New Issue: Mealey's International Arbitration Report

The latest issue of Mealey's International Arbitration Report (Vol. 23, no. 2, February 2008) is out.

Droit du Pouvoir, Pouvoir du Droit: Mélanges offerts à Jean Salmon

A group of authors has published Droit du Pouvoir, Pouvoir du Droit: Mélanges offerts à Jean Salmon (Bruylant 2007). Contents include:

• Olivier Corten, Jean Salmon et l’héritage de l’«école de Bruxelles»
• Pierre Klein, Jean Salmon et l’école de Reims
• Anne Lagerwall, Du fait ou du droit, lequel doit prévaloir, Professeur Salmon? Un tableau critique aux teintes idéalistes
• Nicolas Angelet & Corinne Clavé, L’argumentation devant la Cour internationale de Justice. Une plaidoirie de Jean Salmon confrontée à sa pensée théorique
• Georges Abi-Saab, Que reste-t-il du «crime international»
• Gaetano Arangio-Ruiz, Customary Law: A Few More Thoughts about the Theory of “Sponta­neous” International Custom
• Karine Bannelier, Les effets des conflits armés sur les traités : et si la Convention de Vienne et le droit de la responsabilité suffisaient?
• Geneviève Bastid Burdeau, Quelques remarques sur la notion de droit dérivé en droit international, par
• Gérard Cahin, L’état défaillant en droit international: quel régime pour quelle notion?
• Robert Charvin, Le professeur de droit et son interprétation de la réalité sociale
• Théodore Christakis, Les «circonstances excluant l’illicéité»: une illusion optique?
• Jean-Pierre Cot, Les fonctions du raisonnable dans la jurisprudence du Tribunal internatio­nal du droit de la mer
• Eric David, L’accord, fondement du droit international? (Petit conte en trois parties)
• Barbara Delcourt, De la souveraineté à la gouvernance? Quelques propos apaisants . . .
• Christian Dominicé, A la recherche des droits erga omnes
• Pierre-Marie Dupuy, La Communauté internationale. Une fiction?
• Philippe Frumer, De l’incidence du temps sur la réalisation de l’illicite. Quelques observations relatives à l’arrêt Blecic c. Croatie de la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme (8 mars 2006)
• Giorgio Gaja, La possibilité d’invoquer l’état de nécessité pour protéger les intérêts de la communauté internationale
• Philippe Gautier, Les accords informels et la convention de Vienne sur le droit des traités entre Etats
• Maurice Kamto, Le statut juridique des traités signés entre les représentants des puissances coloniales et les monarques indigènes africains en droit international
• Robert Kolb, Conflits entre normes de jus cogens
• Djamel-Eddine Lakehal, Quelques réflexions sur les contrats pétroliers algériens à la lumière de la théorie des contrats d’Etat en droit international
• Christine Larssen, Le modèle participatif: pensée unique et légitimation de la loi du plus fort?
• François Rigaux, L’apport des juristes belges à la doctrine du droit international
• Emmanuel Roucounas, Civil Society and its International Dimension
• Hélène Ruiz Fabri, Naissance d’une convention
• Annemie Schaus, Les entités fédérées sont-elles susceptibles d’encourir une responsabilité internationale?
• Erik Suy, Unilateral acts of states as a source of international law: Some new thoughts and frustrations
• Christian Tomuschat, International Law in Europe - New Horizons
• Tullio Treves, Etats et organisations non gouvernementales
• Daniel Turp, L’émergence d’un droit québécois des relations internationales
• Laurence Weerts, De la souveraineté à la responsabilité entre fiction et «effet de réel»
• Karel Wellens, L’autorité des prononcés de la Cour Internationale de Justice
• Jan Wouters, Some Reflections on Democracy and International Law
• Madjid Benchikh, La confiscation du droit des peuples à l’autodétermination interne
• Michael Bothe, La juridiction universelle en matière de crimes de guerre - menace sérieuse contre les criminels? Un point d’interrogation sur l’Allemagne
• Jorge Cardona Llorens, Le principe du droit des peuples à disposer d’eux-mêmes et l’occupation étrangère
