New Issue: Journal of World Trade

The latest issue of the Journal of World Trade (Vol. 43, no. 4, August 2009) is out. Contents include:

• Shin-yi Peng, Liberalization of Trade in Television Services: The Negotiation Dilemma and Challenges for the Future
• Antonio Nicita & Matteo M. Winkler, The Cost of Transnational Accidents: Lessons from Bhopal and Amoco
• Erich Vranes, Climate Change and the WTO: EU Emission Trading and the WTO Disciplines on Trade in Goods, Services and Investment Protection
• Krista Nadakavukaren Schefer, Corruption and the WTO Legal System
• Krishanti Vignarajah, Reconciling Free Trade and Safe Trade: New Paradigms for Regulating Imports in the Twenty-First Century
• Norio Komuro, FTA Outward Processing at the Crossroads
• Ling-Ling He & Razeen Sappideen, Reflections on China’s WTO Accession Commitments and Their Observance
• Shintaro Hamanaka, The Building Block versus Stumbling Block Debate of Regionalism: From the Perspective of Service Trade Liberalization in Asia

Leal-Arcas: A New Era in Global Economic Governance

Rafael Leal-Arcas (Queen Mary Univ. of London - Law) has posted A New Era in Global Economic Governance. Here's the abstract:

In the midst of the most serious global economic crisis since the Great Depression, it seems pertinent to reform the current system of global economic governance. There is a widely shared assumption that a new Group of 20 nations (G-20), represented by their Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, may succeed the Group of 7 (G-7) in re-shaping the future of the global economic architecture. This paper addresses the importance of re-shaping the pillars of global economic governance, provides an analysis of the G-20 as the forum for such an initiative, acknowledges multipolarity and the rise of regionalism as the new global reality, and notes the lack of coordination between multilateral and regional mechanisms of economic governance.

Call for Papers: TDM Special Edition on Latin America

Transnational Dispute Management has issued a call for papers for a special edition on Latin America. Here's the call:

Arbitration continues to grow in Latin America and the region has become one of the important users of the system. However, in some places of Latin America the current foreign investment protection regime and established principles of international arbitration have been questioned (e.g. Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia).

In the light of the multi - faceted aspects of dispute resolution in the region, Transnational Dispute Management (TDM) has decided to prepare a special edition on Latin America. Dr. Herfried Wöss will act as special editor, and we invite you to contribute articles.

Your article may refer to a wide range of Latin America dispute related topics, such as commercial and investment arbitration, international law, international commercial law, international economic law, intellectual property, investment disputes, international litigation, international human rights, international environmental law, WTO, NAFTA, Andean Community, MERCOSUR, FTAs, the Energy Charter Treaty, and International Investment Agreements (IIAs) in general, provided they have a relationship to the region.

Contributions should be sent to Dr. Herfried Wöss at end of October 2009.

Kahler: Networked Politics: Agency, Power, and Governance

Miles Kahler (Univ. of California, San Diego - Political Science & International Relations and Pacific Studies) has published Networked Politics: Agency, Power, and Governance (Cornell Univ. Press 2009). Here's the abstract:

The concept of network has emerged as an intellectual centerpiece for our era. Network analysis also occupies a growing place in many of the social sciences. In international relations, however, network has too often remained a metaphor rather than a powerful theoretical perspective. In Networked Politics, a team of political scientists investigates networks in important sectors of international relations, including human rights, security agreements, terrorist and criminal groups, international inequality, and governance of the Internet. They treat networks as either structures that shape behavior or important collective actors. In their hands, familiar concepts, such as structure, power, and governance, are awarded new meaning.

Conrady: Wandel der Funktionen des UN-Generalsekretärs

Jan Conrady has published Wandel der Funktionen des UN-Generalsekretärs (Duncker & Humblot 2009). Here's the abstract:

Der Generalsekretär der Vereinten Nationen wird in der Öffentlichkeit als wichtigster Repräsentant der Organisation wahrgenommen. Wie keine andere Einzelperson personifiziert der Amtsinhaber die Ziele und Ideale der Vereinten Nationen.

