New Issue: American Review of International Arbitration

The latest issue of the American Review of International Arbitration (Vol. 24, no. 3, 2013) is out. Contents include:

• Lise Johnson & Oleksandr Volkov, Investor-State Contracts, Host-State "Commitments" and the Myth of Stability in International Law
• Pamela L. Meredith & Marshall M. Lammers, Commercial Satellite Contract Arbitration: Special Legal Considerations
• Federico Ortino, The Investment Treaty System as Judicial Review
• Peter Ashford, The Law of the Arbitration Agreement: The English Courts Decide?
• Edna Sussman, Arbitrator Decision-Making: Unconscious Psychological Influences and What You Can Do About Them
• Guido Carducci, Validity of Arbitration Agreements, Court Referral to Arbitration and FAA § 206, Comity, Anti-Suit Injunctions Worldwide and Their Effects in the E.U. Before and After the New E.U. Regulation 1215/2012

New Issue: Review of International Political Economy

The latest issue of the Review of International Political Economy (Vol. 21, no. 3, 2014) is out. Contents include:

• Gabriel Siles-Brügge, Explaining the resilience of free trade: The Smoot–Hawley myth and the crisis
• Stefano Pagliari & Kevin L. Young, Leveraged interests: Financial industry power and the role of private sector coalitions
• Chris Humphrey, The politics of loan pricing in multilateral development banks
• Ryan Saylor, Commodity booms, coalitional politics and government intervention in credit markets
• Bumba Mukherjee, Vineeta Yadav & Sergio Bejar, Candidate-centred systems, public banks and equity market restrictions in developing democracies
• Robert Galantucci, Policy space and regional predilections: Partisanship and trade agreements in Latin America
• Liam Clegg, Social spending targets in IMF concessional lending: US domestic politics and the institutional foundations of rapid operational change

Conference: Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law Third Annual Conference

The Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law will hold its third annual conference, May 10-11, 2014, at the University of Cambridge. The theme is "Stepping Away from the State: Universality and Cosmopolitanism in International and Comparative Law." Registration is now open here. Here's the idea:

This Conference will explore approaches that question the traditional state-centric view of international and comparative law. The idea of universality suggests that international law applies equally and indiscriminately across domestic legal systems, and within sub-systems of international law itself. Cosmopolitanismconceives of the world as a single entity, with resonances between people irrespective of their location, nationality and culture, and asks how legal actors can access legal regimes beyond their state’s domestic framework.

Some of the conference highlights will include:

• Keynote address by Judge Kenneth Keith of the International Court of Justice.

• Keynote debate between Judge Angelika Nussberger (European Court of Human Rights) and Lord Kerr (Supreme Court of the United Kingdom).

• Launch of Dr Kate Miles’ recently published book, The Origins of International Investment Law: Empire, Environment and the Safeguarding of Capital (Cambridge University Press, 2013).

• Forty presentations over more than ten panels.

Jalloh: The Sierra Leone Special Court and its Legacy: The Impact for Africa and International Criminal Law

Charles Chernor Jalloh (Univ. of Pittsburgh - Law) has published The Sierra Leone Special Court and its Legacy: The Impact for Africa and International Criminal Law (Cambridge Univ. Press 2014). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) is the third modern international criminal tribunal supported by the United Nations and the first to be situated where the crimes were committed. This timely, important, and comprehensive book is the first to critically assess the impact and legacy of the SCSL for Africa and international criminal law. The collection, containing 37 original chapters from leading scholars and respected practitioners with inside knowledge of the tribunal, analyzes cutting-edge and controversial issues with significant implications for international criminal law and transitional justice. These include joint criminal enterprise; the novel crime against humanity of forced marriage; the war crime prohibiting enlisting and using child soldiers in the first court to prosecute that offense; the prosecution of the war crime of attacks against United Nations peacekeepers in the first tribunal where this offense was prosecuted; the tension between truth commissions and criminal trials in the first country to simultaneously have the two; and the questions of whether it is permissible under international law for states to unilaterally confer blanket amnesties to local perpetrators of universally condemned international crimes, whether the immunities enjoyed by an incumbent head of a third state bars his prosecution before an ad hoc treaty-based international criminal court, and whether such courts may be funded by donations from states without compromising judicial independence.

