro-américaines que la légalité d’un gouvernement dépend de la seule légitimité que lui confère le peuple souverain, en dépit d’une conception longtemps dominante dans le Droit des gens, d’après laquelle cette légalité dépend du respect du principe de légitimité (c’est-à-dire, du droit de succession royal). Pour le démontrer, l’étude s’appuie sur une lecture transatlantique et de longue durée qui inclut plusieurs cas d’apparition d’entités souveraines à l’époque moderne et qui les compare avec la reconnaissance des gouvernements ibéro-américains.

New Issue: Trade, Law and Development

The latest issue of Trade, Law and Development (Vol. 6, no. 2, Winter 2014) is out. Contents include:
  • Articles
    • Roda Mushkat, Killing the Proverbial Two Birds with One Stone: New Ways to Expand the Comparative Law Methodological Repertoire and Enhance the Effectiveness of Inter-Jurisdictional Environmental Governance Regimes
    • Mary Footer, Trade-related International Food Security and the Developing World
    • Rajesh Babu, Trajectories of Investment Protection In India: An Analysis of Compensation for Expropriation
  • Notes and Comments
    • Billy Araujo, Regulating Services Through Trade Agreements – A Comparative Analysis of Regulatory Disciplines Included in EU and US Free Trade Agreements
    • Anhad Gupta, Restructuring Incentives for Pharmaceutical Innovation

Helfand: Negotiating State and Non-State Law: The Challenge of Global and Local Legal Pluralism

Michael A. Helfand (Pepperdine Univ. - Law) has published Negotiating State and Non-State Law: The Challenge of Global and Local Legal Pluralism (Cambridge Univ. Press 2015). Contents include:
  • Paul Schiff Berman, Non-state lawmaking through the lens of global legal pluralism
  • Ralf Michaels, What is law beyond the state? An introduction
  • Sally E. Merry, International law and sociolegal scholarship: toward a spatial global legal pluralism
  • Peer Zumbansen, The constitutional itch: transnational private regulatory governance and the woes of legitimacy
  • Helen Quane, International human rights law as a catalyst for the recognition and evolution of non-state law
  • Oren Perez & Daphne Barak-Erez, The administrative state goes global
  • Harlan Cohen, International precedent and the practice of international law
  • Joel A. Nichols, Religion, family law, and competing norms
  • Haider Ala Hamoudi, Wasfi H. Al-Sharaa & Aqeel Al-Dahhan, The resolution of disputes in state and tribal law in the south of Iraq: toward a cooperative model of pluralism
  • Nomi Maya Stolzenberg, Is there such a thing as non-state law? Lessons from Kiryas Joel
  • Michael A. Helfand, The persistence of sovereignty and the rise of the legal subject

Chamberlain: Children and the International Criminal Court

Cynthia Chamberlain (International Criminal Court) has published Children and the International Criminal Court (Intersentia 2015). Here's the abstract:
This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its core legal texts from a children’s rights perspective. It examines the ICC provisions and its case law, evaluating whether these meet international children’s rights standards, particularly as regards the protection of child victims and witnesses, their participation as victims in ICC proceedings and their role as beneficiaries in reparations. The author proposes recommendations that could be adopted in order to guarantee children’s rights in ICC proceedings.

New Issue: International Peacekeeping

The latest issue of International Peacekeeping (Vol. 22, no. 4, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Special Issue: Development Assistance for Peacebuilding
    • Rachel M. Gisselquist, Good Aid in Hard Places: Learning from ‘Successful’ Interventions in Fragile Situations
    • Andrew Beath, Fotini Christia & Ruben Enikolopov, The National Solidarity Programme: Assessing the Effects of Community-Driven Development in Afghanistan
    • Lamis Al-Iryani, Alain de Janvry & Elisabeth Sadoulet, The Yemen Social Fund for Development: An Effective Community-Based Approach amid Political Instability
    • Heidi Tavakoli, Ismaila B. Cessay & Winston Percy Onipede Cole, Substantial but Uneven Achievement: Selected Success When Stars Align. Public Financial Management Reforms in Sierra Leone
    • Rauli S. Lepistö, Rachel M. Gisselquist & Jussi Ojala, ‘Embedded’ Assistance: Finn Church Aid's Secondment in Somalia
    • Laura Bacon, Liberia's Gender-Sensitive Police Reform: Improving Representation and Responsiveness in a Post-Conflict Setting
    • Martin Gramatikov, Maurits Barendrecht, Margot Kokke, Robert Porter, Morly Frishman & Andrea Morales, Impact Assessment of the Facilitadores Judiciales Programme in Nicaragua
    • James H. Williams & William C. Cummings, Education from the Bottom Up: UNICEF's Education Programme in Somalia
    • Andrew Rosser & Sharna Bremner, The World Bank's Health Projects in Timor-Leste: The Political Economy of Effective Aid