Diese Wahrnehmung greift jedoch zu kurz und ist der Ursprung vieler Fehleinschätzungen: Die Vereinten Nationen bestehen als Internationale Organisation aus der Gesamtheit ihrer Mitglieder und handeln durch ihre Organe, d. h. die Mitgliedstaaten bedienen sich bei der Verfolgung der in der Charta festgelegten Ziele der von ihnen geschaffenen Einrichtungen.

Die geringe normative Ausprägung des Sekretariats und des Generalsekretärs in der UN-Charta im Vergleich zu den Bestimmungen bezüglich der übrigen Hauptorgane der Vereinten Nationen verhindert eine eindeutige Bestimmung der Stellung des Generalsekretärs. Je nach Persönlichkeit des Amtsinhabers und den politischen Rahmenbedingungen ist diese stärker oder auch schwächer. Somit bewegt sich der Wandel der Funktionen des UN-Generalsekretärs im Spannungsfeld zwischen völkerrechtlicher Normanalyse einerseits und organisationsinterner Entwicklung andererseits. Insgesamt lässt sich feststellen, dass sich zwar das Aufgabenspektrum des Generalsekretärs erweitert hat, die normativen Regelungsinstrumente jedoch vor dem Hintergrund dieser Entwicklung kein ausreichendes Äquivalent mehr darstellen.

New Issue: International Organization

The latest issue of International Organization (Vol. 63, no. 3, Summer 2009) is out. Contents include:

• Kurt Weyland, The Diffusion of Revolution: ‘1848’ in Europe and Latin America
• Edward D. Mansfield & Diana C. Mutz, Support for Free Trade: Self-Interest, Sociotropic Politics, and Out-Group Anxiety
• Tonya L. Putnam, Courts Without Borders: Domestic Sources of U.S. Extraterritoriality in the Regulatory Sphere
• Kishore Gawande, Pravin Krishna, & Marcelo Olarreaga, What Governments Maximize and Why: The View from Trade
• Alexandra Guisinger, Determining Trade Policy: Do Voters Hold Politicians Accountable?
• Emilie M. Hafner-Burton, Miles Kahler, & Alexander H. Montgomery, Network Analysis for International Relations
  

Mitchell & Heaton: The Inherent Jurisdiction of WTO Tribunals: The Need for a Principled Approach

Andrew D. Mitchell (Univ. of Melbourne - Law) & David Heaton have posted The Inherent Jurisdiction of WTO Tribunals: The Need for a Principled Approach. Here's the abstract:

This article explores whether World Trade Organization (‘WTO’) panels and the Appellate Body (‘WTO Tribunals’) have the power to apply certain principles of international law by reason of their judicial character, and because the application of these principles is necessary for the proper exercise of their judicial function. In other words, do WTO Tribunals have an inherent jurisdiction? If so, what are some of the principles they might apply? What are the general limits of this jurisdiction?

Lake: Hierarchy in International Relations

David A. Lake (Univ. of California, San Diego - Political Science) has published Hierarchy in International Relations (Cornell Univ. Press 2009). Here's the abstract:

International relations are generally understood as a realm of anarchy in which countries lack any superior authority and interact within a Hobbesian state of nature. In Hierarchy in International Relations, David A. Lake challenges this traditional view, demonstrating that states exercise authority over one another in international hierarchies that vary historically but are still pervasive today.

Revisiting the concepts of authority and sovereignty, Lake offers a novel view of international relations in which states form social contracts that bind both dominant and subordinate members. The resulting hierarchies have significant effects on the foreign policies of states as well as patterns of international conflict and cooperation. Focusing largely on U.S.-led hierarchies in the contemporary world, Lake provides a compelling account of the origins, functions, and limits of political order in the modern international system. The book is a model of clarity in theory, research design, and the use of evidence. Motivated by concerns about the declining international legitimacy of the United States following the Iraq War, Hierarchy in International Relations offers a powerful analytic perspective that has important implications for understanding America's position in the world in the years ahead.