• Monique Chemillier-Gendreau, Le statut international des armes chimiques, progrès et limites
• François Dubuisson, La construction du mur en territoire palestinien occupé devant la Cour suprême d’Israël: analyse d’un processus judiciaire de légitimation
• Rusen Ergec, De la détention et du jugement de personnes transférées irrégulièrement de l’étranger, à l’aune spécialement de la Convention européenne des droits de l’homme
• Marcelo G. Kohen, Sur quelques vicissitudes du droit des peuples à disposer d’eux-mêmes
• Vincent Lunda-Bululu, Les juridictions congolaises et l’application des conventions internationales relatives aux droits de l’homme
• Ahmed Mahiou, Regard sur le financement de l’aide publique au développement
• Jean-François Marinus, Les difficultés politiques et juridiques du gouvernement belge provoquées par l’attitude hostile de la presse envers le roi Victor-Emmanuel III d’Italie et Mussolini durant les années 1924-1939
• Philippe Sands, The International Rule of Law: Extraordinary Rendition, Complicity and its Consequences
• Paul Tavernier, Variations sur le thème de l’autodétermination des peuples (de Reims à La Haye)
• Pierre d’Argent, De la fragmentation à la cohésion systémique: la sentence arbitrale du 24 mai 2005 relative au «Rhin de fer» (Ijzeren Rijn)
• Mohammed Bedjaoui, Le «mécanisme africain d’évaluation par les pairs»
• Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, Le pouvoir réglementaire de l’Organisation mondiale de la santé à l’aune de la santé mondiale: réflexions sur la portée et la nature du Règlement sani­taire international de 2005
• Marc Bossuyt, Le Conseil des droits de l’homme: une réforme douteuse?
• Jean-Pierre Colin, Les Etats-Unis et l’espace du monde réflexions sur la crise irakienne
• Luigi Condorelli, Le pouvoir legislatif du Conseil de sécurité des Nations Unies vu à la ‘loupe Salmon’
• Erik Franckx & Cédric Van Assche, Les commissions fluviales bilatérales développements récents concernant l’Escaut
• Gilbert Guillaume, De l’emploi des langues à la Cour Internationale de Justice
• Jean-Victor Louis, Le droit de retrait de l’Union européenne
• Gérard Niyungeko, L’établissement des faits dans la pratique de la Commission africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples, lors de l’examen des communications émanant de particuliers
• Alain Pellet, La seconde mort d’euripide Mavrommatis? Notes sur le projet de la C.D.I. sur la protection diplomatique
• Ana Peyró Llopis, Le système de sécurité collective entre anarchie et fiction. Observations sur la pratique récente
• Isabelle Pingel, Existe-t-il une politique communautaire de l’audiovisuel?
• Eric Robert, The Jurisdictional Immunities of International Organizations: The Balance Between the Protection of the Organizations’ interests and Individuals Rights
• Santiago Torres Bernárdez, Reflexiones Jurídicas Para Después de una Guerra
• Joe Verhoeven, Protection diplomatique, épuisement des voies de recours internes et juridic­tions européennes
• Daniel Vignes, Réflexions sur la nature juridique du «traité constitutionnel» signé à Rome le 29 octobre 2004 - Un billet d’humeur
• Philippe Willaert, L’Union européenne dans le monde: l’apport du «traité constitutionnel»
• Franklin Dehousse, Droit international public et Cinéma
• Paul-F. Smets, Le cinquantenaire de «La Chute» d’Albert Camus, une rétro-vision intertex­tuelle
• Serge Sur, L’Année dernière à Marienbad: il n’y a plus d’après à Marienbad ou com­ment retrouver le fil

WTO Panel Report: United States - Customs Bond Directive for Merchandise Subject to Anti-Dumping/Countervailing Duties

Today, a Panel established by the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body issued its Report on the case United States - Customs Bond Directive for Merchandise Subject to Anti-Dumping/Countervailing Duties (DS345). India brought the complaint. The full Report can be found here. An excerpt containing just the Panel's conclusions and recommendations can be found here. A summary of the case can be found here.