Thursday, August 27, 2015

New Issue: The Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals

The latest issue of The Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals (Vol. 14, no. 2, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Alessandro Bufalini, The Principle of Legality and the Role of Customary International Law in the Interpretation of the ICC Statute
  • Gian Maria Farnelli, A Controversial Dialogue between International and Domestic Courts on Functional Immunity
  • Sergey Y. Marochkin & Galina A. Nelaeva, The Changing Dynamics of International Lawmaking: Trying Heads of State for Rape and Sexual Violence
  • Tomas Hamilton, Case Admissibility at the International Criminal Court
  • Yoshifumi Tanaka, Reflections on the Advisory Jurisdiction of ITLOS as a Full Court: The ITLOS Advisory Opinion of 2015
  • Fernando Lusa Bordin, Procedural Developments at the International Court of Justice

New Issue: International Journal of Refugee Law

The latest issue of the International Journal of Refugee Law (Vol. 27, no. 3, October 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Nuno Ferreira, Portuguese Refugee Law in the European Context: The Case of Sexuality-Based Claims
  • Sílvia Morgades-Gil, The Discretion of States in the Dublin III System for Determining Responsibility for Examining Applications for Asylum: What Remains of the Sovereignty and Humanitarian Clauses After the Interpretations of the ECtHR and the CJEU?
  • Moira Sy, UNHCR and Preventing Indirect Refoulement in Europe
  • Tim Sahliu Braimah, Divorcing Sexual Orientation from Religion and Politics: Utilizing the Convention Grounds of Religion and Political Opinion in Same-Sex Oriented Asylum Claims

Hurd: What is the International Rule of Law?

Ian Hurd (Northwestern Univ. - Political Science) has posted What is the International Rule of Law? (in The Global Context: How Politics, Investment and Institutions Impact European Businesses, Javier Solana & Angel Saz-Carranza eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
While it is common to refer to the international rule of law, it is less common to define it or to explore what it means. I examine the international rule of law both in practice and as a concept. This is important because international legality is often used as a legitimating discourse for political power, and unstated disagreements about the meaning of the international rule of law can impede conversations about substantive political issues.

Bodansky: Legally Binding Versus Non-Legally Binding Instruments

Daniel Bodansky (Arizona State Univ. - Law) has posted Legally Binding Versus Non-Legally Binding Instruments (in Towards a Workable and Effective Climate Regime, Scott Barrett Carlo Carraro & Jaime de Melo eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
Although it now appears settled that the Paris agreement will be a treaty within the definition of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, debate continues over which provisions of the agreement should be legally binding. The legal character of the Paris agreement and its constituent parts may matter for several reasons, even in the absence of any enforcement mechanisms. Formulating an agreement in legally binding terms signals stronger commitment, both by the executive that accepts the agreement and by the wider body politic, particularly if domestic acceptance requires legislative approval. It can have domestic legal ramifications, to the extent that treaties prompt legislative implementation or can be applied by national courts. And it can serve as a stronger basis for domestic and international mobilisation. But, despite much empirical work over the past two decades, it has proved difficult to assess the strength of these factors in promoting effectiveness, both absolutely and relative to other elements of treaty design, such as an agreement’s precision and its mechanisms for transparency and accountability. On the one hand, states exhibit a strong belief that the legal character of an agreement matters. On the other hand, some political agreements, such as the 2009 Copenhagen Accord and the 1975 Helsinki Accords, arguably have had a greater influence on state behaviour than their legal counterparts. As a result, confident assertions, one way or the other, on the degree to which the legally binding nature of the Paris agreement does or does not matter seem unwarranted.

