Wold: The Durban Package and the Goals of Pacific Small Island Developing States

Chris Wold (Lewis & Clark Law School) has posted an ASIL Insight on The Durban Package and the Goals of Pacific Small Island Developing States.

Cheng: When International Law Works: Realistic Idealism After 9/11 and the Global Recession

Tai-Heng Cheng (New York Law School) has published When International Law Works: Realistic Idealism After 9/11 and the Global Recession (Oxford Univ. Press 2012). Here's the abstract:

In When International Law Works, Professor Tai-Heng Cheng transcends current debates about whether international law is really law by focusing on the reasons for complying with or deviating from international laws and other informal norms, whether or not they are 'law.' Cheng presents a new framework to guide decision makers when they confront an international problem that implicates the oftencompeting policies and interests of their own communities and global order. Instead of advocating for or against international law, Cheng acknowledges both its benefits and shortcomings in order to present practical ways to decide whether compliance in a given circumstance is beneficial, moral, or necessary, and to adjust international law to meet the contemporary challenges of global governance. In this manner, Cheng shows how it is possible for decision makers to take international law and its limitations seriously.

To test his theory, Cheng provides detailed case studies from recent events, ranging from the current global economic crisis to jihadist terrorism. This wideranging research demonstrates how his proposal for approaching international law would work in a real crisis, and sets this book apart from scholarship that focuses only on theory or isolated fields of international law.

Through a critical combination of theory and practice, When International Law Works gives policymakers, judges, arbitrators, scholars, and students practical and thought-provoking guidance on how to face new global problems. In doing so, this new book challenges readers to rethink the role of law in an increasingly crisis-driven world.

New Issue: Journal of International Economic Law

The latest issue of the Journal of International Economic Law (Vol. 14, no. 4, December 2011) is out. Contents include:

• Arthur E. Appleton & Claudio Dordi, Certificates of Free Sale: Who is Being Protected from Whom?
• Bin Gu, Mineral Export Restraints and Sustainable Development—Are Rare Earths Testing the WTO's Loopholes?
• Dan Wei, China's Anti-Monopoly Law and its Merger Enforcement: Convergence and Flexibility
• Jane Kelsey, The Conundrum of Shifting Orthodoxies: FTAs And Korea's Currency Controls
• Michelle Q. Zang, EC – Fasteners: Opening the Pandora's Box of Non-Market Economy Treatment

Conference: International Courts and the Quest for Legitimacy

On June 3-4, 2012, the Cegla Center for Interdisciplinary Research of the Law at the Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law and the Effective International Adjudication ERC Project at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Law will co-host a conference on "International Courts and the Quest for Legitimacy." Here's the idea:

Since the end of the cold war, international courts have grown in number and strength. In particular, their jurisdictional reach has expanded, as have their accessibility to individuals, their authority to review national regulatory measures, and their remedial powers. These developments have led to a sharp rise in the number of cases referred to, and decided by, international courts. Their growing influence on global politics and the economy and their increasing impact on international and national law were met with resistance from national governments and courts. Their activism raised also concerns within the academia about their legitimacy.

The growing role of international courts raises two sets of questions concerning their legitimacy:

First, what are the minimal preconditions that international courts must have for reviewing and thereby constraining the regulatory policies of national governments and of international organizations? Are there inherent features, or actual constraints facing international courts that limit their legitimate scope of authority, such as their sometimes limited independence, their lack of accountability towards specific constituencies, or the real or perceived lack of democratic support for the norms they make and apply?

Second, what strategies have international courts actually adopted in order to attract greater legitimacy, including securing acceptance for their broader new authorities? Have courts been ultimately successful in attaining legitimacy in the eyes of their principal constituencies? Should other legitimacy-enhancing strategies be developed? For example, to what extent are international courts resorting to compliance-monitoring measures or increased process-transparency in order to increase their perceived legitimacy? To what extent are judicial law-making, on the one hand, and deference to other decision making entities (other international organs, national courts, other courts), on the other hand, effective legitimacy-enhancing strategies?

Investigating the quest for legitimacy on the part of international courts may help us in identifying the proper role for international courts in an increasingly diverse constellation of global law-interpreting and applying actors. Given the relationship between the quest for legitimacy and the capacity to successfully fulfill assigned judicial roles, such a course of investigation may also contribute to assessing the effectiveness of international courts.