WTO Panel Report: United States - Measures Relating to Shrimp from Thailand

Today, a Panel established by the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body issued its Report on the case United States - Measures Relating to Shrimp from Thailand (DS343). Thailand brought the complaint. The full Report can be found here. An excerpt containing just the Panel's conclusions and recommendations can be found here. A summary of the case can be found here.

van Staden: Between the Rule of Power and the Power of Rule

Alfred van Staden (Leiden Univ. - Law) has published Between the Rule of Power and the Power of Rule: In Search of an Effective World Order (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2007). Here's the abstract:

The search for a more effective world order which provides not only stability but meets minimum standards of justice is one of the major concerns of political leaders and scholars alike. Increasing interdependence signifies that the fortunes of nations are growing ever more closely. While there is common interest in strengthening multilateral institutions, any practical application of the concept at issue will be affected by the prevailing power structure and, to some degree, reflect it. The reality of American preeminence, unlikely to be challenged in the years to come, needs to be reconciled with the demand for international legitimacy. Taking stock of recent contributions to the debate, this book argues for a reappraisal of the traditional assumptions of world order. The result is a balanced analysis which strikes the middle ground between short-sighted realism, on the one hand, and utopian idealism, on the other.

Conference: Junior International Law Scholars Association

Today, the Junior International Law Scholars Association will hold its annual conference at New York Law School. The conference is supported by the New York Law School Center for International Law and the New York Law School Law Review. Here's the program:

Session I: Bridging the Domestic/International Divide

• Hari Osofsky, “Is Climate Change an ‘International’ Legal Problem?”
• Molly Beutz, “Protecting Rights Online: Access to Knowledge, Human Rights, and the International Regulation of the Internet”
• Tara Melish, “Maximum Feasible Participation of the Poor: New Governance, New Accountability, and the Rise of National Poverty Hearings”
• Commentator: Angela Banks

Session II: International Security

• Kristen Boon, “The Security Council’s Emerging Economic Statecraft”
• Asli Bali, “Beyond Legality and Legitimacy: The Erosion of the Nonproliferation Norm”
• Cora True-Frost, “A Case for Recognizing - and Enhancing - the U.N. Security Council’s Accountability to Individuals”
• Tai-Heng Cheng, “Might a Wider Right to Use Force Overseas Make the United States Safer?”
• Commentator: Tara Melish

Session III: International Human Rights

• Meg deGuzman, “How Grave Is Grave Enough? The Role of the Gravity Principle in the ICC Statute”
• Deena Hurwitz, “The Politics of Atrocity: What’s Law Got to Do With It? Lessons of the Sabra and Chatila Case in Belgium”
• Chimène Keitner, “Conceptualizing Complicity in Alien Tort Cases”
• Commentator: Susan Benesch

Session IV: Trade Law

• Elizabeth Trujillo, “Deconstructing the Overlaps Among Foreign Investment and Trade Regimes”
• Greg Bowman, “Winning the Battle but Losing the War? Reflections on Extraterritorial Jurisdiction in U.S. Export Control Laws”
• David Zaring, “Why Do Some Regulatory Networks Succeed and Others Fail?”
• Commentator: Elena Baylis

Workshops: Howell, Ní Aoláin, Putnam

Major-General David Howell (Director of Army Legal Services, U.K.) will give a talk today at the University of Cambridge Lauterpacht Centre for International Law Lent Term Lecture Programme on "The Military Lawyer: Commander's Accomplice or Voice of Conscience?"

Fionnuala Ní Aoláin (Univ. of Minnesota - Law) will give a talk today at the Georgetown University Law Center International Human Rights Colloquium on "Gender, Truth, and Transition."

Tonya Putnam (Columbia Univ. - Political Science) will give a talk today at the University of Georgia School of Law International Law Colloquium on “Beyond Presumption?: Explaining Extraterritorial Variation over Civil Claims.”