New Issue: Review of International Studies

The latest issue of the Review of International Studies (Vol. 40, no. 2, April 2014) is out. Contents include:

• Christian Brütsch, Technocratic manager, imperial agent, or diplomatic champion? The IMF in the anarchical society
• John Glenn, In the aftermath of the financial crisis: risk governance and the emergence of pre-emptive surveillance
• Andreas Klinke, Postnational discourse, deliberation, and participation toward global risk governance
• Mark T. Nance & M. Patrick Cottrell, A turn toward experimentalism? Rethinking security and governance in the twenty-first century
• Jean-Frédéric Morin & Amandine Orsini, Policy coherency and regime complexes: the case of genetic resources
• Kerem Nisancioglu, The Ottoman origins of capitalism: uneven and combined development and Eurocentrism
• Felix Rösch, Pouvoir, puissance, and politics: Hans Morgenthau's dualistic concept of power?
• William McGinley, Mechanisms and microfoundations in International Relations theory
• Ellen Gutterman, The legitimacy of transnational NGOs: lessons from the experience of Transparency International in Germany and France

Tams: Procedural Aspects of Investor-State Dispute Settlement: The Emergence of a European Approach?

Christian J. Tams (Univ. of Glasgow - Law) has posted Procedural Aspects of Investor-State Dispute Settlement: The Emergence of a European Approach? Here's the abstract:

The paper provides an analysis of the EU's emerging approach to Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), drawing on documents of the main EU actors (Commission, European Parliament, Council) as well as draft negotiated texts and negotiating directives. It situates the EU's debates in the context of discussions about the reform of ISDS and highlights the new opposition to ISDS among European NGOs.

Ambos & Timmermann: Terrorism and Customary International Law

Kai Ambos (Univ. of Goettingen - Law) & Anina Timmermann (Univ. of Goettingen - Law) have posted Terrorism and Customary International Law (in Research Handbook on International Law and Terrorism, Ben Saul ed., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

The following chapter attempts to analyse if terrorism has become a crime under customary international law. We start with a brief look at the minimum requirements of customary law in general and its particularities regarding criminal law. It will be shown that there are several general concerns regarding the creation of criminal provision by custom, especially because of the inevitable vagueness of unwritten law and the ensuing conflict with the principle of legality (nullum crimen sine lege). We will then explain the different categories of international(ized) crimes distinguishing between the core and the treaty-based crimes. The second section will focus on the crime of terrorism. We will inquire into the relationship between terrorism and international criminal law and how it is affected by custom. Other international law aspects, intimately related to the current terrorism debate, such as state responsibility, the duty to prevent terrorism, state territory being used by terrorists, and the lawfulness of the use of force against terrorism, will not be treated. The gist of the issue is whether terrorism fulfils the decisive criteria of a true international crime, thereby making it possible to prosecute perpetrators globally, notwithstanding their protection by states. We will, on the basis of several international treaties, suggest a possible customary law definition of terrorism. We will conclude though that at the current state of international law, terrorism can only be qualified as a particularly serious transnational, treaty-based crime that is, at best, on the brink of becoming a true international crime but has not achieved this status yet.

Janik: Putting Security Council Resolution 2098 on the Democratic Republic of Congo in Context: The Long Way of Peacekeeping

Ralph R.A. Janik (Univ. of Vienna - Law) has posted Putting Security Council Resolution 2098 on the Democratic Republic of Congo in Context: The Long Way of Peacekeeping (Human Security Perspectives, Vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 142-185, 2014). Here's the abstract:

This paper deals with the establishment of the so-called “Intervention Brigade” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by Security Council Resolution 2098. In doing so, it outlines the history of Peacekeeping and how its fundamental principles – consent, impartiality and the restricted authorization to use force in self-defence only – have been re-interpreted along with the expansion of Peacekeeping mandates in order to show that the establishment of the Intervention Brigade is not as revolutionary as it seems at first. A closer inspection of how the Peacekeeping mission in the DRC evolved further supports this characterization since MONUSCO has operated on the basis of a “robust” mandate for long and thus has been involved in various military operations ever since. The specifically novelty of the Intervention Brigade is its explicitly “offensive” character, which challenges the traditional notions of Peacekeeping to a wide extent. The ultimate question, however, is whether this resolution is a mere exception or whether it constitutes a precedent for future Peacekeeping operations. Arguments in favour of both assumptions are presented, while it is clear that much will depend upon the success or failure of the Intervention Brigade in neutralizing the armed groups as envisaged by its mandate.

