McCorquodale: The Rule of Law in International and Comparative Context

Robert McCorquodale (British Institute of International and Comparative Law) has published The Rule of Law in International and Comparative Context (British Institute of International and Comparative Law 2010). Contents include:

• Tom Bingham, The Rule of Law in the International Legal Order
• Mary Robinson, Business and Human Rights
• Robert McCorquodale, Business, the International Rule of Law and Human Rights
• Tim Cowen, ‘Justice Delayed is Justice Denied’: The Rule of Law, Economic Development and the Future of the European Community Courts
• Philip Marsden, Checks and Balances: European Competition Law and the Rule of Law
• L Yves Fortier, Investment Protection and the Rule of Law: Change or Decline?
• Norah Gallagher, Investment Protection and the Rule of Law: Change or Decline?
• Jane Stapleton, Benefits of Comparative Tort Reasoning: Lost in Translation
• Duncan Fairgrieve, Comparing Tort Law: Some Thoughts
• Keir Starmer, International Cooperation and the Modern Prosecutor
• Sarah Williams, International Cooperation: A Challenge for the Modern International Prosecutor

New Issue: Human Rights Law Review

The latest issue of the Human Rights Law Review (Vol. 10, no. 4, December 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Thérèse Murphy & Gearóid Ó Cuinn, Works in Progress: New Technologies and the European Court of Human Rights
• Richard E. Ashcroft, Could Human Rights Supersede Bioethics?
• Mark L. Flear & Anastasia Vakulenko A Human Rights Perspective on Citizen Participation in the EU’s Governance of New Technologies
• Noel Whitty, Soldier Photography of Detainee Abuse in Iraq: Digital Technology, Human Rights and the Death of Baha Mousa
• Morten Bergsmo, Olympia Bekou, & Annika Jones, New Technologies in Criminal Justice for Core International Crimes: The ICC Legal Tools Project
• Shawn Pelsinger, Liberia’s Long Tail: How Web 2.0 is Changing and Challenging Truth Commissions
• Kerstin Mechlem, Agricultural Biotechnologies, Transgenic Crops and the Poor: Opportunities and Challenges
• Amrei Müller, Remarks on the Venice Statement on the Right to Enjoy the Benefits of Scientific Progress and its Applications (Article 15(1)(b) ICESCR)

Ochoa: Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Compliance: Lessons from the International Law - International Relations Discourse

Christiana Ochoa (Indiana Univ. - Law) has posted Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Compliance: Lessons from the International Law - International Relations Discourse. Here's the abstract:

There has been a long and fruitful discourse between and among legal academics and political scientists, known as international law (IL)-international relations (IL) scholarship. A great deal of that scholarship has discussed the effectiveness of particular IL regimes, usually as part of a larger discourse regarding the question of compliance with IL or international institutions, more generally, including agreed norms and soft law. This field of IL-IR scholarship has taken a fairly Westphalian and Weberian view of international law and of international relations, viewing states as the subjects of international law and, thus, seeing states as its subjects of study. This literature theorizes the impact of law and legalization on state behavior. What it has not done, or not done much of, is think about how the theories that have been developed in the state-centric, hard law-centric context relate to and have relevance for areas of international legal processes, such as CSR global governance initiatives, that indisputably envision corporations as their subjects and have only recently begun to look law-like. This Essay takes a step into this lacuna. Much like IL-IR scholarship asks why, and under what conditions, states comply with international law, this Essay aims to begin a discussion about why firms comply with global governance initiatives and seeks to uncovere some of the useful analogues to the IL-IR literature, as well as to identify the reasons why existing IL-IR compliance theories are surely deficient in the CSR global governance context.

Workshop: FitzGerald

Peter FitzGerald (Stetson Univ. - Law) will give a talk today at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law's Friday Lunchtime Lecture Series on "Fins, Fur and Formalism: The Impact of International Economic Law upon Domestic Animal Law."

Strauss: The Viability of Territorial Leases in Resolving International Sovereignty Disputes

Michael J. Strauss (Centre d'Etudes Diplomatiques et Stratégiques - Geopolitics and International Relations) has published The Viability of Territorial Leases in Resolving International Sovereignty Disputes (L'Harmattan 2010). Here's the abstract:

States often lease territory from each other for economic or military reasons, but on rare occasions leases have been made with the objective of settling disputes about sovereignty. This book offers the first collective examination of cases in which states have attempted to resolve territorial conflicts this way. It assesses their success and examines the broader potential for leases where sovereignty is contested, particularly in the frontier zones of adjacent states.