Lanni: The Laws of War in Ancient Greece

Adriaan Lanni (Harvard Univ. - Law) has posted The Laws of War in Ancient Greece (Law and History Review, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Lanni surveys what is known about the law of war in ancient Greece, addressing the law’s sources, content, and enforcement mechanisms. She argues that although there was a relatively effective law of war in ancient Greece, it did not encompass humanitarian ideals. Instead, the laws of war focused on protecting sacred objects and observances. Despite the central role played by religion and honor in the Greek laws of war, these laws were indifferent to considerations of mercy and the protection of noncombatants. Lanni next asks what insight the evidence from ancient Greece might give us in the ongoing debate over whether international law can ever truly restrain states. The traditional scholarly account of the Greek law of war would support the realist position. But Lanni argues that the Greek example, which includes instances where Greek states observed international norms that were clearly contrary to their interests, suggests one time and place where international law served as a meaningful check on state behavior.

Conference: The Individual and Customary International Law Formation

The Indiana University School of Law - Bloomington will host a conference on "The Individual and Customary International Law Formation," April 3-5, 2008. The program is not yet available online. Why attend?

At this exciting conference, we will explore the current disjuncture in customary international law that results in individuals being subjects of this category of law, but not legitimate participants in its formation. During a classical moment in international law, states were believed to have a monopoly on customary international law formation. This position was acceptable and accepted given the status states enjoy as the sole subjects of international law. The end of the twentieth century, however, was a period in which legal personhood was extended to a wider range of actors, including individuals. During this same period, individuals came to participate meaningfully in treaty-making in some key areas of international law, including human rights. Unlike in the area of treaty law, however, there remains no recognized opening in traditional customary international law doctrine for individuals to participate in the law-making process. Uncomfortable with this state of affairs, we plan to bring together some of the foremost scholars of customary international law to investigate whether the participation of individuals in the formation of this realm of law is desirable and practicable.

Ripinsky & Van den Bossche: NGO Involvement in International Organizations: A Legal Analysis

Sergey Ripinsky (British Institute of International and Comparative Law) & Peter Van den Bossche (Maastricht Univ. - Law) have published NGO Involvement in International Organizations: A Legal Analysis (British Institute of International and Comparative Law 2007). Here's the abstract:

In light of the growing influence of NGOs in international decision-making, this book investigates the arrangements for NGO involvement in the activities of a range of international institutions, and examines and compares relevant rules and practices.

The analysis focuses in particular on the legal basis for NGO involvement, forms of involvement, NGO participatory rights, applicable accreditation criteria and procedures, and rules on subsequent monitoring of accredited NGOs. International institutions, each covered in a separate chapter, include: United Nations Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC); United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); International Labour Organization (ILO); World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO); World Health Organization (WHO); United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); World Bank; and World Trade Organization (WTO). The final chapter provides a comparative analysis of the examined systems. Pertinent documents are reproduced in the appendices.

Offering a systematic presentation of the relevant material, the book is as a timely and valuable resource for NGOs that wish to learn more about opportunities for engagement with prominent international organizations. The study will also be a helpful tool in assessing the relative effectiveness of different modalities for engagement with NGOs and in considering improvements to the existing systems.

New Issue: European Journal of International Relations

The latest issue of the European Journal of International Relations (Vol. 14, no. 1, March 2008) is out. Contents include:

• Georg Sørensen, The Case for Combining Material Forces and Ideas in the Study of IR
• Karen J. Alter, Agents or Trustees? International Courts in their Political Context
• Juha A. Vuori, Illocutionary Logic and Strands of Securitization: Applying the Theory of Securitization to the Study of Non-Democratic Political Orders
• Wayne Sandholtz, Dynamics of International Norm Change: Rules against Wartime Plunder
• Thomas Ohlson, Understanding Causes of War and Peace
• Marieke De Goede, The Politics of Preemption and the War on Terror in Europe

Kosovo: To Recognize or Not to Recognize - That is the Question

Tonight (very shortly), the British Institute of International and Comparative Law will host a discussion on "Kosovo: To Recognize or Not to Recognize - That is the Question." Speakers will include Stefan Talmon (Univ. of Oxford - Law) and Ralph Wilde (University College London - Law).