New Issue: European Human Rights Law Review

The latest issue of the European Human Rights Law Review (2011, no. 3) is out. Contents include:

• Sophie Briant, Dialogue, diplomacy and defiance: prisoners' voting rights at home and in Strasbourg
• Christine Chinkin & Jane Gordon, The UK CEDAW Story
• Ronagh J.A. McQuigg, The Victim Test under the Human Rights Act 1998 and its Implications for Domestic Violence Cases
• T.A.H.M. van de Laar & R.L. de Graaff, Salduz and Miranda: Is the US Supreme Court Pointing the Way?
• Conor McCarthy, What Happens to the Frozen Fortune? The Libya Situation and Claims for Reparation
• Paul Skinner, Freedom of Expression, Subsidiarity and "No Win No Fee" Agreements: MGN Ltd v United Kingdom

Conference: ICSID Article 52 Review and Annulment Procedure

On February 11, 2012, the Yale Journal of International Law and the American Society of International Law will co-host a conference on "ICSID Article 52 Review and Annulment Procedure," in New Haven. The program is not yet available. Here's the idea:

For over 40 years, the World Bank’s International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has offered investors and states a unique arbitration mechanism, which trades off diplomatic protection on behalf of investors in return for commitments by host states to arbitrate investment disputes at the initiative of the investor. ICSID’s role in international investment has grown dramatically along with the proliferation of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs). At the same time, most of the awards of ICSID tribunals have been published and have contributed to the ongoing development of international investment law and general international law.

In recent years, however, the ICSID framework has come under criticism from a number of angles, perhaps the most acute being controversy over its distinctive review and annulment procedure. Originally intended to be an “extraordinary remedy,” the Article 52 procedure has almost become a staple of the arbitral process. Moreover, the precise function of the procedure and its scope appears to be conceived very differently in many of the decisions of ad hoc Committees. Some have suggested that the uncertainty introduced by the application of Article 52 is undermining the finality of ICSID awards and the attractiveness of ICSID arbitration itself, in competition with other arbitral institutions available for managing international investment disputes.

This conference, cosponsored by the Yale Journal of International Law and the American Society of International Law, will bring together leading academics and practitioners who have played central roles in the drama of Article 52 to appraise recent cases and to consider whether any adjustments to the review procedure ought to be introduced.

Koh: Foreign Official Immunity After Samantar: A United States Government Perspective

Harold Hongju Koh (Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State) has published Foreign Official Immunity After Samantar: A United States Government Perspective (Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, Vol. 44, no. 5, p. 1141, November 2011). Here's the opening paragraph:

I am delighted to speak here at Vanderbilt regarding the U.S. Government’s perspective on Foreign Official Immunity after Samantar v. Yousuf. In the Samantar case, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that the immunity of foreign government officials sued in their personal capacity in U.S. courts, including for alleged human rights violations, is not controlled by the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, but rather, by immunity determinations made by the Executive Branch. Let me break my topic today into three parts: first, the world of foreign official immunity as it existed before the Samantar case; second, the Supreme Court’s decision in Samantar and its implications; and third, the State Department’s “New Samantar Process,” which has been emerging since the Supreme Court’s decision—focusing, in particular, on distinguishing what we call Samantar issues from non-Samantar issues, the effect of a State Department suggestion of immunity, and the effect of State Department silence with respect to a foreign official’s claim of immunity.

New Issue: Humanity

The latest issue of Humanity (Vol. 2, no. 2, October 2011) is out. Contents include:

• Samuel Martinez & Kathryn Libal, Introduction: The Gender of Humanitarian Narrative
• Mimi Sheller, Bleeding Humanity and Gendered Embodiments: From Antislavery Sugar Boycotts to Ethical Consumers
• Gretchen Soderlund, The Rhetoric of Revelation: Sex Trafficking and the Journalistic Exposé
• Kerry Bystrom, On "Humanitarian" Adoption (Madonna in Malawi)
• Elizabeth Swanson Goldberg & Alexandra Schultheis Moore, Old Questions in New Boxes: Mia Kirshner's I LIVE HERE and the Problematics of Transnational Witnessing
• Diana Tietjens Meyers, Two Victim Paradigms and the Problem of "Impure" Victims
• Samuel Martinez, Taking Better Account: Contemporary Slavery, Gendered Narratives, and the Feminization of Struggle
• Greg Constantine, Photo Essay: Nowhere People
• Amy Shuman & Wendy S. Hesford, Emergent Human Rights Contexts: Greg Constantine's "Nowhere People"
• Tobias Kelly, What We Talk About When We Talk About Torture