Tams: The World Court and the Development of the Modern Law of State Responsibility

Christian J. Tams (Univ. of Glasgow - Law) has posted The World Court and the Development of the Modern Law of State Responsibility. Here's the abstract:

The contribution addresses the formative influence of PCIJ and ICJ judgments on the contemporary law of State responsibility.

Gross: The New Way of War: Is There a Duty to Use Drones?

Oren Gross (Univ. of Minnesota - Law) has posted The New Way of War: Is There a Duty to Use Drones? (Florida Law Review, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Drones have become the poster child for America’s continuing fight against terrorism under President Obama, playing the role that torture had occupied during the Bush administration: a morally, legally, and politically controversial issue that drives a wedge between the United States and much of the rest of the world. Covert drone attacks orchestrated by the CIA around the world, including in areas that lie outside recognized war zones, raise a range of difficult questions that have been heavily debated by scholars, policy-makers and in the general media. However, that discussion has focused on whether states have the legal right to deploy drones and to use them. Little attention has been given to the use by the military of drones to carry out attacks in battlefield zones such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya and to the question whether a legal duty exists or ought to exist obligating states that possess drone technology to use that technology on the battlefield.

The central claim of the article is that such a duty can, in fact, be derived from the cardinal principles of the law of armed conflict. It suggests that such an interpretation is merited if we accept that drones combine remote use of accurate force that reduces lethality both among friendly forces and innocent civilians.

Drones are not, per se, unlawful under LOAC. Rather the critical question is the same for drones as for other types of weapons, i.e., whether the specific use of the weapon complies with LOAC. In this context, the weapon must be deployed in accordance with LOAC’s fundamental principles of humanity, proportionality, distinction, taking precautions, and military necessity. The article applies the general principles of LOAC to drones in three stages. It analyzes the general trajectories of weapons’ development throughout human history, trading off three main considerations, namely distance, accuracy and lethality. It then examines the rise of precision-guided munitions as an attempt to balance these three considerations, increasing military efficiency while minimizing harm to civilians and civilian objects. Looking at drones through the prism of that analysis, the article discusses drones as a combination of remote use of accurate force that reduces lethality and closely examines both the promise that the use of drones may bring to the battlefield as well as the challenges to their deployment.

Coming back to the question of whether states and their military commanders have an obligation to use drones in the context of an armed conflict, the articles that although there are no treaties that deal specifically with the use of drones in armed conflict and no customary norms obligating the use of drones, such a duty may be derived, by way of nuanced interpretation, from the cardinal principles of the law of armed conflict. Such a nuanced interpretation is merited if we accept that drones offer the possibility of a more humane war by combining remote, distant use of accurate force that reduces lethality both among friendly forces and innocent civilians.

Saul, Kinley, & Mowbray: The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Commentary, Cases, and Materials

Ben Saul (Univ. of Sydney - Law), David Kinley (Univ. of Sydney - Law), & Jaqueline Mowbray (Univ. of Sydney - Law) have published The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Commentary, Cases, and Materials (Oxford Univ. Press 2014). Here's the abstract:

Economic, social and cultural rights are finally coming of age. This book brings together all essential documents, materials, and case law relating to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) - one of the most important human rights instruments in international law - and its Optional Protocol. This book presents extracts from primary materials alongside critical commentary and analysis, placing the documents in their wider context and situating economic, social, and cultural rights within the broader human rights framework.

There is increasing interest internationally, regionally, and in domestic legal systems in the protection of economic, social, and cultural rights. The Optional Protocol of 2008 allows for individual communications to be made to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights after its entry into force in 2013. At the regional level, socio-economic rights are well embedded in human rights systems in Europe, Africa and the Americas. At the national level, constitutions and courts have increasingly regarded socio-economic rights as justiciable, narrowing the traditional divide with civil and political rights.

This book contextualises these developments in the context of the ICESCR. It provides detailed analysis of the ICESCR structured around its articles, drawing on national as well as international case law and materials, and containing all of the key primary materials in its extensive appendices. This book is indispensible for the judiciary, human rights practitioners, government legal advisers and agencies, national human rights institutions, international organisations, regional human rights bodies, NGOs and human rights activists, academics, and students alike.