Workshops: Cho, Fitzmaurice, Picker

Sungjoon Cho (Chicago-Kent College of Law) will give a talk today at the New York University Institute for International Law and Justice International Legal Theory Colloquium on "Constitutional Adjudication in the WTO."

Malgosia Fitzmaurice (Queen Mary, Univ. of London - Law) will give a talk today at the University of Oxford Public International Law Discussion Group on "Participation of Civil Society in Environmental Justice."

Colin Picker (Univ. of Missouri, Kansas City - Law) will give a talk today at the Brooklyn Law School Faculty Workshop Series on "International Law as a Mixed Jurisdiction."

Shany & Horovitz: Judicial Independence in the Hague and Freetown: A Tale of Two Cities

Yuval Shany (Hebrew Univ. - Law) & Sigall Horovitz (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda) have posted Judicial Independence in the Hague and Freetown: A Tale of Two Cities (Leiden Journal of International Law, Vol. 21, p. 113, 2008). Here's the abstract:

This note evaluates the application of rules on judicial independence and impartiality in two international decisions issued in 2004 - the ICJ Order on Composition in the Wall Advisory Proceedings and the disqualification decision of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in Sesay - and compares them with a code of judicial conduct recently prepared by an ILA study group (the Burgh House Principles on the Independence of the International Judiciary). We assert that the approach taken by the ICJ in Wall is excessively restrictive and is out of step with contemporary tendencies to embrace stricter standards of judicial independence and impartiality.

Bar: Sharing the First Bite - A New Approach to Tax Treaties

Navot Bar has posted Sharing the First Bite - A New Approach to Tax Treaties. Here's the abstract:

The existing 'international tax regime' derived from the international tax treaties network and from unilateral domestic legislation of the world's nations. Among several unintended byproducts, the current 'tax regime' enables situations of double non-taxation and tax evasion. The most problematic aspect of the current international tax system is the arbitrary and unfair way the global tax pie is distributed among the world's nations who take part in the common regime. The tax treaties worldwide network shifts tax revenues from developing to developed countries. Essentially, the common excuse presented to developing countries for the discrimination in tax revenue sharing, that is built-in in the tax treaties, is that a greater flow of foreign investment will enter the developing countries and enhance the domestic economy in the long run. Many developing countries are not convinced with this claimed incentive and some of them avoid signing tax treaties with developed countries. The developing countries that do sign these tax treaties with developed countries do so with either very little bargaining power or as a default to the best they can get out of the bad circumstances they are confronted with, mainly under the desire to be part of the global modern market, even in the price of giving up revenues. This paper suggests a new approach to tax treaties: tax revenues from global activity should be shared more equally among developed and developing countries. It suggests that the total global tax pie will be larger if a more equal distribution would take place, and that both countries will benefit by collecting more revenues than under the current system.

Borgwardt: A New Deal for the Nuremberg Trial: The Limits of Law in Generating Human Rights Norms

Elizabeth Borgwardt (Washington Univ., St. Louis - History) has posted A New Deal for the Nuremberg Trial: The Limits of Law in Generating Human Rights Norms (Law and History Review, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This article is drawn from a larger book project, taking shape under the working title Nuremberg: Crimes Against Humanity in History & Memory, with the 1945-46 Nuremberg trial serving as a kind of fulcrum. The larger project speaks across disciplines to examine not only the first juridical expression of the idea of crimes against humanity at the main Nuremberg trial, but also the concept’s most salient intellectual antecedents and political and cultural legacies.

The article makes a historiographical argument and a normative argument, and the two are linked. First, a discussion of how we might resituate the Nuremberg trial, arguing that a textured and detailed inquiry into the broader policy context of the trial might indeed yield a few mildly prescriptive guidelines about the possibilities for using legal ideas and institutions to move a polity beyond an era of mass atrocities. The article describes the pluralist, “New Deal” nature of the trial, using that label in the looser sense of the historian of ideas Isaiah Berlin, as a general sensibility of a cohort of reformers who prided themselves on being hard-headed and practical, without bothering much about conceptual niceties.