Newton & Scharf: Terrorism and Crimes Against Humanity

Michael A. Newton (Vanderbilt Univ. - Law) & Michael P. Scharf (Case Western Reserve Univ. - Law) have posted Terrorism and Crimes Against Humanity (in Forging a Convention for Crimes Against Humanity, Leila Nadya Sadat ed., 2011). Here's the abstract:

The Crimes Against Humanity convention project was conceived to provide a gap-filling convention in the pantheon of international agreements regulating atrocity crimes, and this commissioned chapter addresses the debate whether terrorist crimes should be characterized within the overall rubric of crimes against humanity. The authors can imagine some theoretical advantages to characterizing some incidents of terrorism as a new discrete crime against humanity. For example, this would create universal jurisdiction (and trigger a duty to prosecute or extradite) at the national level with respect to terrorist acts that are not presently covered by the laws of war or one of the dozen multilateral antiterrorism conventions in peacetime. It would also create uniformity of jurisdiction and prosecutorial obligation with regard to any States that have ratified the Proposed Crimes Against Humanity Convention to supplement the likelihood of prosecution when domestic prosecution under existing statute or extradition to another State are legally or politically unfeasible. There are, nevertheless, no compelling values served by deeming terrorism as a crime against humanity through the vehicle of a new Convention. Indeed, in the opinion of the authors, the creation of a wholly new specified offense under the rubric of crimes against humanity is inadvisable for several reasons. First, most widespread terrorist acts are already covered by the laws of war or would constitute the existing crime against humanity of murder, without having to address the thorny definitional question of what is terrorism. There are no lacunae that can be constructively addressed. As a matter of qualitative jurisprudence, terrorist offenses are on substantive par with the grave breaches provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, the 1948 Genocide Convention, and the provisions of the Torture Convention; the same aut dedere aut punire obligation that applies to grave breaches, genocide, and torture also applies to terrorism covered by the international conventions. Second, the determination of whether an alleged act short of mass murder (such as systematic kidnappings by a terrorist group) qualifies as a particular crime within the established array of crimes against humanity is best handled as a judicial determination made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the nature of the alleged act, the context in which it took place, the personal circumstances of the victims, and the physical, mental, and moral effects of the perpetrator’s conduct upon the victims. Finally, the effort to achieve international consensus on the inclusion of a specific crime against humanity of “terrorism” would introduce a whole new level of uncertainty and politicization into the existing legal structures and definitions.

New Issue: Journal of World Intellectual Property

The latest issue of the Journal of World Intellectual Property (Vol. 15, no. 1, January 2012) is out. Contents include:

• Marcella Favale, The Right of Access in Digital Copyright: Right of the Owner or Right of the User?
• T.G. Agitha, International Norms for Compulsory Licensing and the Indian Copyright Law
• Althaf Marsoof, TRIPS Compatibility of Sri Lankan Trademark Law
• Anna Giulia Micara, TRIPS-plus Border Measures and Access to Medicines

Turk: Implications of European Disintegration for International Law

Matthew C. Turk (Sullivan & Cromwell, LLP) has posted Implications of European Disintegration for International Law (Columbia Journal of European Law, Vol. 17, p. 395, 2011). Here's the abstract:

The European debt crisis that started in 2009 has revealed underlying structural problems in the European Monetary Union, threatening the viability of the common currency in its current form. An unraveling of monetary coordination in Europe would mark a significant event of disintegration, in the face of a decades-long trend of integration that was commonly considered an inevitable and self-sustaining process.

This Article argues that even a reasonable possibility of disintegration of this magnitude upsets previous theorizing about European integration which over-emphasized the EU’s “supranational” character.