New Issue: Journal of Conflict Resolution

The latest issue of the Journal of Conflict Resolution (Vol. 54, no. 5, December 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Matthew Fuhrmann & Sarah E. Kreps, Targeting Nuclear Programs in War and Peace: A Quantitative Empirical Analysis, 1941-2000
• Joe Clare & Vesna Danilovic, Multiple Audiences and Reputation Building in International Conflicts
• Nils B. Weidmann & Michael D. Ward, Predicting Conflict in Space and Time
• Tim Krieger & Daniel Meierrieks, Terrorism in the Worlds of Welfare Capitalism
• Seung-Whan Choi, Fighting Terrorism through the Rule of Law?

Bradlow & Hunter: International Financial Institutions and International Law

Daniel D. Bradlow (American Univ. - Law) & David Hunter (American Univ. - Law) have published International Financial Institutions and International Law (Wolters Kluwer 2010). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

To whom are international financial organizations accountable? This unusual book asks not only this searching question, but also examines the extent to which accountability is honoured – or evaded – by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank Group, and the regional development banks (collectively the international financial institutions, or IFIs).

The fundamental recognition in this book is that the issue of what international legal principles are applicable to the operations of the IFIs is an important topic that would benefit from more rigorous study. Twelve deeply committed contributors – whose work spans the academic, policy, and activist spectrum – suggest that a better understanding of these legal issues could help both the organizations and their Member States structure their transactions in ways that are more compatible with their developmental objectives and their international responsibilities.

Five essays set out the general principles of international law that are applicable to the IFIs and consider how these are or should be evolving to produce IFIs that are respectful subjects of international law and accountable to all relevant stakeholders for their compliance with international law. Six more focus on selected aspects of the IFIs’ operations that both raise important and challenging international legal issues and that have substantial impacts on both the different stakeholders in the operations of the IFIs, and on the sustainability and success of the operations. Introductory and concluding essays frame the volume.

Workshop: Smith

Fiona Smith (Univ. College London) will give a talk today at the Oxford Public International Law Discussion Group on "Treaty Interpretation in the WTO: Beyond the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties."

New Issue: Mealey's International Arbitration Report

The latest issue of Mealey's International Arbitration Report (Vol. 25, no. 11, November 2010) is out.

Fitzmaurice, Ong, & Merkouris: Research Handbook on International Environmental Law

Malgosia Fitzmaurice (Queen Mary, Univ. of London - Law), David M. Ong (Univ. of Essex - Law), & Panos Merkouris (Queen Mary, Univ. of London) have published Research Handbook on International Environmental Law (Edward Elgar Publishing 2010). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

This wide-ranging and comprehensive Handbook examines recent developments in international environmental law (IEL) and the crossover effects of this expansion on other areas of international law, such as trade law and the law of the sea.

Safferling & Conze: The Genocide Convention Sixty Years after its Adoption

Christoph Safferling (Philipps-Universität Marburg) & Eckart Conze (Philipps-Universität Marburg) have published The Genocide Convention Sixty Years after its Adoption (T.M.C. Asser Press 2010). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

In 1948 the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations. Thereby genocide was defined as an international crime. Sixty years after its adoption, the prosecution of the crime of genocide still raises multiple questions. Although genocide was not a crime during the Nuremberg Trial its historic roots rest with the persecution of Jews and other minorities by Nazi-Germany. Because of this historic focus the legal definition of genocide is difficult to apply to other conflicts. Bringing together scholars and practitioners, this volume of essays examines the Genocide Convention from historic, legal and social science perspectives. Contemporary witnesses also report on their experiences of the Nuremberg, the Eichmann and the Auschwitz trials.

Hestermeyer, Matz-Lück, Seibert-Fohr, & Vöneky: Law of the Sea in Dialogue

Holger Hestermeyer, Nele Matz-Lück, Anja Seibert-Fohr, & Silja Vöneky have published Law of the Sea in Dialogue (Springer 2011). Contents include:

• Christian Tomuschat, Global Warming and State Responsibility
• Michael Bothe, Measures to Fight Climate Change – A Role for the Law of the Sea?
• Jutta Brunnée, An Agreement in Principle? The Copenhagen Accord and the Post-2012 Climate Regime
• Fred L. Morrison, The Reluctance of the United States to Ratify Treaties
• Gerhard Hafner, The Division of the Commons? The Myth of the Commons: Divide or Perish
• Tullio Treves, Judicial Action for the Common Heritage
• Mahnoush H. Arsanjani & W. Michael Reisman, East African Piracy and the Defense of World Public Order
• Thomas A. Mensah, Piracy at Sea – a New Approach to an Old Menace
• Jochen Abr. Frowein, The Security Council and the Security on the Seas

Schuon: International Criminal Procedure: A Clash of Legal Cultures

Christine Schuon has published International Criminal Procedure: A Clash of Legal Cultures (T.M.C. Asser Press 2010). Here's the abstract:

The procedures used by international criminal courts blend elements of civil law and common law procedures. This mixture causes disputes between civil and common law lawyers which are hard to resolve while the disputants remain philosophically bound by the premises of their native legal systems. As these disputes frequently arise in the everyday practice of the international criminal courts, this book applies a systematic method of contextual legal comparison and a focus on characteristics of international criminal trials which may help to overcome the civil law-common law divide. This book will be of great interest for scholars and practitioners working in international criminal law and is a most valuable point of reference for practitioners at the ICC now and in the future.

Bock: Das Opfer vor dem Internationalen Strafgerichtshof

Stefanie Bock has published Das Opfer vor dem Internationalen Strafgerichtshof (Duncker & Humblot 2010). Here's the abstract:

Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung viktimologischer und psychologischer Erkenntnisse untersucht Stefanie Bock die Stellung des Opfers im Verfahren vor dem Internationalen Strafgerichtshof (IStGH).

Im Zentrum der Ausführungen steht die Frage, ob das Verfahrensrecht des IStGH den spezifischen Bedürfnissen der Opfer völkerrechtlicher Verbrechen gerecht wird. Um diese beantworten zu können, werden zunächst die im IStGH-Statut genannten völkerrechtlichen Verbrechen unter rechtlichen, kriminologischen und strukturellen Gesichtspunkten analysiert. Dabei werden insbesondere die materiellen, physischen und psychischen Folgen der Taten für die Opfer und ihre hieraus resultierenden Bedürfnisse herausgestellt. Diesen muss der IStGH Rechnung tragen, wenn er seiner übergeordneten Aufgabe - einen Beitrag zur Wiederherstellung und Sicherung des Friedens zu leisten - gerecht werden will.

Anschließend untersucht die Autorin das Verfahrensrecht des IStGH auf seine Vereinbarkeit mit den legitimen Opferinteressen und -bedürfnissen. Im Mittelpunkt der Überlegungen stehen die drei prozessualen Rollen, die das Opfer im Verfahren einnehmen kann: die des Zeugen, der einen Beitrag zur Tataufklärung leistet, die des Beteiligten, der sich aktiv in das Verfahren einbringt, und die des Anspruchstellers, der Wiedergutmachung begehrt. Herausgearbeitet wird, ob und inwieweit es gelungen ist, ein für alle Beteiligten faires und effektives Strafverfahren zu etablieren. Soweit Defizite bestehen, wird aufgezeigt, wie das Völkerstrafprozessrecht unter Wahrung der Rechte des Beschuldigten opferorientiert fortentwickelt werden kann.

New Issue: Leiden Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Leiden Journal of International Law (Vol. 23, no. 4, December 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Special Section on Kelsen, Schmitt, Arendt, and the Possibilities of Constitutionalisation in (International) Law
• Alexandra Kemmerer, Introduction
• Jörg Kammerhofer, Constitutionalism and the Myth of Practical Reason: Kelsenian Responses To Methodological Confusion
• Ino Augsberg, Carl Schmitt’s Fear: Nomos – Norm – Network
• Christian Volk, From Nomos to Lex: Hannah Arendt on Law, Politics, and Order
• Hague International Tribunals: International Court of Justice
• Christian J. Tams & Antonios Tzanakopoulos, Barcelona Traction at 40: The ICJ as an Agent of Legal Development
• Hague International Tribunals: Permanent Court of Arbitration
• Brooks Daly, The Abyei Arbitration: Procedural Aspects of an Intra-state Border Arbitration
• Hague International Tribunals: International Criminal Court and Tribunals - The Policy Element of Crimes against Humanity
• Larissa van den Herik & Elies van Sliedregt, Removing or Reincarnating the Policy Requirement of Crimes against Humanity: Introductory Note
• Matt Halling, Push the Envelope – Watch It Bend: Removing the Policy Requirement and Extending Crimes against Humanity
• William A. Schabas, Prosecuting Dr Strangelove, Goldfinger, and the Joker at the International Criminal Court: Closing the Loopholes
• Claus Kress, On the Outer Limits of Crimes against Humanity: The Concept of Organization within the Policy Requirement: Some Reflections on the March 2010 ICC Kenya Decision
• Hague International Tribunals: The Kampala Compromise on the Crime of Aggression
• Carsten Stahn, The ‘End’, the ‘Beginning of the End’ or the ‘End of the Beginning’? Introducing Debates and Voices on the Definition of ‘Aggression’
• Christian Wenaweser, Reaching the Kampala Compromise on Aggression: The Chair’s Perspective
• Niels Blokker & Claus Kress, A Consensus Agreement on the Crime of Aggression: Impressions from Kampala
• David Scheffer, The Complex Crime of Aggression under the Rome Statute
• Donald M. Ferencz, The Crime of Aggression: Some Personal Reflections on Kampala
• Current Legal Developments
• Fulvio Maria Palombino, Judicial Economy and Limitation of the Scope of the Decision in International Adjudication
• Daniele Amoroso, A Fresh Look at the Issue of Non-justiciability of Defence and Foreign Affairs