Secondly, the article suggests that such a contextual approach also highlights the limits of a search for an overarching theory of “transitional justice,” positing that a more promising path may be concretely to show the role of norms and rules in what the article calls the “thickening” of the international politics of the 1940s. The article then concludes by offering one such concrete example, contrasting Nuremberg with the virtually-contemporaneous Tokyo trial. Tokyo’s troubled legitimacy suggests both the power of small differences and the force of a wider rule of law ideology in developing and consolidating evolving norms for international justice.

Workshops: Akande, Ruse-Khan

Dapo Akande (Univ. of Oxford - Law) will give a talk today at University College London as part of the International Law Association British Branch seminar series. The subject is: "Another Look at the Powers of the Security Council?"

Henning Grosse Ruse-Khan (Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition, and Tax Law) will give a talk today at the University of Nottingham School of Law as part of the International Law Association British Branch Regional Seminar Series. The subject is: "Suspending Intellectual Property Protection: A Viable and Legal Remedy for Developing Countries in WTO Trade Disputes?"

New Issue: Internationales Handelsrecht

The latest issue of Internationales Handelsrecht (2008, no. 1) is out. Contents include:

• Bernd Kannowski, Leif Gerling, & Gianna Burret, Zum internationalen Gerichtsstand der Kaufpreisklage im Wechselspiel von EuGVVO und UN-Kaufrecht
• Verena Ventsch & Christiane Krauskopf, Vollstreckung eines ausländischen Schiedsspruchs bei Rechtsnachfolge
• Heinz Albert Friehe & Winfried Huck, Das UN-Kaufrecht in sieben Sprachen: Einführung in eine Datenbank zur variablen und dynamischen Textrecherche von Deutsch, Englisch, Französisch, Spanisch, Italienisch, Niederländisch und Chinesisch

Juss: International Migration and Global Justice

Satvinder S. Juss (King's College London - Law) has published International Migration and Global Justice (Ashgate 2007). Here's the abstract:

How should international law approach the critical issue of movement of peoples in the 21st century? This book presents a radical reappraisal of this controversial problem. Challenging present-day ideas of restrictions on freedom of movement and the international structure that controls entry to states, it argues for a new blueprint for international migration policy that eliminates waste, aids both developing and developed societies and brings attendant benefits to voluntary migrants and involuntary refugees alike. In a world of increasing disorder, it is suggested that current policy only adds to international instability and threatens the interests of a functional global community.

Workshop: Skogly on "Complicity or Impunity"

Sigrun Skogly (Univ. of Lancaster - Law) will give a talk today at the Queen's University Belfast Human Rights Centre on "Complicity or Impunity: State Responsibility for the Human Rights Effects of Their Foreign Policy."

Waiting for Medellin

On October 10th, four-and-a-half months ago, Medellin v. Texas was argued before the Supreme Court. Back then, my prediction was that the Court would find for the petitioner by a 6-3 or 7-2 majority. Since, the hard-working staff here at ILR has been putting in overtime, crunching the numbers and the cases, conferring with the bookies in Las Vegas, and we have finally come up with a more fine-grained prediction. Here it is: The Chief Justice will write the opinion of the Court in favor of the petitioner, though the justices in the majority will differ depending on the issue. By six votes to three (Scalia, Thomas, Alito), the Court will agree with the argument made by the Solicitor General that the Presidential Determination is constitutional under Article II and congressional acts and acquiescence. By that same majority (this time with Stevens, Ginsburg, and Breyer in dissent), the Court will disagree with the argument made by the petitioner that the Avena judgment has direct effect in U.S. courts. Consequently, there will be at least three opinions: (1) that of the Chief Justice, the opinion of the Court; (2) that of Justices Scalia (writing for the trio), Thomas, and Alito, concurring in part and dissenting in part; and (3) that of Justices Stevens, Ginsburg, and Breyer (writing for the trio), concurring in part and dissenting in part. The Court may decide the case as soon as tomorrow morning. Please note that the accuracy of my prediction owes nothing to that sweet-looking ILR t-shirt you've seen Justice Scalia wearing recently.