More generally, disintegration poses serious problems for international law scholarship across the ideological spectrum, much of which has organized itself around the historically contingent trend of integration as if it were an a-historical given. The debt crises reveals that use of Europe by both “Skeptical” and “Cosmopolitan” international law scholars is largely an opportunistic rhetorical strategy that conceals fundamental weaknesses of both viewpoints in their debate over the limits and promise of international legalization and cooperation.

New Issue: Journal of International Maritime Law

The latest issue of the Journal of International Maritime Law (Vol. 17, no. 4, 2011) is out. Contents include:

• Sandra Lielbarde, A comparison of the UK and US approaches to the incorporation of a charterparty arbitration clause into bills of lading
• Thomas J. Schoenbaum, An Evaluation of the Rotterdam Rules from the US
• Måns Jacobsson, An ideal international scheme for compensation for marine pollution damage
• Alla Pozdnakova, Criminal sanctions for ship-source pollution: Den offentlige påtalemyndighet (Public prosecution authorities) mot A og Q (MV Full City), Court of Appeal, Agder, Norway, 22 June 2011
• Rui Zheng, Moral hazard and the use of fraudulent means and devices in presenting a legitimate insurance claim: Sharon’s Bakery (Europe) Ltd v (1)Axa Insurance UK Plc (2) Aviva Insurance Ltd

New Issue: European Human Rights Law Review

The latest issue of the European Human Rights Law Review (2011, no. 2) is out. Contents include:

• John G. Ruggie, The Construction of the UN 'Protect, Respect and Remedy' Framework for Business and Human Rights: The True Confessions of a Principled Pragmatist
• Ian Loveland, The Shifting Sands of Article 8 Jurisprudence in English Housing Law
• Daithi Mac Sithigh, "I'd tell you everything if you'd pick up that telephone"—Political Expression and Data Protection
• Bryane Michael & Habit Hajredini, What Does Kosovo Teach Us About Using Human Rights Law to Prosecute Corruption Offences?
• Nikolas Kyriakou, Enforced Disappearances in Cyprus: Problems and Prospects of the Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights
• Sanjivi Krishnan, What's the Consensus? The Grand Chamber's Decision on Abortion in A, B and C v Ireland

Mares: The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Foundations and Implementation

Radu Mares (Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law) has published The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Foundations and Implementation (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2011). Contents include:

• Radu Mares, Business and Human Rights After Ruggie: Foundations, the Art of Simplification and the Imperative of Cumulative Progress
• John H. Knox, The Ruggie Rules: Applying Human Rights Law to Corporations
• Karin Buhmann, The Development of the ‘UN Framework’: A Pragmatic Process Towards a Pragmatic Output
• Fiona Haines, Kate Macdonald & Samantha Balaton-Chrimes, Contextualising the Business Responsibility to Respect: How Much Is Lost in Translation?
• Sune Skadegaard Thorsen & Signe Andreasen, Remodelling Responsible Supply Chain Management: The Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights in Supply Chain Relationships
• Karin Lukas, Human Rights in the Supply Chain: Influence and Accountability
• Radu Mares, Responsibility to Respect: Why the Core Company Should Act When Affiliates Infringe Human Rights
• Mary Dowell-Jones & David Kinley, The Monster Under the Bed: Financial Services and the Ruggie Framework
• Rory Sullivan & Nicolas Hachez, Human Rights Norms for Business: The Missing Piece of the Ruggie Jigsaw – The Case of Institutional Investors
• Meg Brodie, Pushing the Boundaries: The Role of National Human Rights Institutions in Operationalising the ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework
• Christine Parker & John Howe, Ruggie’s Diplomatic Project and Its Missing Regulatory Infrastructure
• Tara J. Melish & Errol Meidinger, Protect, Respect, Remedy and Participate: ‘New Governance’ Lessons for the Ruggie Framework

Walker: Definitions for the Law of the Sea: Terms Not Defined by the 1982 Convention

George K. Walker (Wake Forest Univ. - Law) has published Definitions for the Law of the Sea: Terms Not Defined by the 1982 Convention (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2011). Here's the abstract:

Definitions for the Law of the Sea elucidates undefined terms and phrases used in The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) itself, as well as terms used in its analysis. Based on nearly a decade of work by the American Branch of the International Law Association’s Law of the Sea Committee, the volume provides clear definitions based on usage in the Convention, rather than geographical or geological concepts.