Franck: Challenges Facing Investment Disputes: Reconsidering Dispute Resolution in International Investment Agreements

Susan D. Franck (Washington & Lee Univ. - Law) has posted Challenges Facing Investment Disputes: Reconsidering Dispute Resolution in International Investment Agreements (in Appeals Mechanisms in International Investment Disputes, 2008). Here's the abstract:

International investment and international investment agreements have experienced a particular level of growth in the past few decades. With that growth and the granting of affirmative dispute resolution rights to foreign investors, international investment conflict has become increasingly highlighted; and one particular methodology - namely investment treaty arbitration - has become particularly visible. Reliance on this single option for resolving conflict has a unique set of systemic implications. This chapter therefore takes a more systemic look at investment treaty conflict and, in an effort to provide an appropriate historical and doctrinal framework, approaches to dispute resolution broadly. It asks for a reconsideration of Appropriate Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods for resolving investment treaty conflict and highlights the costs and benefits of particularized dispute resolution methods, including preventative, negotiated, facilitated, fact-finding, advisory and imposed ADR mechanisms. The chapter ultimately argues that, while arbitration has utility, the challenge for the future will be to move beyond investment treaty arbitration to a more holistic approach to conflict management that considers other opportunities, particularly the collaborative design of sustainable dispute resolution systems.

Petersen: Review Essay: How Rational is International Law?

Niels Petersen (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods) has posted Review Essay: How Rational is International Law? Here's the abstract:

Economic approaches are becoming increasingly prominent in international law. A few years ago, Jack Goldsmith and Eric Posner caused a great stir with their account of The Limits of International Law, in which they argued that international law did not have any effect on state conduct. This contribution reviews two recent books analyzing the effectiveness of international law from an economic perspective. Both authors, Andrew Guzman and Joel Trachtman, take a much more differentiated approach than did Goldsmith and Posner, thus making analytical methods of economics more acceptable for mainstream international law scholarship. Still, this contribution argues that we should be cautious to perceive the economic perspective as a holistic explanation of "how international law works". Economic models are, for methodological reasons, based on certain assumptions. The analytical tools are thus only capable to answer a certain range of questions so that they have to be complemented by other theoretical approaches. Therefore, we have to be very cautious with policy recommendations that are based on a purely economical perspective.

Martinez-Fraga: The American Influences on International Commercial Arbitration

Pedro J. Martinez-Fraga (Squire Sanders) has published The American Influences on International Commercial Arbitration: Doctrinal Developments and Discovery Methods (Cambridge Univ. Press 2009). Here's the abstract:

This text traces the contours of U.S. doctrinal developments concerning international commercial arbitration. It explores international commercial arbitration as a bridge that creates symmetry between what the author perceives as an anomaly arising from the disparities between the monolithic framework arising from economic globalization and a fragmented global judicial counterpart. Specifically, American common law discovery precepts are analyzed through the prism of the fundamental precepts of party-autonomy, predictability, uniformity, and transparency of spender, which the author contends to be the rudimentary tenets of both the American common law procedural rubric and the very principles that international commercial arbitration seeks not only to preserve but to enhance. Therefore, as the author asserts, the discovery process endemic to American common law comports more closely with international commercial arbitration both procedurally and theoretically than with those of the ‘taking of evidence’ methodology commonly used in international commercial arbitrations held under the auspices of arbitral institutional bodies.

New Issue: New York University Journal of International Law and Politics

The latest issue of the New York University Journal of International Law and Politics (Vol. 41, no. 2, Winter 2009) is out. Contents include:

• Jerry Ellig & Houman B. Shadab, Talking the Talk, or Walking the Walk? Outcome-Based Regulation of Transnational Investment
• Antonia Eliason, Science Versus Law in WTO Jurisprudence: The (Mis)Interpretation of the Scientific Process and the (In)Sufficiency of Scientific Evidence in EC-Biotech

New Issue: International & Comparative Law Quarterly

The latest issue of the International & Comparative Law Quarterly (Vol. 58, no. 3, July 2009) is out. Contents include:

• Stefan Talmon, The Responsibility of Outside Powers for Acts of Secessionist Entities
• Hélène Lambert, Transnational Judicial Dialogue, Harmonization and the Common European Asylum System
• Louise Merrett, Article 23 of the Brussels I Regulation: A Comprehensive Code for Jurisdiction Agreements?
• Clare McGlynn, Rape, Torture and the European Convention on Human Rights
• Benjamin J. Richardson, Climate Finance and Its Governance: Moving to A Low Carbon Economy Through Socially Responsible Financing?
• Andreas Stephan, The Direct Settlement of EC Cartel Cases
• Rebecca Lee, Conceptualizing the Chinese Trust
• Kate Malleson, Promoting Judicial Independence in the International Courts: Lessons from the Caribbean