Lecture: Reisman on "Before Victims Become Victims: Preventing Genocide and Mass Murder" (Video)

On January 15, 2008, W. Michael Reisman (Yale Univ. - Law) gave the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center's Klatsky Lecture at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. The topic was "Before Victims Become Victims: Preventing Genocide and Mass Murder." A video is now available here.

Call for Papers: Journal of International Peacekeeping

Martinus Nijhoff Publishers is launching a new academic journal - the Journal of International Peacekeeping - dealing with peace operations from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Here's the call for papers:

The Journal of International Peacekeeping is devoted to reporting upon and analyzing international peacekeeping with an emphasis upon legal and policy issues, but is not limited to these issues. Topics include inter alia peacekeeping, peace, war, conflict resolution, diplomacy, international law, international security, humanitarian relief, humanitarian law, collective security, the use of force and terrorism. The journal is of scholarly quality but is not narrowly theoretical. It provides the interested public - diplomats, civil servants, politicians, the military, academics, journalists, and NGO employees - with an up-to-date source of information on peacekeeping, enabling them to keep abreast of the most important developments in the field. Peacekeeping is treated in a pragmatic light, seen as a form of international military cooperation for the preservation or restoration of international peace and security. Attention is focused not only on UN peacekeeping operations, but other missions as well.

Researchers from any discipline - political science, law, practitioners in the field of peacekeeping, etc - are invited to submit articles for publication.

The editors are currently accepting submissions addressing any of the following topics:

The Rule of Law and Peace Operations,

Contemporary Challenges of Peace Operations: Legal and Policy Issues

Peacekeeping Operations in Africa

Regional Organizations and Peace Operations

Peace Operations and the Protection of Civilians

Book reviews are also welcome.

The Journal of International Peacekeeping is published in four issues per year.

Articles should be between 8,000 and 10,000 words and should include an abstract of approximately 200 words as well as a brief biographical note about the author(s). Articles must conform to the Instructions for Authors, annexed to this document, and should be submitted electronically to the editors at kondoch@hotmail.com, and alexander.orakhelashvili@law.ox.ac.uk.

The editors will consider only material that complies with the following requirements:

The submission must be original.

The submission should not already have been published elsewhere.

The manuscript should be typed in Times New Roman, 12 point (footnotes 10 point), 1½ spacing.

The manuscript will be submitted to a referee or referees for evaluation. The editors reserve the right to change manuscripts to make them conform with the house style, to improve accuracy, to eliminate mistakes and ambiguity, and to bring the manuscript in line with the tenets of plain.

For further information, please contact the editor-in-chief, Boris Kondoch at kondoch@hotmail.com.

Dworkin: The Uganda-LRA War Crimes Agreement and the International Criminal Court

Anthony Dworkin at the Crimes of War Project has posted an article - The Uganda-LRA Peace Agreement and the International Criminal Court - on the implications for the International Criminal Court of the February 19th agreement between the government and the LRA providing for Ugandan investigation and prosecution of "serious crimes" that took place during the conflict.

Benvenisti: The Origins of the Concept of Belligerent Occupation

Eyal Benvenisti (Tel Aviv Univ. - Law) has posted The Origins of the Concept of Belligerent Occupation (Law and History Review, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

The law of occupation imposes two kinds of obligations on an army that seizes control of enemy land during war: the obligation to protect the lives and property of the invaded population and the obligation to respect the sovereign rights of the ousted government. These two principles, which reflect the private and public aspects of the law, stem from unrelated intellectual, social, and political roots. This Essay tracks the parallel yet separate evolution of these two aspects of the law until they merge in the text of the 1899 Hague Regulations. The private aspect, the principle of immunity of private property of enemy nationals, was first raised by Vattel and Rousseau in the second half of the eighteenth century, as an extension of the basic distinction between combatants and non-combatants. The public aspect reflects the crystallization of the idea of sovereignty as a collective claim for exclusive control over territory and nationals, inspired by the ideas of the French Revolution and sustained by the balance of power that emerged in Europe at the time. The Essay traces the development of the notion of belligerent occupation as a regime distinct from conquest and its transformation from an idea into a norm of general international law.