Over 200 terms are defined in the text, alongside analyses and commentary prepared by prominent experts in the field of oceans law. Abbreviated citation forms used throughout the volume are clarified, and relevant documents are included with updated references. Definitions for the Law of the Sea is an indispensable source for governmental officials, academics and practitioners of oceans law, and serves as a supplement to the multi-volume United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982: A Commentary.

New Issue: Diritti umani e diritto internazionale

The latest issue of Diritti umani e diritto internazionale (Vol. 5, no. 3, 2011) is out. Contents include:

• Studi
• Matteo E. Bonfanti, Il diritto alla protezione dei dati personali nel Patto internazionale sui diritti civili e politici e nella Convenzione europea dei diritti umani: similitudini e difformità di contenuti
• Giancarlo Anello, ‘Fratture culturali’ e ‘terapie giuridiche’. Giurisdizioni religiose e diritti umani in una prospettiva interculturale
• Paolo Fusaro, Il linguaggio non verbale della Corte costituzionale: la ‘politica giudiziaria’ nei confronti della Convenzione europea dei diritti umani
• Marina Castellaneta, Vicenda Battisti atto secondo: la nuova decisione del Supremo Tribunal Federal e le persistenti violazioni del diritto internazionale
• Daniele Amoroso, Insindacabilità degli atti politici e legittimità del diniego di estradizione per motivi umanitari: in margine al caso Battisti II
• Rosario Sapienza, La Grande Camera della Corte europea e la questione del crocifisso nelle scuole italiane
• Gemma Andreone, L’identità culturale di un popolo appesa ai muri della scuola. In margine alla sentenza della Grande Camera nel caso Lautsi

New Issue: Journal of World Intellectual Property

The latest issue of the Journal of World Intellectual Property (Vol. 14, no. 6, November 2011) is out. Contents include:

• Alison Slade, Articles 7 and 8 of the TRIPS Agreement: A Force for Convergence within the International IP System
• Nora El-Bialy & Moamen Gouda, Can Shari'a be a Deterrent for Intellectual Property Piracy in Islamic Countries?
• Muhammad Hamid Ali, The Protection of Geographical Indications in Pakistan: Implementation of the TRIPS Agreement

White: Climate Change and Migration: Security and Borders in a Warming World

Gregory White (Smith College - Government) has published Climate Change and Migration: Security and Borders in a Warming World (Oxford Univ. Press 2011). Here's the abstract:

In the modern era, two types of international migration have consumed our attention: politically induced migration to flee war, genocide, and instability, and migration for economic reasons. Recently, though, another force has generated a new wave of refugees-global warming. Climate change has altered terrains and economies throughout the tropical regions of the world, from sub-Saharan Africa to Central America to South and Southeast Asia. In Climate Change and Migration: Security and Borders in a Warming World, Greg White provides a rich account of the phenomenon. Focusing on climate-induced migration from Africa to Europe, White shows how global warming's impact on international relations has been significant, enhancing the security regimes in not only the advanced economies of the North Atlantic, but in the states that serve as transit points between the most advanced and most desperate nations. Furthermore, he demonstrates that climate change has altered the way the nations involved view their own sovereignty, as tightening or defining borders in both Europe and North Africa leads to an increase of the state's reaches over society. White closes by arguing that a serious and comprehensive program to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change is the only long-term solution. With an in-depth coverage of both environmental and border policy from a global perspective, Climate Change and Migration provides a provocative and much-needed link between two of the most pressing issues in contemporary international politics.