New Issue: European Journal of International Relations

The latest issue of the European Journal of International Relations (Vol. 21, no. 3, September 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Thomas Hale, The rule of law in the global economy: Explaining intergovernmental backing for private commercial tribunals
  • Benjamin Selwyn, Twenty-first-century International Political Economy: A class-relational perspective
  • Andreas Nölke, Tobias ten Brink, Simone Claar, & Christian May, Domestic structures, foreign economic policies and global economic order: Implications from the rise of large emerging economies
  • Christian Kreuder-Sonnen & Bernhard Zangl, Which post-Westphalia? International organizations between constitutionalism and authoritarianism
  • Tom Pegram, Global human rights governance and orchestration: National human rights institutions as intermediaries
  • Gregorio Bettiza & Filippo Dionigi, How do religious norms diffuse? Institutional translation and international change in a post-secular world society
  • Asif Efrat, Professional socialization and international norms: Physicians against organ trafficking
  • Beste İşleyen, The European Union and neoliberal governmentality: Twinning in Tunisia and Egypt
  • Eric Grynaviski, Brokering cooperation: Intermediaries and US cooperation with non-state allies, 1776–1945

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

New Issue: American Review of International Arbitration

The latest issue of the American Review of International Arbitration (Vol. 26, no. 1, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • William R. Spiegelberger, Russia Report: The Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards In 2014
  • Lin Jacobsen, International Investment Law with Chinese Characteristics: Zooming in on China's BIT Practice
  • Olga Gerlich, State Immunity from Execution in the Collection of Awards Rendered in International Investment Arbitration: The Achilles' Heel of the Investor-State Arbitration System?
  • Carter Greenbaum, Putting the Baby to Rest: Dispelling a Common Arbitration Myth
  • Shaheer Tarin, An Analysis of the Influence of Islamic Law on Saudi Arabia's Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Practices

Singh: The Critical Subject

Sahib Singh (Univ. of Cambridge - Law) has posted The Critical Subject (in Martti Koskenniemi and his Critics, W. Werner et al. eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
This essay excavates and critiques the image of the critical subject that is presupposed by Koskenniemi in his 'From Apology to Utopia'. Critical international legal thought often invests considerable faith in the potential of the subject; I argue that this may, in some cases, be a misplaced strategy. This argument proceeds in three steps. Part I examines how the various theories and methods of Koskenniemi's text leaves us with no knowledge of the critical subject. Part II demonstrates that his text presupposes into existence a subject is rooted in a Sartrean metaphysic, and explores the nature of this being. Part III then demonstrates how this critical subject is structured by specific contradictions that may disable it from realizing the emancipatory politics of critical thought. More importantly, it attempts to show how this subject may very well embed the prevailing cultural ideology of our time, rather than challenge it. And yet, despite these antinomies and limits, many young scholars still continue to believe in this image of the critical subject. Because this image is held together through myth.

New Issue: Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law

The latest issue of the Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law (Vol. 24, no. 2, July 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Special Issue: Public Participation and Climate Governance
    • Sébastien Jodoin, Sébastien Duyck & Katherine Lofts, Public Participation and Climate Governance: An Introduction
    • Sébastien Duyck, Promoting the Principles of the Aarhus Convention in International Forums: The Case of the UN Climate Change Regime
    • Umberto Sconfienza, The Narrative of Public Participation in Environmental Governance and its Normative Presuppositions
    • Gwendolyn Blue, Public Deliberation with Climate Change: Opening up or Closing down Policy Options?
    • Konstantia Koutouki, Paul Watts & Shawn Booth, The Canadian Arctic Marine Ecological Footprint and Free Prior Informed Consent: Making the Case for Indigenous Public Participation through Inclusive Education
    • Joanne Narksompong & Sangchan Limjirakan, Youth Participation in Climate Change for Sustainable Engagement
    • Ana Leonardo Nassar de Oliveira, Forests and Climate Change: Strategies and Challenges for Brazilian Civil Society Organizations between 2005 and 2010
  • Original Articles
    • Rakhyun E. Kim & Klaus Bosselmann, Operationalizing Sustainable Development: Ecological Integrity as a Grundnorm of International Law
    • Lucia Casado Casado, Environmental Protection as an Exception to the Freedom of Establishment and the Freedom to Provide Services in the European Union
    • Nengye Liu, The European Union's Potential Contribution to Enhanced Governance of Offshore Oil and Gas Operations in the Arctic

Sharma & Walsh: The Responsibility to Prevent: Overcoming the Challenges of Atrocity Prevention