Vandevelde: U.S. International Investment Agreements

Kenneth J. Vandevelde (Thomas Jefferson School of Law) has published U.S. International Investment Agreements (Oxford Univ. Press 2009). Here's the abstract:

U.S. International Investment Agreements is the definitive interpretative guide to the United States' bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and free trade agreements (FTAs) with investment chapters. Providing an authoritative look at the development of the BIT program, treatment provisions, expropriation, and other provisions, Kenneth J. Vandevelde draws on his years of investment treaty and agreement expertise as both a former practitioner and a scholar. This unique and well-organized book analyzes the development of U.S. international investment agreement language and strategy within their historical context. It also explains the newest changes to the model negotiating text (US Model BIT 2004) and additional treaties.

Clarke: Fictions of Justice: The International Criminal Court and the Challenge of Legal Pluralism in Sub-Sahara Africa

Kamari Maxine Clarke (Yale Univ. - Anthropology) has published Fictions of Justice: The International Criminal Court and the Challenge of Legal Pluralism in Sub-Sahara Africa (Cambridge Univ. Press 2009). Here's the abstract:

By taking up the challenge of documenting how human rights values are embedded in rule of law movements to produce a new language of international justice that competes with a range of other formations, this book explores how notions of justice are negotiated through everyday micropractices and grassroots contestations of those practices. These micropractices include speech acts that revere the protection of international rights, citation references to treaty documents, the brokering of human rights agendas, the rewriting of national constitutions, demonstrations of religiosity that make explicit the piety of religious subjects, and ritual practices of forgiveness that involve the invocation of ancestral religious cosmologies – all practices that detail the ways that justice is made real.

Ratner, Abrams, & Bischoff: Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities in International Law (3rd edition)

Steven R. Ratner (Univ. of Michigan - Law), Jason S. Abrams (Consultant to the United Nations), & James L. Bischoff (Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State) have published the third edition of Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities in International Law (Oxford Univ. Press 2009). Here's the abstract:

The fall of dictatorial regimes and the eruption of destructive civil conflicts around the world have led to calls for holding individuals accountable for human rights atrocities. This book offers a comprehensive study of the promise and limitations of international criminal law as a means of enforcing international human rights and humanitarian law. It provides a searching analysis of the principal crimes under the law of nations, such as genocide and crimes against humanity and an appraisal of the most important prosecutorial and other mechanisms developed to bring individuals to justice. After applying their conclusions in a detailed case study, the authors offer a series of compelling conclusions on the prospects for accountability.

This fully updated new edition also contains expanded coverage of the increasing numbers of international criminal trials including the cases of Bosnia, Serbia, and East Timor. It also explores individual accountability for terrorist acts and accountability for acts undertaken in the name of counter-terrorism policy, and provides expanded coverage of aggression and crimes against peace.

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. 8, no. 2, 2009) is out. Contents include:

• Shabtai Rosenne, The International Court of Justice New Practice Directions
• Phyllis Hwang, Reform of the Administration of Justice System at the United Nations
• Michele Potesta, Bilateral Investment Treaties and the European Union. Recent Developments in Arbitration and Before the ECJ
• Hansdeep Singh, Critique of the Mrksic Trial Chamber (ICTY) Judgment: A Re-evaluation on Whether Soldiers Hors de Combat Are Entitled to Recognition as Victims of Crimes Against Humanity

New Issue: American Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the American Journal of International Law (Vol. 103, no. 2, April 2009) is out. Contents include:

• Jacob Katz Cogan, Representation and Power in International Organization: The Operational Constitution and Its Critics
• Notes and Comments
• Yehuda Z. Blum, Consistently Inconsistent: The International Court of Justice and the Former Yugoslavia (Croatia v. Serbia)
• Current Developments
• Stephen C. McCaffrey, The International Law Commission Adopts Draft Articles on Transboundary Aquifers

Sorel: Le droit international économique à l'aube du XXIème siècle - En Hommage aux Professeurs Dominique Carreau et Patrick Juillard

Jean-Marc Sorel (l’Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - Law) has published Le droit international économique à l'aube du XXIème siècle - En Hommage aux Professeurs Dominique Carreau et Patrick Juillard (Pedone 2009). Here's the abstract:

Cet ouvrage sur le droit international économique à l'aube du XXIe siècle se veut à la fois un hommage aux Professeurs Carreau et Juillard, deux universitaires indissociables qui ont porté sur les fonds baptismaux cette matière en France, et une réflexion sur l'état d'une matière en perpétuelle évolution.