Kiernan: Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur

Ben Kiernan (Yale Univ. - History) has published Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur (Yale Univ. Press 2007). Here's the abstract:

For thirty years Ben Kiernan has been deeply involved in the study of genocide and crimes against humanity. He has played a key role in unearthing confidential documentation of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge. His writings have transformed our understanding not only of twentieth-century Cambodia but also of the historical phenomenon of genocide. This new book - the first global history of genocide and extermination from ancient times - is among his most important achievements.

Kiernan examines outbreaks of mass violence from the classical era to the present, focusing on worldwide colonial exterminations and twentieth-century case studies including the Armenian genocide, the Nazi Holocaust, Stalin’s mass murders, and the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides. He identifies connections, patterns, and features that in nearly every case gave early warning of the catastrophe to come: racism or religious prejudice, territorial expansionism, and cults of antiquity and agrarianism. The ideologies that have motivated perpetrators of mass killings in the past persist in our new century, says Kiernan. He urges that we heed the rich historical evidence with its telltale signs for predicting and preventing future genocides.

Leong: The Disruption of International Organised Crime: An Analysis of Legal and Non-Legal Strategies

Angela Veng Mei Leong has published The Disruption of International Organised Crime: An Analysis of Legal and Non-Legal Strategies (Ashgate 2007). Here's the abstract:

Analyzing the structures of transnational organized crime, this book considers whether traditional mechanisms and national jurisdictions can tackle this increasing menace. Highlighting the strengths and weaknesses in the present methods of control, the book discusses the possibilities of developing more effective national and international strategies; the creation of non-legal mechanisms outside the traditional criminal justice system and the implications of 'disruption strategies'. The roles of law enforcement officers, tax investigators, financial intelligence officers, compliance officers, lawyers and accountants - in enforcing both civil and criminal sanctions on organized crime - are also considered.

Symposium: Parallel Applicability of International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law

The latest issue of the Israel Law Review contains a symposium on "International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law: Exploring Parallel Application." Contents include:

• David Kretzmer, Rotem Giladi, & Yuval Shany, Introduction to the Symposium on International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law: Exploring Parallel Application
• Cordula Droege, The Interplay between International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law in Situations of Armed Conflict
• Nancie Prud'homme, Lex Specialis: Oversimplifying a More Complex and Multifaceted Relationship?
• John Cerone, Jurisdiction and Power: The Intersection of Human Rights Law & the Law of Non-International Armed Conflict in an Extraterritorial Context
• Michael J. Dennis, Non-Application of Civil and Political Rights Treaties Extraterritorially During Times of International Armed Conflict
• Ralph Wilde, Triggering State Obligations Extraterritorially: The Spatial Test in Certain Human Rights Treaties
• Dominic McGoldrick, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in the UK Courts
• Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, The No-Gaps Approach to Parallel Application in the Context of the War on Terror
• William A. Schabas, Lex Specialis? Belt and Suspenders? The Parallel Operation of Human Rights Law and the Law of Armed Conflict, and the Conundrum of Jus ad Bellum
• René Provost, The International Committee of the Red Widget? The Diversity Debate and International Humanitarian Law
• Noam Lubell, Parallel Application of International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law: An Examination of the Debate

New Issue: Journal of International Economic Law

The latest issue of the Journal of International Economic Law (Vol. 11, no. 1, March 2008) is out. Contents include:

• Francis G. Jacobs, The State of International Economic Law: Re-Thinking Sovereignty in Europe
• Nicolas F. Diebold, The Morals and Order Exceptions in WTO Law: Balancing the Toothless Tiger and the Undermining Mole
• Daniel C. Crosby, Banking on China's WTO Commitments: ‘Same Bed, Different Dreams’ in China's Financial Services Sector
• Dukgeun Ahn, Foe or Friend of GATT Article XXIV: Diversity in Trade Remedy Rules
• Andrew Emmerson, Conceptualizing Security Exceptions: Legal Doctrine or Political Excuse?