New Issue: Transnational Dispute Management

The latest issue of Transnational Dispute Management (2014, no. 2) is out. This is a special issue on "The New Frontiers of Cultural Law: Intangible Heritage Disputes." The table of contents is here.

New Issue: Asian Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Asian Journal of International Law (Vol. 4, no. 1, January 2014) is out. Contents include:

• Sundaresh Menon, International Terrorism and Human Rights
• Xue Hanqin, A Point to Meet: Justice and International Criminal Law
• Shirley V. Scott, Inserting Visions of Justice into a Contemporary History of International Law
• Hitoshi Nasu & Donald R. Rothwell, Re-Evaluating the Role of International Law in Territorial and Maritime Disputes in East Asia
• Melanie O'Brien, Where Security Meets Justice: Prosecuting Maritime Piracy in the International Criminal Court
• Gabrielle Simm & Andrew Byrnes, International Peoples’ Tribunals in Asia: Political Theatre, Juridical Farce, or Meaningful Intervention?
• Alice de Jonge, From Unequal Treaties to Differential Treatment: Is There a Role for Equality in Treaty Relations?
• Ross P. Buckley, Introducing a 0.05% Financial Transactions Tax as an Instrument of Global Justice and Market Efficiency
• Rowena Maguire, Designing REDD+ to Be Just: Considerations for a Legally Binding Instrument
• Chat Le Nguyen, The International Anti-Money Laundering Regime and Its Adoption by Vietnam

Silva: State Legitimacy and Failure in International Law

Mario Silva (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) has published State Legitimacy and Failure in International Law (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2014). Here's the abstract:

Failing states share characteristics of inadequate structural competency, including, inter alia, the inability to advance human welfare and security. Economic inequalities and corruption are present, as well as a loss of legitimacy and reduced social cohesion. Failure of rule of law is manifested in areas of judicial adjudication, security, reduced territorial control and systemic political instability. The international community often confronts these challenges in a manner that actually complicates issues further through lack of consensus among state actors. Consequently, a new and emerging concept of sovereignty requires review in terms of the postmodern state. Through scholarly consideration, State Legitimacy and Failure in International Law evaluates gaps in structural competency that precipitate state failure and examines the resulting consequences for the world community.

Martin: United States v. Windsor and its Progeny: Implications for U.S. Bilateral and Multilateral Engagement

Julie B. Martin (Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State) has posted an ASIL Insight on United States v. Windsor and its Progeny: Implications for U.S. Bilateral and Multilateral Engagement.

Call for Papers: Workshops on « Droit international et développement »

In conjunction with the 2014 annual conference of the Société française pour le droit international, a call for papers has been issued for three workshops related to the conference theme "Droit international et développement." Here's the call:

Dans le cadre du colloque de la SFDI « Droit international et développement » qui se déroulera au sein de la faculté de droit de l’Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, un appel à communications est lancé pour trois ateliers :

Atelier « Développement et environnement »

Président : Yann Kerbrat, Professeur à Aix-Marseille Université

Rapporteur : Isabelle Michallet, MCF à l’Université Lyon 3

Présentation de l’atelier :

Les enjeux d’un développement économique et social et de la protection de l’environnement, unis depuis la Déclaration de Rio de 1992 dans le concept de développement durable, auquel la jurisprudence internationale reconnaît aujourd’hui une autorité certaine (sentences du Rhin de fer et des eaux de l’Indus), ne cohabitent pas toujours sans heurts. D’un côté, la nécessité pour les Etats de préserver leurs capacités à se développer économiquement constitue souvent la limite posée à l’élaboration de normes environnementales. D’un autre côté, la réalisation d’une économie verte est désormais le moyen avancé pour éliminer la pauvreté, porter une croissance économique durable, améliorer l’intégration sociale et le bien-être de l’humanité, tout en préservant le bon fonctionnement des écosystèmes de la planète (Rio + 20, L’avenir que nous voulons, 19 juin 2012, § 56).

L’objectif de l’atelier « Développement et environnement » est d’explorer ces liens contrastés et d’en identifier les conséquences sur l’élaboration des normes internationales et/ou sur la gouvernance environnementale.