Pour lier ces deux objectifs, l'idée qui préside à cette réflexion est de laisser aux collègues qui ont souhaité rendre cet hommage une totale liberté en partant d'un passage du manuel de Droit international économique des deux récipiendaires qui a été, et continue d'être, la référence incontournable pour tous ceux qui s'intéressent à ce champ disciplinaire. Dès lors, discussions, critiques, réflexions sur un thème particulier ponctuent ce cheminement à travers la progression d'un droit international économique envisagé comme un espace juridique fortement évolutif.

Si la structuration ternaire entre commerce, investissement, monnaie et finance reste prégnante, on s'aperçoit rapidement que des thèmes transversaux s'imposent : l'interdépendance nourrit donc simultanément tous les objets d'études. Cette tendance forte marque incontestablement le droit international économique en ce début de siècle.

New Issue: American Review of International Arbitration

The latest issue of the American Review of International Arbitration (Vol. 18, no. 4, 2007) is out. Contents include:

• Christos Ravanides, Arbitration Clauses in Public Company Charters: An Expansion of the ADR Elysian Fields or a Descent into Hades?
• Edna Sussman, The Arbitration Fairness Act: Unintended Consequences Threaten U.S. Business

Symposium: Ruling the World: Generating International Legal Norms

The latest issue of the Brooklyn Journal of International Law (Vol. 34, no. 3, 2009) contains a symposium on "Ruling the World: Generating International Legal Norms." Contents include:

• Steven A. Dean & Claire R. Kelly, Introduction: Ruling the World
• Roderick A. Macdonald, Three Metaphors of Norm Migration in International Context
• Henry Deeb Gabriel, The Advantages of Soft Law in International Commercial Law: The Role of UNIDROIT, UNCITRAL, and the Hague Conference
• Amelia H. Boss, The Evolution of Commercial Law Norms: Lessons to be Learned from Electronic Commerce
• Boris Kozolchyk, Modernization of Commercial Law: International Uniformity and Economic Development
• Hugh J. Ault, Reflections on the Role of the OECD in Developing International Tax Norms
• Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, The OECD Harmful Tax Competition Report: A Retrospective After a Decade
• Lisa Philipps & Miranda Stewart, Fiscal Transparency: Global Norms, Domestic Laws, and the Politics of Budgets
• Kern Alexander, Global Financial Standard Setting, the G10 Committees, and International Economic Law
• Roberta S. Karmel & Claire R. Kelly, The Hardening of Soft Law in Securities Regulation
• Elizabeth F. Brown, The Development of International Norms for Insurance Regulation

Corten: Le discours du droit international - Pour un positivisme critique

Olivier Corten (l'Université Libre de Bruxelles - Law) has published Le discours du droit international - Pour un positivisme critique (Pedone 2009). Here's the abstract:

Dans cet ouvrage au titre évocateur, l'auteur ne se prononce pas directement sur le fond des grandes questions auquel le droit international contemporain est confronté. L'analyse se concentre sur l'argumentation déployée par les acteurs en place pour justifier leurs actes dans des situations aussi diverses et controversées que l'intervention militaire contre la Yougoslavie, le droit des minorités, la loi belge de compétence universelle ou encore la "guerre contre le terrorisme". Ce déplacement dans l'analyse, qui va du droit international au discours du droit international, est un moyen heuristique décisif qui permet de mettre en lumière de façon indirecte mais particulièrement suggestive les traits fondamentaux du droit international contemporain et de la rationalité globale dans laquelle il s'insère.Cette démarche originale relève d'un positivisme critique, et repose sur une méthodologie à connotation sociologique inspirée principalement des travaux de Max Weber sur la rationalité juridique. Le mérite d'une telle approche tend parfois à être oublié aujourd'hui, tant les critiques outre-atlantiques, qui pourraient devenir prédominantes, ne cessent de se multiplier à l'égard du positivisme, considéré comme un courant de pensée européen totalement dépassé.