Serena K. Sharma (King's College London - Defence Studies) & Jennifer M. Welsh (European Univ. Institute - International Relations) have published The Responsibility to Prevent: Overcoming the Challenges of Atrocity Prevention (Oxford Univ. Press 2015). Contents include:
  • Serena K. Sharma & Jennifer M. Welsh, Introduction
  • Ruben Reike, Serena K. Sharma & Jennifer M. Welsh, Conceptualizing the Responsibility to Prevent
  • Ekkehard Strauss, Institutional Capacities of the United Nations to Prevent and Halt Atrocity Crimes
  • Monica Serrano, National Focal Points for R2P: Institutionalizing the Responsibility to Prevent
  • Jennifer M. Welsh, Mediation and Sanctions: Applying Conflict Prevention Tools in Atrocity Crime Settings
  • Dan Saxon, The International Criminal Court and the Prevention of Crimes
  • Sarah Sewall, Military Options for Preventing Atrocity Crimes
  • Jonathan Leader Maynard, Combating Atrocity-Justifying Ideologies
  • Abiodun Williams, The Possibilities for Preventive Deployment: The Case of Macedonia
  • Walter Lotze & Alexandra Martins, The Responsibility to Prevent Atrocity Crimes: Drawing Lessons from International Intervention in Burundi
  • Serena K. Sharma, The 2007-08 Post-Election Crisis in Kenya: A Case of Escalation Prevention
  • Naomi Kikoler, Guinea: An Overlooked Case of the Responsibility to Prevent in Practice
  • Ruben Reike, Libya and the Prevention of Mass Atrocity Crimes: A Controversial Success
  • Serena K. Sharma & Jennifer M. Welsh, Conclusion: An Integrated Framework for Atrocity Prevention

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

New Issue: International Legal Materials

The latest issue of International Legal Materials (Vol. 54, no. 3, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Tarakhel v. Switzerland (Eur. Ct. H.R.), with introductory note by Christina M. Cerna
  • Achmea B.V. v. Slovak Republic (PCA), with introductory note by Otylia Babiak & Benjamin Garel
  • Judgment No. 238 – 2014 (It. Const. Ct.), with introductory note by Alessandro Chechi
  • Protocol on the Establishment of the African Monetary Fund & Statute of the African Monetary Fund, with introductory note by Uche Ewelukwa Ofodile
  • World Health Organization and United Nations Documents on the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa, with introductory note by Gian Luca Burci & Jakob Quirin

Tzevelekos: The Making of International Human Rights Law

Vassilis P. Tzevelekos (Univ. of Hull - Law) has posted The Making of International Human Rights Law (in Research Handbook on the Theory and Practice of International Law-­Making, C.M. Brölmann & Y. Radi eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
The paper discusses how human rights norms are created in international law. After explaining the limits of the sources of positive international law (and especially the problems that are inherent to custom making), it turns towards the role of international courts and tribunals and discusses the ways through which these may recognise the existence of human rights. The paper identifies a number of means that are available to international courts for that task and highlights the distinction between consensus-based reasoning, and decision making based on human rights principles.

Hutter: Starvation as a Weapon

Simone Hutter has published Starvation as a Weapon: Domestic Policies of Deliberate Starvation as a Means to an End under International Law (Brill | Nijhoff 2015). Here's the abstract:
In Starvation as a Weapon Simone Hutter explores, within the framework of international law, the legality of using deliberate starvation as a means to an end. A close look at modern famine shows that, in many cases, food scarcity is not the product of coincidence, but a side effect or result of a deliberate strategy. Starvation is an efficient instrument when used to exert pressure and power, in times of war and peace. Simone Hutter demonstrates how international human rights law and international humanitarian law prevent deliberate starvation as a means of achieving political goals. She focuses on highly divisive and under-discussed instances in which states deploy deliberate starvation domestically, i.e. within the state’s own national territory.

Call for Papers: The Emerging Transnational Criminal Law

iCourts has issued a call for papers for a workshop on "The Emerging Transnational Criminal Law," to take place May 17-18, 2016. Here's the call:

The emerging transnational criminal law - Call for papers

Venue: Faculty of Law, Meeting room 02-0-16, Studiegaarden,
Studiestraede 6, ground floor, DK-1455 Copenhagen K

In recent years, the contours of a distinct transnational criminal law have emerged. To investigate the new practices and legal innovations around this form of law, iCourts invites papers for a multidisciplinary conference on the emerging forms of transnational criminal law.