Les candidatures pourront proposer une réflexion dans le champ d’une thématique environnementale spécifique (le changement climatique, la conservation de la biodiversité, la gestion des substances toxiques…), de manière transversale, ou plus largement en liant l’environnement au droit du développement. Elles pourront s’inspirer des questions d’actualité (année internationale des petits Etats insulaires en développement, négociations climatiques, échéance de 2015 pour les objectifs du Millénaire pour le développement…), ou au contraire prendre le parti de s’en détacher.

Les candidatures proposant des réflexions originales et innovantes seront vivement appréciées.

Les propositions de communications ne doivent pas excéder 2 pages et être envoyées accompagnées d’un CV à l’adresse suivante : cdi@univ-lyon3.fr au plus tard le 20 mars 2014.

Atelier « Développement et droits de l’homme »

Président Emmanuel Decaux, Professeur à l’Université Panthéon Assas Paris 2

Rapporteur : Sandrine Cortembert, MCF à l’Université Lyon 3

Dans le cadre du colloque de la SFDI « droit international et développement » qui se déroulera au sein de la faculté de droit de l’Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, une demi-journée sera destinée à l’étude du « Développement et droits de l’homme ».

Les communications seront suivies d’un débat. Elles pourront notamment porter sur l’un des sous-thèmes suivants :

- Le droit au développement comme droit de l’homme

- Les droits de l’homme dans les OMD et dans l’agenda post 2015

- La prise en compte des droits de l’homme par les Programmes communs nationaux (PCN) de l’OCDE

- Les acteurs publics du développement durable, effort national et coopération internationale

- Les acteurs non étatiques du développement durable et responsabilités des entreprises en matière de droits de l’homme

- Droits des femmes et développement

- Le rôle de certaines organisations internationales régionales (surtout UE) dans le développement conditionné par la protection des droits de l’homme

Les propositions de communications (résumé d’une vingtaine de lignes) sont à envoyer, accompagnées d’un CV, au Professeur Decaux, 11 rue de Chartes, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine et en version électroniques au Centre de Droit international de la faculté de droit de l’Université Jean Moulin cdi@univ-lyon3.fr au plus tard le 20 mars 2014.

Atelier « Développement et maintien de la paix et de la sécurité »

Président : Théodore Christakis, Professeur à l’Université Grenoble-Alpes

Rapporteur : Hélène Hamant, MCF à l’Université Lyon 3

Dans le cadre du colloque annuel de la Société Française pour le Droit International portant cette année sur « Le droit international et le développement » et qui se déroulera au sein de l’Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 du 22 mai au 24 mai 2014, est prévu un atelier consacré au « Développement et maintien de la paix et de la sécurité ».

Les chercheurs intéressés sont invités à soumettre une proposition de communication sur le thème de cet atelier (un titre et un résumé de 2 pages maximum) accompagnée d’un curriculum vitae pour le 20 mars au plus tard au Centre de droit international de l’Université de Lyon 3 (cdi@uni-lyon3.fr). Ils seront informés du processus de sélection au plus tard le 10 avril.

Call for Papers: Foreign Investment in the Services Sector

A call for papers has been issued for a conference on "Foreign Investment in the Services Sector," to take place September 18-19, 2014 at the University of Lausanne. Here's the call:

Call for Papers: Foreign Investment in the Services Sector

A workshop - organized by Andreas R. Ziegler and Michael Hahn (University of Lausanne), Eric de Brabandere (Grotius Centre, Leiden University) and Tarcisio Gazzini (VU Amsterdam) - will take place on 18-19 September 2014 at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) in the context of the opening of the academic year of the LLM Programme on International and European Economic and Commercial Law, and it will explore the specific problems relating to foreign direct investment in services sector and thus the overlap of International Investment Law and Trade in Services.

Topics for Papers

Proposals for papers are particularly welcome in the following thematic areas but other relevant topics will also be considered:

- Investment law and public services;

- Interaction between investment and services chapters in RTAs;

- Investment law and competition issues in services;

- Investment law and network industries;

- Problems of investment liberalization and protection in specific services sectors like telecommunications, financial services, utilities distribution, infrastructure projects, and security or professional services.

Deadline

Deadline for the submission of proposals for presentations/chapters is 30 April 2014 and these should be submitted to Ms. Jorun Baumgartner (jorunkatharina.baumgartner@unil.ch). The selected participants will be notified by 31 May 2014.