New Volume: Italian Yearbook of International Law

The latest volume of the Italian Yearbook of International Law (Vol. 20, 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Symposium: The Future of the ECHR System
• Giuseppe Cataldi, Presentation of the Symposium
• The ECHR System and International Law
• Raffaella Nigro, The Notion of “Jurisdiction” in Article 1: Future Scenarios for the Extra-Territorial Application of the European Convention on Human Rights
• Ottavio Quirico, Substantive and Procedural Issues Raised by the Accession of the EU to the ECHR
• Beatrice I. Bonafè, The ECHR and the Immunities Provided by International Law
• Comments
• Pasquale De Sena, The Notion of “Contracting Parties’ Jurisdiction” Under Article 1 of the ECHR: Some Marginal Remarks on Nigro’s Paper
• Benedetto Conforti, Comments on the Accession of the European Union to the ECHR
• Emilio De Capitani, EU Accession to the ECHR: A Parliamentary Perspective
• Marco Gestri, Access to a Court and Jurisdictional Immunities of States: What Scope for the Balancing of Interests Test?
• General Aspects of the Functioning of the ECHR System
• Antonio Bultrini, The European Convention on Human Rights and the Rule of Prior Exhaustion of Domestic Remedies in International Law
• Simona Granata, Manifest Ill-Foundedness and Absence of a Significant Disadvantage as Inadmissibility Criteria of Inadmissibility for the Individual Application to the Court
• Andrea Caligiuri & Nicola Napoletano, The Application of the ECHR in the Domestic Systems
• Comments
• Guido Raimondi, Reflections on the Rule of Prior Exhaustion of Domestic Remedies in the Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights
• Françoise Tulkens, The Link Between Manifest Ill-Foundedness and Absence of a Significant Disadvantage as Inadmissibility Criteria for Individual Applications
• Pasquale Pirrone, The Value of the Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights for the Courts of the Respondent State: Domestic Judicial Decision in Favour of the Applicant and the Principle of “Doing as Much as Possible”
• General Conclusion on the Symposium
• Jean-Paul Costa, Concluding Remarks on the Future of the Strasbourg Court

Kleinlein: Konstitutionalisierung im Völkerrecht

Thomas Kleinlein (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main - Law) has published Konstitutionalisierung im Völkerrecht: Konstruktion und Elemente einer idealistischen Völkerrechtslehre (Springer 2012). Here's the abstract:

Der Autor untersucht analytisches Potential und normative Konsequenzen der völkerrechtlichen Konstitutionalisierungslehre. Anhand der Begriffsgeschichte zeigt er zunächst auf, wie sich der Verfassungsbegriff aussagekräftig auf das Völkerrecht übertragen lässt. Sodann spürt er Vorläufern und philosophischen Wurzeln nach und sucht nach neuen Anknüpfungspunkten für die Konstitutionalisierungsthese. Vor diesem Hintergrund unterzieht er die Hierarchisierung und Objektivierung des Völkerrechts sowie die Bindung von internationalen Organisationen an Menschenrechte als mögliche Verfassungsmerkmale einer kritischen Auseinandersetzung. Der Autor kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass Konstitutionalisierung vor allem ein Prozess des Identitätswandels und der Selbstverstrickung ist, der Begründungslasten für die juristische Argumentation schafft. Methodisch wird die Genese konstitutioneller Normen als Bildung allgemeiner Rechtsgrundsätze in Auseinandersetzung mit konstruktivistischen Ansätzen in den Internationalen Beziehungen erklärt.

New Issue: World Arbitration and Mediation Review

The latest issue of the World Arbitration and Mediation Review (Vol. 5, no. 2, 2011) is out. Contents include:

• General Principles of International Commercial Arbitration
• Bernard Hanotiau, Foreword
• Klaus Peter Berger, General Principles of Law In International Commercial Arbitration: How to Find Them – How to Apply Them
• Felix Dasser, That Rare Bird: Non-National Legal Standards as Applicable Law in International Commercial Arbitration
• Emmanuel Gaillard, General Principles of Law in International Commercial Arbitration – Challenging the Myths
• Yves Derains, The Application of Transnational Rules in ICC Arbitral Awards
• Loukas Mistelis. General Principles of Law and Transnational Rules in International Arbitration: An English Perspective
• David W. Rivkin, Transnational Principles in U.S. Courts

Ferrari: Contracts for the International Sale of Goods: Applicability and Applications of the 1980 United Nations Convention

Franco Ferrari (New York Univ. - Law) has published Contracts for the International Sale of Goods: Applicability and Applications of the 1980 United Nations Convention (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2011). Here's the abstract:

Contracts for the International Sale of Goods provides an examination of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). Extensively referenced, this volume focuses on three fundamental issues, which, due to added attention from courts and arbitral tribunals, are considered “typical” of CISG related disputes. These include the exact determination of the CISG’s sphere of application; issues relating to the non-conformity of delivered goods; and the determination of the rate of interest on sums in arrears. This analysis will also help readers understand the broader context in which these issues are embedded, and ultimately illustrates how the CISG is interpreted and applied in different jurisdictions.