In the late 2000s, transnational criminal law emerged as a scholarly concept aimed at capturing a range of new legal innovations that have sprung up on the international and even global scene. In contrast to scholarship on international criminal law driven by the international criminal courts, the emergent transnational criminal law targeted other forms of borderless crimes codified in international treaties and not necessarily tied to the practices of international institutions.

With the emergence of transnational criminal law, a myriad of scholarly questions regarding the genesis of this specific concept and as well as the legal practices it seeks to encompass have arisen. To investigate these phenomena, new forms of law as well as the academic concepts formed around them, iCourts invites papers for a multidisciplinary conference on the emerging transnational criminal law. The aim of the workshop and related conference is to provide the first collective and transdisciplinary perspective on the emergence and development of transnational criminal law. In this context, iCourts welcomes papers that will address one of the following dimensions:

The concept of transnational criminal law:
To understand the role of transnational criminal law, more scholarship on the theoretical boundaries of the concept is needed. Such studies could include strictly legal studies of its substantive and procedural dynamics as well as socio-legal research on how this term was crafted and how it relates to conceptual innovations in other disciplines.

The practices of transnational criminal law:
If transnational criminal law is indeed an emerging field in its own right, understanding the practices active in it holds the key to understanding its developments. Papers are invited that tries to analyze how practices of transnational criminal law have evolved and are situated in a wider field of law and politics.

The agents and networks of transnational criminal law:
Tied closely to the concrete practices that characterize transnational criminal law are the agents and networks that are driving them. Here socio-legal scholarship can potentially make a significant contribution to understanding this new form of law and who have been the central drivers in its theoretical as well as practical development.

The institutions of transnational criminal law:
What are the institutions that have defined specific practices in transnational criminal law and what role do they play vis-à-vis other national and international organizations? Understanding the role of different institutions in transnational criminal law can provide pivotal insights into the functionality of this field and its practices.

Abstracts for the workshop should focus on making an original contribution within one or more of the dimensions identified above. Papers will be selected on the basis of abstracts of 250 words accompanied by a brief statement of what the research will add to the state of the art.

Deadline for abstracts is 1 December 2015. Please send abstracts to Mikkel Jarle Christensen: mjc@jur.ku.dk

The workshop will take place May 17-18 2016. iCourts will cover flights and accommodation if booked through the center.

Reworked and finished papers are planned to be presented on a public conference scheduled for January 2017.

AJIL Unbound Agora: Reflections on Zivotofsky v. Kerry (Part II)

AJIL Unbound has posted the second part of a two-part agora on "Reflections on Zivotofsky v. Kerry." Part II includes an introduction by Curtis A. Bradley and Carlos Vázquez, and essays by Julian Mortenson, Catherine Powell, Campbell McLachlan, and John Torpey. Part I can be found here.

Monday, August 24, 2015

Vidas: The Earth in the Anthropocene – and the World in the Holocene?

Davor Vidas (Fridtjof Nansen Institute) has posted an ESIL Reflection on The Earth in the Anthropocene – and the World in the Holocene?

Dowlah: International Trade, Competitive Advantage and Developing Economies

Caf Dowlah (City Univ. of New York - Economics) has published International Trade, Competitive Advantage and Developing Economies: Changing Trade Patterns since the Emergence of the WTO (Routledge 2015). Here's the abstract:
vailable research suggests that less developed countries have significant competitive advantage over developed countries in three major areas of international trade: agriculture, textiles and clothing (T&C), and cross-border labor mobility. Incidentally, these are also the trade sectors which experienced widespread protectionist measures, especially in developed world, for decade after decade. Under the World Trade Organization (WTO), which replaced the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) in 1995, much of the restrictions in T&C trade has been phased out, but still this sector faces much higher tariff and non-tariff barriers than any other manufacturing sector in world economy. The agricultural sector also experienced significant dismantling of deeply entrenched trade barriers under the WTO over the course of last two decades, but the sector still remains plagued with quite extensive domestic supports, export subsidies, and tariff barriers. At the same time, despite both theoretical expositions and empirical trends point to significant potential gains from cross-border labor mobility, the sector remains mired in a complex quagmire of economic and political restrictions around the world. Thus, all three sectors in which less developed countries have exports interests still remain less liberalized than the sectors in which developed countries have exports interests. This book provides an in-depth and up-to-date scholarly analysis of all three trade sectors—agriculture, T&C and cross-border labor mobility—with a penetrating scrutiny of historical backgrounds and developments, crosscurrents of interests and perspectives of both developed and developing countries, and evolving trade patterns and potentials in a more liberalized and globalized world economy. The book also identifies critical economic issues and options for less developed countries in the WTO negotiations for further liberalization of agriculture, T&C, and cross-border labor mobility.