New Issue: International Arbitration Law Review

The latest issue of the International Arbitration Law Review (Vol. 12, no. 3, 2009) is out. Contents include:

• Ben Holland & Adam Berry, Metropolitan Property Realizations v Atmore Investment—Serious Irregularity or Simply Wrong?
• Neville Byford & Afzalah Sarwar, Arbitration Clauses After West Tankers: The Unanswerable Conundrum? Practical Solutions for Enforcing Arbitration Clauses
• Philippa Charles, Section 44, Freezing Injunctions and Foreign Arbitrations: Limitations on Jurisdiction

Qin: The Challenge of Interpreting 'WTO-Plus' Provisions

Julia Ya Qin (Wayne State Univ. - Law) has posted The Challenge of Interpreting 'WTO-Plus' Provisions. Here's the abstract:

This paper seeks to address special interpretive issues raised by the China Accession Protocol, focusing on provisions that prescribe more stringent obligations than generally applicable WTO disciplines. These so-called "WTO-plus" obligations have already been involved in several WTO disputes.

Interpretation of the Protocol presents a new challenge to the WTO adjudicatory body because it contains a large number of substantive obligations of China that exceed the requirements of the WTO agreements. Despite its unique content, the Protocol needs to be interpreted consistently and coherently with all WTO provisions since it has been made an integral part of the WTO Agreement. The Protocol, unfortunately, is not a model of clarity. Its text is not drafted as tightly as the WTO multilateral agreements, and it does not take care to specify the relationship between a WTO-plus provision and the generally applicable WTO disciplines. Moreover, the Protocol fails to articulate any rationale for the special obligations of China. As a result, it can be difficult to interpret the Protocol provisions by following a strictly applied textualist approach. Furthermore, the Protocol includes broad undertakings that go to the heart of China's economic and legal systems. These systemic obligations penetrate deeper into the domestic policy domain of a sovereign nation than any other WTO agreement. Consequently, how to interpret the scope of such provisions becomes a politically sensitive matter.

This paper illustrates the challenge of interpreting WTO-plus provisions in the light of the several WTO disputes, and suggests that, to meet the challenge, WTO adjudicators need to embrace a more holistic and systemic interpretive approach. It then proposes three working principles to aid the interpretive process: (1) Identifying the baseline. For each WTO-plus provision at issue, the treaty interpreter should endeavor to identify the corresponding provisions in the WTO multilateral agreements as the baseline rule. Locating the baseline can provide a broad context for the WTO-plus provision and shed light on its rationale. (2) Distinguishing commercial commitments from systemic or domestic policy commitments. Some of the WTO-plus obligations are commercial commitments in nature, whereas others pertain to the reform of China's domestic system. The level of WTO scrutiny should vary depending on the nature of the commitments so that proper balance can be drawn between international and national jurisdictions. (3) Giving due consideration to China’s intention. Although the Protocol has been made part of a multilateral agreement, its obligations are China-specific that do not have quid pro quo on the part of other WTO Members. In light of the de facto unilateral character of such obligations, special care should be taken in ascertaining China’s intention in the interpretive process; when in doubt, the Protocol obligations should be interpreted narrowly.

Michaels: Global Legal Pluralism

Ralf Michaels (Duke Univ. - Law) has posted Global Legal Pluralism (Annual Review of Law & Social Science, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Some challenges of legal globalization closely resemble those formulated earlier for legal pluralism: the irreducible plurality of legal orders, the coexistence of domestic state law with other legal orders, the absence of a hierarchically superior position transcending the differences. This review discusses how legal pluralism engages with legal globalization and how legal globalization utilizes legal pluralism. It demonstrates how several international legal disciplines -comparative law, conflict of laws, public international law, and European Union law - have slowly begun to adopt some ideas of legal pluralism. It shows how traditional themes and questions of legal pluralism - the definition of law, the role of the state, of community, and of space - are altered under conditions of globalization. It addresses interrelations between different legal orders and various ways, both theoretical and practical, to deal with them. And it provides an outlook on the future of global legal pluralism as theory and practice of global law.