New Issue: Journal of International Maritime Law

The latest issue of the Journal of International Maritime Law (Vol. 17, no. 3, 2011) is out. Contents include:

• Erik Røsæg, New procedures for bills of lading in the Rotterdam Rules
• Martin H Claringbould, Rotterdam Rules: both-to-blame collision --100% liability!
• Vibe Ulfbeck, Contracts of logistics under the Rotterdam Rules

Berman: Passion and Ambivalence: Colonialism, Nationalism, and International Law

Nathaniel Berman (Brown Univ.) has published Passion and Ambivalence: Colonialism, Nationalism, and International Law (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2011). Here's the abstract:

Ethnic, nationalist, and religious conflicts and debates about international intervention have been central global preoccupations of the past hundred years. Such debates, this volume argues, were first framed in their modern form during the interwar period, when a “Modernist break” (akin to that in literature, philosophy, and the arts) transformed the way such conflicts were viewed. Internationalists began to cast identity-based claims — whether those of anti-colonialists or European separatists — not only as mortal dangers to international order but as indispensable to its revitalization. Drawing on cultural studies, postcolonial theory, and psychoanalysis — with case studies ranging from 1930s Ethiopia to 1990s Jerusalem — this volume looks at both the origins and legacy of these debates, offering a radical reinterpretation of modern internationalism.

New Volume: Yearbook on International Investment Law & Policy

The latest volume of the Yearbook on International Investment Law & Policy (2010-2011) is out. Contents include:

• Part One
• Persephone Economou & Karl P. Sauvant, Recent trends and issues in foreign direct investment, 2010
• Edward G. Kehoe & Paul B. Maslo, Trends in international investment agreements, 2009/2010. Recent steps in the evolution of bilateral investment treaties and the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules
• Ian A. Laird, Borzu Sabahi, Frederic G. Sourgens & Nicholas J. Birch, International investment law and arbitration: 2010 in review
• Part Two: Symposium on international investment law and the European Union
• Federico Ortino, Introduction to the Symposium on international investment law and the European Union
• Colin Brown & Maria Alcover-Llubia, The external investment policy of the European Union in the light of the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon
• Anna De Luca, New developments on the scope of the EU Common Commercial Policy under the Lisbon Treaty: Investment liberalization vs. investment protection?
• Steffen Hindelang, Member State BITs - There's still (some) life in the old dog yet. Incompatibility of existing Member State BITs with EU law and possible remedies: A position paper
• Angelos Dimopoulos, The development of EU trade and investment policies: Drawing lessons form past experiences

Branch: Displacing Human Rights: War and Intervention in Northern Uganda

Adam Branch (San Diego State Univ. - Political Science) has published Displacing Human Rights: War and Intervention in Northern Uganda (Oxford Univ. Press 2011). Here's the abstract:

Today, Western intervention is a ubiquitous feature of violent conflict in Africa. Humanitarian aid agencies, community peacebuilders, microcredit promoters, children's rights activists, the World Bank, the International Criminal Court, the US military, and numerous others have involved themselves in African conflicts, all claiming to bring peace and human rights to situations where they are desperately needed. However, according to Adam Branch, Western intervention is not the solution to violence in Africa but, instead, can be a major part of the problem--often undermining human rights and even prolonging war and intensifying anti-civilian violence. Based on an extended case study of Western intervention into northern Uganda's twenty-year civil war, and drawing on Branch's own extensive research and human rights activism there, Displacing Human Rights lays bare the reductive understandings motivating Western intervention in Africa, the inadequate tools it insists on employing, its refusal to be accountable to African citizenries, and, most important, its counterproductive consequences for peace, human rights, and justice. In short, Branch demonstrates how Western interventions undermine the efforts Africans themselves are undertaking to end violence in their own communities. Displacing Human Rights does not end with critique, however. Motivated by a commitment to global justice, it proposes concrete changes for Western humanitarian, peacebuilding, and justice interventions as well as a new normative framework for re-orienting the Western approach to violent conflict in Africa around a practice of genuine solidarity.