Unterweger: International Law on Tuna Fisheries Management

Ingo Unterweger has published International Law on Tuna Fisheries Management: Is the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission ready for the challenge? (Nomos 2015). Here's the abstract:
Tuna and tuna-like species are migrating over long distances and cross national and international boundaries. Therefore, international cooperation is required in order to ensure sustainable management of the fisheries targeting these species. The book deals with the international legal framework for the management. It focuses on the Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs), concentrating particularly on fisheries management in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean regions. It aims at providing a broader understanding of the international legal framework and to examine whether or not this framework enables tuna RFMOs and, in particular, the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission to manage their fisheries sustainably.

Inaugural Issue: NALSAR International Law Journal

The inaugural issue of the NALSAR International Law Journal (Vol. 1, no. 1, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • James J. Nedumpara, World Trade Organization and Network Societies: Evolving Models of Public-Private Partnerships in India
  • Himanil Raina, Articles 2(4) and 51 of UN Charter: Force Gaps and the Unilateral Exercise of the Right of Self Defence Against Nonstate Actors
  • Abhik Chakraborty, Analysis of the Competing Control Tests: State Responsibility for Actions of Private Armed Groups
  • Edrine Wanyama, The Impact of the Calvo Doctrine on the Principles of Protection of Foreign Nationals in the Area of Investment
  • Deergha Airen & Sanjana Roy, Rising Threat of a Debt Crisis: A Frantic Call to the Odious Debt Doctrine
  • Pratik Ranjan Das, Linking Cyber Attacks and the Use of Force in Public International Law: An Exercise in Interpretation
  • Maithili Pai, Immunity of the United Nations as an International Organisation: Time for a Relook in Light of the Haiti Cholera Case
  • Bhargav Kosuru & Shlok Bolar, Deciphering The ‘Grey Area’ in Bilateral Investment Treaties: A Study of ‘Umbrella Clause’

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Hurd: Three Models of the International Rule of Law (Tres modelos de imperio internacional de la ley)

Ian Hurd (Northwestern Univ. - Political Science) has posted Three Models of the International Rule of Law (Tres modelos de imperio internacional de la ley) (Eidos, no. 23, pp. 37-48, July-December 2015). Here's the abstract:

English Abstract: While it is common to refer to the international rule of law, it is less common to define it or to explore what it means. In this essay I examine the international rule of law both in practice and as a concept. This is important because many controversies about the direction of world politics in fact rest on different accounts of the international rule of law. Understanding the various ways the idea is used, and their implications for policy-choices, can help clarify what it and what it is not being argued over in global controversies. I set out three distinct approaches to the concept of the international rule of law and compare them to contemporary state practice. The first is anchored on the obligation of states to comply with their international legal obligations. The second draws on an analogy with the domestic rule of law. The third begins from the observation that states invoke international law to explain and justify their policies - from this it expands into a model of law as integral to political legitimation. I find that the third provides the most conceptually coherent understanding of the international rule of law, and has interesting implications for the study of international law and politics.

Spanish Abstract: Aunque es común referirse al imperio internacional de la ley, es menos común definirlo o explorar lo que significa. En este ensayo examino el imperio internacional de la ley en la práctica y en teoría. Esto es importante porque muchas controversias sobre la dirección de la política mundial se basan de hecho en explicaciones diferentes del imperio internacional de la ley. Comprender las diferentes maneras en que se usa esta idea y sus implicaciones para la elección de políticas puede ayudar a clarificar lo que se está discutiendo y lo que no en las controversias globales. Yo planteo tres enfoques distintos del concepto de imperio internacional de la ley y los comparo con la práctica estatal contemporánea. El primero está anclado en la obligación de los estados de cumplir sus obligaciones legales internacionales. El segundo traza una analogía con el imperio doméstico de la ley. El tercero parte de la observación de que los estados invocan la ley internacional para explicar y justificar sus políticas – de aquí se amplía a un modelo de la ley como parte integral de la legitimación política. Me parece que el tercero ofrece la comprensión conceptualmente más coherente del imperio internacional de la ley y tiene implicaciones interesantes para el estudio de la ley y la política internacionales.