SFDI: Le pouvoir normatif de l’OCDE : Journée d’études de Paris de la Société française pour le droit international

The Société française pour le droit international has published Le pouvoir normatif de l’OCDE : Journée d’études de Paris de la Société française pour le droit international (Pedone 2014). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

Cet ouvrage est le fruit des débats qui se sont déroulés et de la réflexion ainsi engagée lors d’une journée d’études de la Société française pour le droit international qui s’est tenue dans le cadre des célébrations du cinquantenaire de l’entrée en vigueur de la Convention de Paris créant l’Organisation de Coopération et de Développement économiques (OCDE). L’OCDE est davantage connue du grand public pour sa fonction d’expertise dans le domaine économique que pour sa fonction normative. Or le but des organisateurs était précisément de se concentrer sur celle-ci. Comment l’OCDE est-elle devenue un site majeur de production de normes – entendues au sens large – destinées à être largement diffusées au niveau international ? Comment comprendre l’enchevêtrement de décisions, recommandations, principes, modèles, guides pratiques portant sur un même secteur d’activité ? L’enjeu était aussi de s’interroger sur la place de l’OCDE dans la galaxie des organisations internationales et sa capacité à œuvrer à la régulation juridique de la mondialisation.

Ciorciari: International Decision: Request for Interpretation of the Temple of Preah Vihear Judgment

John D. Ciorciari (Univ. of Michigan - Ford School of Public Policy) has posted International Decision: Request for Interpretation of the Judgment of 15 June 1962 in the Case Concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia v. Thailand) (American Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This article reviews the 2013 International Court of Justice decision in the case concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear, the site of a longstanding territorial feud between Thailand and Cambodia. In 2011, after a series of military clashes, the Cambodian government asked the Court to interpret its 1962 judgment pertaining to Preah Vihear, which awarded the temple to Cambodia but left the status of surrounding territories unclear. The Court agreed to interpret the original judgment, seeking to clarify some of its ambiguities without violating the principle of non ultra petita. Its cautious 2013 interpretation left important questions unanswered and subject to further bilateral negotiation, but the absence of a more decisive ruling has a potential silver lining. It gave each side the capacity to claim partial victory, which may help relieve some of the nationalist pressure that has fueled the dispute.

Ruys: Of Arms, Funding and 'Non-Lethal Assistance' - Third-State Intervention in the Syrian Civil War

Tom Ruys (Ghent Univ. - Law) has posted Of Arms, Funding and 'Non-Lethal Assistance' - Third-State Intervention in the Syrian Civil War (Chinese Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

In spite of legal objections, the European Union (EU) in May 2013 gave the conditional green light for the transfer of arms to the Syrian Opposition Council. The EU’s decision is not a solitary move. Several other States, including Russia, the United States, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, have provided arms, funding and/or “non-lethal assistance” either to the Syrian government or to rebel forces combating the Assad regime. The present contribution aims to shed light on the legality of such assistance. On the one hand, it assesses legal objections related to the fact that third-State assistance is used for the commission of widespread war crimes and human rights violations. On the other hand, it examines the compatibility of such assistance with the nonintervention principle and, in so doing, examines to what extent the latter principle discriminates between de jure governments and non-State armed groups in the context of a civil war.

Trapp: The Interaction of the International Terrorism Suppression Regime and IHL in Domestic Criminal Prosecutions: The UK Experience

Kimberley Natasha Trapp (Univ. College London - Law) has posted The Interaction of the International Terrorism Suppression Regime and IHL in Domestic Criminal Prosecutions: The UK Experience (in Applying International Humanitarian Law in Judicial and Quasi-Judicial Bodies: International and Domestic Aspects, Jinks, Maogoto & Solomon eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This chapter explores the interaction between terrorism suppression and international humanitarian law in the context of domestic terrorism prosecutions. The chapter sketches the relevant terrorism suppression treaty regime and explores the possible interpretations which should be given to regime interaction clauses therein. In particular, this chapter argues that the interaction between terrorism suppression and international humanitarian law dictated by treaty results in both a floor and a ceiling on the exercise of domestic criminal jurisdiction – creating international law limitations on the right of State Parties to criminalise acts of war as ‘terrorism’.