Shaffer & Meléndez-Ortiz: Dispute Settlement at the WTO: The Developing Country Experience

Gregory C. Shaffer (Univ. of Minnesota - Law) & Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz (International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development) have published Dispute Settlement at the WTO: The Developing Country Experience (Cambridge Univ. Press 2010). Contents include:

• David Evans & Gregory Shaffer, Introduction
• Gregory Shaffer, Michelle Ratton Sanchez & Barbara Rosenberg, Winning at the WTO: the development of a trade policy community within Brazil
• José L. Pérez Gabilondo, Argentina's experience with WTO dispute settlement: development of national capacity and the use of in-house lawyers
• Han Liyu & Henry Gao, China's experience and challenges in utilising the WTO dispute settlement mechanism
• Biswajit Dhar & Abhik Majumdar, Learning from the India-EC GSP dispute: the issues and the process
• Pornchai Danvivathana, Thailand's experience in the WTO dispute settlement system: challenging the EC sugar regime
• Mohammad Ali Taslim, How the DSU worked for Bangladesh: the first least developed country to bring a WTO claim
• Gustav Brink, South Africa's experience with international trade dispute settlement
• Magda Shahin, WTO dispute settlement for a middle-income developing country: the situation of Egypt
• David Ouma Ochieng & David S. Majanja, Sub-Saharan Africa and WTO dispute settlement: the case of Kenya
• David Evans & Gregory Shaffer, Conclusion

Diebold: Non-Discrimination in International Trade in Services: 'Likeness' in WTO/GATS

Nicolas F. Diebold (Froriep Renggli) has published Non-Discrimination in International Trade in Services: 'Likeness' in WTO/GATS (Cambridge Univ. Press 2010). Here's the abstract:

The principle of non-discrimination is fundamental to the regulation of international trade in goods and services. In the context of trade in goods, the concept of 'like products' has become a key element of the legal analysis of whether a trade obstacle violates GATT non-discrimination obligations. The equivalent concept of 'like services and service suppliers' in GATS rules on non-discrimination has received little attention in WTO jurisprudence. In light of the remaining uncertainties, Nicolas Diebold analyses the legal problems of the GATS 'like services and services suppliers' concept using a contextual and comparative methodology. The 'likeness' element is not analysed in isolation, but in context with 'less favourable treatment' and regulatory purpose as additional elements of non-discrimination. The book also explores how far theories from non-discrimination rules in GATT, NAFTA, BITs and EC as well as market definition theories from competition law may be applied to 'likeness' in GATS.

Kim: Power and the Governance of Global Trade: From the GATT to the WTO

Soo Yeon Kim (Univ. of Maryland - Government and Politics) has published Power and the Governance of Global Trade: From the GATT to the WTO (Cornell Univ. Press 2010). Here's the abstract:

In Power and the Governance of Global Trade, Soo Yeon Kim analyzes the design, evolution, and economic impact of the global trade regime, focusing on the power politics that prevailed in the regime and shaped its distributive impact on global trade. Using documents now available from the archives of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), Kim examines the institutional origins and critical turning points in the evolution of the GATT, as well as preferences of the lesser powers of the developing world that were the subject of heated debate over the International Trade Organization (ITO), which failed to materialize. Using quantitative analysis, Kim assesses the impact of the global trade regime on international trade and finds that the rules of trade forged by the great powers resulted in a developmental divide, in which industrialized countries benefited from trade expansion but developing countries reaped far fewer gains. The findings indicate that a successful conclusion to the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is urgently needed to mitigate the developmental divide by increasing trade between the industrialized and developing worlds.