New Volume: European Yearbook of International Economic Law

The latest volume of the European Yearbook of International Economic Law (Vol. 3, 2012) is out. Contents include:

• Part I Topics
• Special Focus I: Ten Years of China’s WTO Membership China
• Mauro Petriccione & Adeline Hinderer, EU Trade Relations: A View from Brussels
• Gary Clyde Hufbauer & Jared C. Woollacott, Trade Disputes Between China and the United States: Growing Pains so Far, Worse Ahead?
• Bryan Mercurio & Mitali Tyagi, China’s Evolving Role in WTO Dispute Settlement: Acceptance, Consolidation and Activation
• Andrea Wechsler, China’s WTO Accession Revisited: Achievements and Challenges in Chinese Intellectual Property Law Reform
• Julien Chaisse, The Regulation of Trade-Distorting Restrictions in Foreign Investment Law
• Robert M. MacLean, Adored and Despised in Equal Measure: An Assessment of the EU’s Principle of Market Economy Treatment in Anti-Dumping Investigations Against China
• Chien-Huei Wu, A New Landscape in the WTO: Economic Integration Among China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau
• Special Focus II: Global Energy Markets and International Economic Law
• Claudia Kemfert, Global Energy Markets: Challenges and Opportunities – Energy Vision for 2050
• Mireille Cossy, Energy Trade and WTO Rules: Reflexions on Sovereignty over Natural Resources, Export Restrictions and Freedom of Transit
• Yulia Selivanova, The Energy Charter and the International Energy Governance
• Markus Krajewski, The Impact of International Investment Agreements on Energy Regulation
• Ludwig Gramlich, Regulating Energy Supranationally: EU Energy Policy
• Carsten Nowak, The Energy Community of South East Europe
• Part II Regional Integration
• Colin M. Brown, The European Union and Regional Trade Agreements
• Patrick C. Reed, International Economic Law in North America: Recent Developments in Dispute Resolution Under Regional Economic Agreements
• Teresa Thorp, The Rule of Law and the Implementation of an Economic Acquis Communautaire in Sub Saharan Africa: Legal Challenges for the East African Community
• Part III Institutions
• Edwini Kessie, The Doha Development Agenda at a Crossroads: What Are the Remaining Obstacles to the Conclusion of the Round – Part III?
• Andreas Krallmann, WTO Dispute Settlement: Current Cases
• Hans-Michael Wolffgang & Christopher Dallimore, The World Customs Organization and its Role in the System of World Trade: An Overview
• Bernhard Steinki & Wolfgang Bergthaler, Recent Reforms of the Finances of the International Monetary Fund: An Overview
• Katharina Gnath & Claudia Schmucker, The Role of the Emerging Countries in the G20: Agenda-Setter, Veto Player or Spectator?
• Raymond Ritter, Addressing Global Policy Challenges: The G20 Way in 2010 and Beyond

Markell & Knox: Evaluating Citizen Petition Procedures: Lessons from an Analysis of the NAFTA Environmental Commission

David L. Markell (Florida State Univ. - Law) & John H. Knox (Wake Forest Univ. - Law) have posted Evaluating Citizen Petition Procedures: Lessons from an Analysis of the NAFTA Environmental Commission (Texas International Law Journal, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

The NAFTA Environmental Commission’s citizen petitions process is an important experiment in “new governance” because of its emphasis on citizen participation, accountability, and transparency as strategies to enhance government legitimacy and improve government performance. Its focus on promoting compliance and enforcement adds to its importance for those interested in those central aspects of the regulatory process. The procedure has had a rocky start in many respects, although there are signs that in some cases it has had a positive impact.

This article sets forth what we perceive to be the promise of the process, the pitfalls that have undermined its effectiveness to date, and adjustments that would equip it to make a meaningful contribution to North American environmental governance. More generally, the article provides a framework for evaluating such citizen petition processes and explains how lessons from an analysis of the North American procedure may contribute to assessments of the design and implementation of similar mechanisms in other international and domestic legal regimes.