New Issue: Humanity

The latest issue of Humanity (Vol. 5, no. 1, March 2014) is out. Contents include:

• Priya Satia, Drones: A History from the British Middle East
• Anna Chotzen, Beyond Bounds: Morocco's Rif War and the Limits of International Law
• Nicolas Guilhot, Introduction to the Photo Essay
• Trevor Paglen, Photo Essay
• Olivier Remaud, The Antinomies of Cosmopolitan Reason
• Stephanie DeGooyer, Democracy, Give or Take?
• "Transforming the Nature of the Struggle": An Interview with James C. Scott
• Alberto Toscano, The Tactics and Ethics of Humanitarianism
• James Dawes & Samantha Gupta, On Narrative and Human Rights

Barton: International Law and the Future of Freedom

John H. Barton has published International Law and the Future of Freedom (Stanford Univ. Press 2014). Here's the abstract:

International Law and The Future of Freedom is the late John Barton's exploration into ways to protect our freedoms in the new global international order. This book forges a unique approach to the problem of democracy deficit in the international legal system as a whole—looking at how international law concretely affects actual governance. The book draws from the author's unparalleled mastery of international trade, technology, and financial law, as well as from a wide array of other legal issues, from espionage law, to international criminal law, to human rights law.

The book defines the new and changing needs to assert our freedoms and the appropriate international scopes of our freedoms in the context of the three central issues that our global system must resolve: the balance between security and freedom, the balance between economic equity and opportunity, and the balance between community and religious freedom. Barton explores the institutional ways in which those rights can be protected, using a globalized version of the traditional balance of powers division into the global executive, the global legislature, and the global judiciary.

Call for Papers: Global Integrity at the Tipping Point: Imminent and Ongoing Threats to the Ecological, Social and Cultural Evolution of the Planet

A call for papers has been issued for a conference on "Global Integrity at the Tipping Point: Imminent and Ongoing Threats to the Ecological, Social and Cultural Evolution of the Planet," to take place June 21-26, 2014, on the Island of Rhodes, Greece. The call is here.

Tams: The World Court's Role in the International Law-Making Process

Christian J. Tams (Univ. of Glasgow - Law) has posted The World Court's Role in the International Law-Making Process. Here's the abstract:

Should courts make law, or at least develop and shape it? Do they? And if so, how? These are major questions that arise, in one way or the other, in many legal systems.

The paper looks at one particular legal system (international law), and one particular court’s role in the process of its development (the International Court of Justice – ‘ICJ’, or ‘Court’). It draws on a large amount of prior writing on the topic, but it raises what is believed to be an under-researched question: how much of present-day international law has been shaped, made or developed by the ICJ and its predecessor, the Permanent Court of International Justice (‘PCIJ’)? What, in other words, has been the Court’s role in the international law-making process.

Schmitt & Vihul: The International Law of Attribution During Proxy 'Wars' in Cyberspace

Michael N. Schmitt (U.S. Naval War College - Law) & Liis Vihul (NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence) have posted The International Law of Attribution During Proxy 'Wars' in Cyberspace (Fletcher Security Review, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

The article examines the use of non-State actors by States to conduct cyber operations against other States. In doing so, it examines attribution of a non-State actor's cyber operations to a State pursuant to the law of State responsibility, attribution of a non-State actor's cyber armed attack to a State for the purposes of a self-defense analysis, and attribution of cyber military operations to a State in the context of determining whether an international armed conflict has been initiated. These three very different legal inquiries are often confused with each other. The article seeks to deconstruct the issue of attribution into its various normative components.

Benedek et al.: Bestand und Wandel des Völkerrechts

Wolfgang Benedek, Hans-Peter Folz, Hubert Isak, Matthias C. Kettemann, & Renate Kicker have published Bestand und Wandel des Völkerrechts (Peter Lang 2014). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

Dieser Sammelband enthält die Beiträge des 38. Österreichischen Völkerrechtstags 2013 in Stadtschlaining, der dem Thema Bestand und Wandel des Völkerrechts gewidmet war. Der Fokus des ersten Teils liegt auf aktuellen Fragen von Frieden und Sicherheit in den internationalen Beziehungen. Der zweite Teil des Bandes zeigt die vielfältigen Herausforderungen aktueller Völkerrechtspraxis auf. Erfahrungsberichte beleuchten die Tätigkeit der Völkerrechtsbüros der Außenministerien Österreichs, Deutschlands und der Schweiz. Im dritten Teil werden herausragende Ergebnisse aktueller völkerrechtlicher Forschung vorgestellt, von der Vertragstreue bis zum Verhältnis von staatlicher und völkerrechtlicher bzw. staatlicher und europarechtlicher Rechtsordnung. Im abschließenden vierten Teil berichten Vertreterinnen und Vertreter österreichischer Universitäten über die Lehre des Völkerrechts und seine Didaktik.