SFDI: L'Etat de droit en droit international - Colloque de Bruxelles

The Société Française pour le Droit International has published L'Etat de droit en droit international - Colloque de Bruxelles (Pedone 2009). Contents are available here. Here's the abstract:

Cet ouvrage constitue les actes du 42e colloque de la Société française pour le droit international qui s'est tenu à l’Université libre de Bruxelles du 5 au 7 juin 2008.

New Issue: European Human Rights Law Review

The latest issue of the European Human Rights Law Review (2009, no. 3) is out. Contents include:

• Robert Balin, Laura Handman, & Erin Reid, Libel Tourism and the Duke's Manservant—an American Perspective
• Eduardo Andrés Bertoni, The Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights: A Dialogue on Freedom of Expression Standards
• Sejal Parmar, The Challenge of "Defamation of Religions" to Freedom of Expression and the International Human Rights System
• David Mead, Of Kettles, Cordons and Crowd Control—Austin v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and the Meaning of "Deprivation of Liberty"
• Ewa Komorek, Is Media Pluralism a Human Right? The European Court of Human Rights, the Council of Europe and the Issue of Media Pluralism

Cohen: Economic Sanctions in IHL: Suggested Principles

Amichai Cohen (Ono Academic College - Law) has posted Economic Sanctions in IHL: Suggested Principles. Here's the abstract:

Armed conflicts are always harmful for civilians and hence all attempts should be made to avoid them. However, considering that armed conflicts do occur; economic sanctions provide States with a viable alternative. This Article illustrates the need for limitations on the use of economic sanctions. It describes the characteristics of economic sanctions and the existing International Humanitarian Law (IHL) limitations and also suggests that economic sanctions should be further regulated offering three main principles to guide these limitations: the principle of severity, according to which the most severe economic sanctions should be prohibited; the principle of effectiveness, according to which economic sanctions should be allowed only if the State imposing the sanctions can plausibly demonstrate that the sanctions are effective; and the principle of conditionality, according to which the imposing State should declare specific achievable goals for the sanctions, and lift the sanctions immediately when these goals are achieved.

Achilleas: Droit de l'espace - Télécommunication, observation, navigation, défense, exploration

Philippe Achilleas has published Droit de l'espace - Télécommunication, observation, navigation, défense, exploration (Larcier 2009). Here's the abstract:

50 ans après le lancement du premier satellite Spoutnik, alors que nous nous apprêtons à vivre une nouvelle conquête spatiale marquée par l'installation programmée de bases sur la Lune et Mars, l'espace n'a jamais été aussi proche des citoyens.A côté des applications devenues banales (télécommunications, télévision, positionnement, observation. ), le tourisme spatial est amené à se développer. Alors que la communauté spatiale et les gouvernements insistent sur les retombées scientifiques, économiques et sociétales de l'exploration et de l'utilisation de cette zone internationale, le cosmos à toujours attisé les rivalités des grandes puissances et risque de devenir le théâtre d'une guerre en orbite.

Le droit encadre l'ensemble des activités spatiales notamment à travers des mécanismes de contrôle et de régulation ainsi que par une pratique contractuelle spécifiques. A l'heure où plusieurs Etats suivent l'exemple américain en se dotant de législations spécifiques à l'image de la loi française sur les opérations spatiales de 2008, l'ouvrage regroupe une présentation et une analyse uniques du cadre juridique des activités spatiales par ceux qui sont au coeur de l'élaboration et de l'application de ce droit complexe et en pleine évolution.

Après avoir exposé le contexte économique, politique et juridique de l'exploration et de l'utilisation de l'espace, l'ouvrage se concentre sur une étude très fine du droit relatif aux activités et aux applications emblématiques : lanceurs, vols habités, exploitation des ressources naturelles, communications par satellite, surveillance de la Terre, militarisation. Les thèmes sont de surcroît abordés sous un angle pluridisciplinaire afin d'englober toutes les branches du droit (droit international et national ; droit public et droit privé) pour offrir une compréhension exhaustive des règles applicables activités actuelles et futures.