Kim offers a timely reading of the GATT/WTO system as a way to think about how trade and globalization more broadly may be governed in this post-Cold War century, as the global economy contends with a new geopolitical configuration featuring rising powers from the developing world. Important trading nations such as China, India, and other emergent actors in the G-20 countries, Kim argues, reflect the new power politics that will shape the course of global trade governance in the years to come.

Symposium: Global and Regional Perspectives on International Humanitarian Law

The latest issue of the Victoria University of Wellington Law Review (Vol. 41, no. 2, August 2010) contains a symposium on "Global and Regional Perspectives on International Humanitarian Law." Contents include:

• Special Issue: Global and Regional Perspectives on International Humanitarian Law
• Alberto Costi, Foreword: Global and Regional Perspectives on International Humanitarian Law
• The Red Cross and the Geneva Conventions — 60 Years On NZ Red Cross
• KJ Keith, Tutti Fratelli? Perspectives and Challenges for International Humanitarian Law
• Kelisiana Thynne, The Universality of IHL — Surmounting the Last Bastion of the Pacific
• KJ Riordan, Shelling, Sniping and Starvation: The Law of Armed Conflict and the Lessons of the Siege of Sarajevo
• Steven Freeland, A Prosecution too far? Reflections on the Accountability of Heads of State under International Criminal Law
• Richard Burchill, Regional Approaches to International Humanitarian Law
• RP Boast, The "Spanish" Origins of International Human Rights Law: A Historiographical Review
• Michael J Kelly & Sean Watts, Rethinking the Security Architecture of North East Asia

Schabas & Bernaz: Routledge Handbook of International Criminal Law

William A. Schabas (National Univ. of Ireland, Galway - Irish Centre for Human Rights) & Nadia Bernaz (Middlesex Univ. - Law) have published Routledge Handbook of International Criminal Law (Routledge 2010). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

International criminal law has developed extraordinarily quickly over the last decade, with the creation of ad hoc tribunals in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and the establishment of a permanent International Criminal Court. This book provides a timely and comprehensive survey of emerging and existing areas of international criminal law.

The Handbook features new, specially commissioned papers by a range of international and leading experts in the field. It contains reflections on the theoretical aspects and contemporary debates in international criminal law.

Bekker, Dolzer, & Waibel: Making Transnational Law Work in the Global Economy: Essays in Honour of Detlev Vagts

Pieter H.F. Bekker (Crowell & Moring), Rudolf Dolzer (Univ. of Bonn - Law), & Michael Waibel (Univ. of Cambridge - Law) have published Making Transnational Law Work in the Global Economy: Essays in Honour of Detlev Vagts (Cambridge Univ. Press 2010). Contents include:

• Harold Hongju Koh, The transnationalism of Detlev Vagts
• Pieter Bekker, Rudolf Dolzer & Michael Waibel, Introduction. A festschrift to celebrate Detlev Vagts' contributions to transnational law
• William Alford, Detlev Vagts and the Harvard Law School
• Henry Steiner, Constructing and developing transnational law: the contribution of Detlev Vagts
• Anthony Anghie, 'Hegemonic international law' in retrospect
• Andrea Bianchi, Textual interpretation and (international) law reading: the myth of (in) determinacy and the genealogy of meaning
• Jost Delbrück, The changing role of the State in the globalizing world economy
• Bardo Fassbender, Sources of human rights obligations binding the UN Security Council
• Daniel Kalderimis, Is transnational law eclipsing international law?
• Juliane Kokott, Participation in WTO and foreign direct investment - national or community competences
• Andreas Paulus, From dualism to pluralism: the relationship between international law, European law and domestic law
• Anne Peters, Transnational law comprises constitutional, administrative, criminal, and quasi-private law
• Siegfried Wiessner, Founding myths, international law and voting rights in the District of Columbia
• Jan Wouters, The tormented relationship between international law and EU law
• Andreas Zimmermann, International law scholarship in times of dictatorship and democracy - exemplified by the life and work of Wilhelm Wengler
• Olivier De Schutter, Sovereignty-plus in the era of interdependence: toward an international convention on combating human rights violations by transnational corporations
• Jean Nicolas Druey, The noisy secrecy: Swiss banking law in international dispute
• Werner Ebke, Not-for-profit organisations, conflicts of laws, and the right of establishment under the EC treaty
• Barton Legum & Caline Mouawad, The meaning of 'investment' in the ICSID convention
• George Nnona, Toward a proper perspective of the private company's distinctiveness
• Hernán Pérez Loose, Administrative law and international law: the encounter of an odd couple
• Jeswald Salacuse, Making transnational law a reality through regime-building: the case of international investment law
• Michael Waibel, Creditor protection in international law
• David Westbrook, Stability, integration, and political modalities: some American reflections on the European project after the financial crisis
• Pieter Bekker, Diffusion of law: the world court as a court of transnational justice
• Charles Brower & Stephan Schill, Regulating counsel conduct before international arbitral tribunals
• Jan Dalhuisen, International arbitrators as equity judges
• William Dodge, Customary international law in United States courts: the origins of the later-in-time rule
• Peter Murray, Mediation and civil justice: a public-private partnership?
• William Park, The borders of bias: rectitude in international arbitration
• Julia Ya Qin, Managing conflicts between rulings of the WTO and regional trade tribunals: reflections on the Brazil-Tyres case
• Catherine Rogers, Cross-border bankruptcy as a model for the regulation of international attorneys

Symposium: Systematic Sexual Violence and International Criminal Law

The latest issue of Law & Social Inquiry (Vol. 35, no. 4, Fall 2010) contains a symposium on "Systematic Sexual Violence and International Criminal Law." Contents include:

• Symposium: Systematic Sexual Violence and International Criminal Law
• Terence C. Halliday, Introduction
• Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Keynote Address—Interdisciplinary Colloquium on Sexual Violence as International Crime: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Evidence
• Navanethem Pillay, Address—Interdisciplinary Colloquium on Sexual Violence as International Crime: Sexual Violence: Standing by the Victim
• Xabier Agirre Aranburu, Sexual Violence beyond Reasonable Doubt: Using Pattern Evidence and Analysis for International Cases
• John Hagan, Richard Brooks & Todd Haugh, Reasonable Grounds Evidence Involving Sexual Violence in Darfur
• Guy Davidov & Amnon Reichman, Prolonged Armed Conflict and Diminished Deference to the Military: Lessons from Israel

New Issue: European Human Rights Law Review

The latest issue of the European Human Rights Law Review (2010, no. 5) is out. Contents include:

• Gjermund Mathisen, On the Fairness of Proceedings for Extradition or Surrender
• Jo Kenny, European Convention on Human Rights and Social Welfare
• Nick O'Brien & Brian ThompsonHuman Rights Accountability in the UK: Deliberative Democracy and the Role of the Ombudsman
• Martha Spurrier, Gäfgen v Germany: Fruit of the poisonous tree

Ramji-Nogales: Designing Bespoke Transitional Justice: A Pluralist Process Approach

Jaya Ramji-Nogales (Temple Univ. - Law) has posted Designing Bespoke Transitional Justice: A Pluralist Process Approach (Michigan Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This article offers a novel pluralist process theory of transitional justice. The theory leads to a prescriptive recommendation: institutions that account for mass violence should be primarily locally controlled and always precisely tailored to particular societies through an inclusive constitutive process.

The paper first describes the design flaws of international criminal law as a response to mass atrocities. It proposes that effective transitional justice mechanisms are those that successfully reconstruct social norms opposing mass violence. Drawing from several disciplines, the article suggests that such reconstruction requires the local population to perceive transitional justice mechanisms as legitimate and the values they propound as worthy of internalization – hence they must be carefully tailored to the society they serve. The paper provides the first comprehensive attempt to catalogue the perceptions and attitudes of local populations toward contemporary transitional justice mechanisms. It reviews quantitative and qualitative evidence and concludes that the varieties of transitional justice each have strengths and limitations that might make them more or less appropriate for a given society. To craft effective transitional justice mechanisms, the article offers design principles that aim to buttress the legitimacy of the source, procedure, and substance of these institutions, as well as evidence-based and locally grounded methods to implement these principles. This pluralist process design may more effectively reconstruct norms in societies afflicted by mass violence. This approach suggests a new direction for public international law, in which “international” is interpreted as pluralist rather than universalist and “law” is viewed as process rather than mandated content.