Føllesdal: Much Ado About Nothing? International Judicial Review of Human Rights in Well Functioning Democracies

Andreas Føllesdal (Universitetet i Oslo - Law) has posted Much Ado About Nothing? International Judicial Review of Human Rights in Well Functioning Democracies (in The Legitimacy of International Human Rights Regimes, A. Føllesdal, J. Schaffer & G. Ulfstein eds., 2014). Here's the abstract:

The chapter addresses some of the tensions between sovereignty, international human rights review and legitimacy, and bring these findings to bear on the proposals for reform of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) that would reduce its authority over national legislatures and judiciaries. The objectives of such review are not obvious, the causes of noncompliance are contested, as is the legality of dynamic treaty interpretation; all of which hamper efforts to assess proposed improvements. Section 1 presents some relevant aspects of the ECtHR. Section 2 reviews some of the recent criticism against the ECtHR practice of judicial review to protect human rights in ‘well-functioning’ democracies, in terms of various forms of legitimacy deficits. It also presents some of the recent proposals for reform of the ECtHR. Section 3 lays out some reasons why such judicial review of majoritarian democratic decision-making may be defensible, also for well functioning democracies. Section 4 responds to some of the criticisms, and presents a partial defence. Some standard objections are not well targeted against the practices of the ECtHR, partly due to the division of responsibility between it and national public bodies, and the different roles of legislators and of judiciaries. Section 5 returns to the proposals presented in section 2. Section 6 concludes by considering some of the important remaining normative challenges, this partial defence notwithstanding.

Bhuiyan, Sands, & Schrijver: International Law and Developing Countries: Essays in Honour of Kamal Hossain

Sharif Bhuiyan (Dr Kamal Hossain & Associates), Philippe Sands (Univ. College London - Law) & Nico Schrijver (Leiden Univ. - Law) have published International Law and Developing Countries: Essays in Honour of Kamal Hossain (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2014). Contents include:

• Sharif Bhuiyan, Philippe Sands & Nico Schrijver, “I believe in the power of human beings to be agents of change:” An interview with Kamal Hossain
• Muthucumaraswamy Sornarajah, The Return of the NIEO and the Retreat of Neo-Liberal International Law
• Asif H. Qureshi, Critical Concepts in the New International Economic Order and its Impact on the Development of International Economic Law: A Tribute to the Call for a NIEO
• M.C.W. Pinto, Some Thoughts on the Making of International Law
• Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann, International Trade Law and Human Rights: The ILA’s 2008 “Rio de Janeiro Declaration”
• Paul de Waart, Judicial Supervision of Countering Terrorism: The Case of Palestine
• Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, Climate Change and Financial Assistance: A Fragmented, Unified or Coordinated Approach?
• James Crawford, The Regulatory Framework of International Commercial Arbitration: The Amended UNCITRAL Rules
• A.F.M. Maniruzzaman, Risk Management and Dispute Avoidance in Oil and Gas Investments in Developing Countries: The Way Forward
• Abdullah Al Faruque, Relationship between Investment Contracts and Human Rights: A Developing Countries’ Perspective
• L. D. M. Nelson, The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf with Special Reference to Developing Countries
• Silke Steiner & Friedl Weiss, Transparency as an Element of Good Governance in the Practice of the WTO
• Yuwen Li, China’s Changing Judicial System in the Time of Globalization: Challenges of Integrating International Standards and the National Realities

New Issue: London Review of International Law

The latest issue of the London Review of International Law (Vol. 2, no. 1, March 2014) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Luis Eslava, Istanbul vignettes: observing the everyday operation of international law
• Michael Fakhri, The institutionalisation of free trade and empire: a study of the 1902 Brussels Convention
• Ben Golder, Beyond redemption? Problematising the critique of human rights in contemporary international legal thought
• James Harrison, The case for investigative legal pluralism in international economic law linkage debates: a strategy for enhancing the value of international legal discourse
• Sectionthree
• Yoriko Otomo, Her proper name: a revisionist account of international law
• Peter Fitzpatrick, Taking place: Westphalia and the poetics of law