New Issue: Human Rights & International Legal Discourse

The latest issue of Human Rights & International Legal Discourse (Vol. 8, no. 2, 2014) is out. Contents include:

• E. Desmet, Analysing Users’ Trajectories in Human Rights: A Conceptual Exploration and Research Agenda
• M. Baumgärtel, Perspectives on the ‘User’: Unpacking a Concept for Human Rights Research
• B. Oomen & E. Van Den Berg, Human Rights Cities: Urban Actors as Pragmatic Idealistic Human Rights Users
• D. Staes, The Use of Documents Other than the European Convention on Human Rights and Its Protocols in Cases Before the European Court of Human Rights: Reflections from and upon a Users’ Perspective
• S. Ganty & M. Baumgärtel, Effective Remedies as Capabilities: Towards a User Perspective on the Human Rights of Migrants in Belgium
• M. De Pauw, Interpreting the European Convention on Human Rights in Light of Emerging Human Rights Issues: An Older Person’s Perspective
• D. Inman, Indigenous Peoples as Users of Human Rights: Pushing the Boundaries of Indigeneity and Influencing International Law
• P. McAuliffe, Justice Delayed is Justice Developed: Questioning the Rush to Judgment in Post-Conflict Prosecutions

New Issue: La Comunità Internazionale

The latest issue of La Comunità Internazionale (Vol. 69, no. 2, 2014) is out. Contents include:

• Articoli e Saggi
• Umberto Leanza & Francesca Graziani, Poteri di enforcement e di jurisdiction in materia di traffico di migranti via mare: aspetti operativi nell’attività di contrasto
• Osservatorio Diritti Umani
• Marcella Ferri, L’evoluzione del diritto di partecipare alla vita culturale e del concetto di diritti culturali nel diritto internazionale
• Osservatorio Europeo
• Andrea Gratteri, Parlamento e Commissione: il difficile equilibrio fra rappresentanza e governabilità nell’Unione Europea
• Alfredo Rizzo, Alcuni profili problematici della competenza dell’Unione Europea in materia di investimenti diretti esteri

New Issue: Transnational Dispute Management

The latest issue of Transnational Dispute Management (2014, no. 6) is out. This is a special issue on "Dispute Resolution from a Corporate Perspective." The table of contents is here.

Hegemann: International Counterterrorism Bureaucracies in the United Nations and the European Union

Hendrik Hegemann has published International Counterterrorism Bureaucracies in the United Nations and the European Union (Nomos 2014). Here's the abstract:

Since the attacks of September 11, 2001 a complex web of international structures and rules for the fight against transnational terrorism has emerged. However, previous research, so far, disregarded the organizational basis of counterterrorism cooperation. Using the example of bureaucratic actors in the United Nations and the European Union, this study examines how and to which degree international counterterrorism bureaucracies exercise autonomy and perform distinct functions. The examination reveals the special ambivalence of counterterrorism cooperation for international bureaucracies, which need to reconcile calls for effective counterterrorism with the need to maintain an impression of technical impartiality in a particularly contested policy-field. They respond to this challenge with different strategies of politicization and depoliticization.

New Issue: International Affairs

The latest issue of International Affairs (Vol. 91, no. 1, January 2015) is out. Contents include:

• Dina Esfandiary & Ariane Tabatabai, Iran's ISIS policy
• Lewis Herrington, British Islamic extremist terrorism: the declining significance of Al-Qaeda and Pakistan
• Kirsten Ainley, The Responsibility to Protect and the International Criminal Court: counteracting the crisis
• Denise Garcia, Humanitarian security regimes
• Tim Oliver, To be or not to be in Europe: is that the question? Britain's European question and an in/out referendum
• Mark Beeson & Fujian Li, What consensus? Geopolitics and policy paradigms in China and the United States
• Julien Nocetti, Contest and conquest: Russia and global internet governance
• Jonathan Fisher & David M. Anderson, Authoritarianism and the securitization of development in Africa
• John C.G. Röhl, Goodbye to all that (again)? The Fischer thesis, the new revisionism and the meaning of the First World War

Call for Papers: 11th Annual Conference of the European Society of International Law (Reminder)

The European Society of International Law has issued a call for papers for its 11th Annual Conference, which will take place September 10-12, 2015, in Oslo and will be hosted by the PluriCourts Centre for the Study of the Legitimate Roles of the Judiciary in the Global Order at the University of Oslo. The theme is: "The Judicialization of International Law – A Mixed Blessing?" The call for agora proposals and papers is here and the call for posters is here. The deadline for the submission of abstracts and proposals is January 31, 2015.

Kelley & Simmons: Politics by Number: Indicators as Social Pressure in International Relations

Judith G. Kelley (Duke Univ. - Public Policy & Political Science) & Beth A. Simmons (Harvard Univ. - Government) have published Politics by Number: Indicators as Social Pressure in International Relations (American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 59, no. 1, pp. 55–70, January 2015). Here's the abstract:

The ability to monitor state behavior has become a critical tool of international governance. Systematic monitoring allows for the creation of numerical indicators that can be used to rank, compare, and essentially censure states. This article argues that the ability to disseminate such numerical indicators widely and instantly constitutes an exercise of social power, with the potential to change important policy outputs. It explores this argument in the context of the United States’ efforts to combat trafficking in persons and find evidence that monitoring has important effects: Countries are more likely to criminalize human trafficking when they are included in the U.S. annual Trafficking in Persons Report, and countries that are placed on a “watch list” are also more likely to criminalize. These findings have broad implications for international governance and the exercise of soft power in the global information age.

Desai: The Advent of the United Nations Environment Assembly

Bharat H. Desai (Jawaharlal Nehru Univ. - Centre for International Legal Studies) has posted an ASIL Insight on The Advent of the United Nations Environment Assembly.

Call for Papers: Panel Proposal on International Environmental Law for ESIL Annual Conference

The ESIL Interest Group on International Environmental Law has issued a call for papers for an agora proposal being put together in response to the call for papers for the 11th Annual Conference of the European Society of International Law. Here's the call:

Panel Proposal

Interest Group on International Environmental Law

ESIL annual conference, Oslo 2015

Call for papers

The growing complexity and specialisation of international law has given rise to calls for the constitution of courts, tribunals, and chambers operating in specific issue areas. International environmental law is a prominent example of this phenomenon; indeed, that call seemed to have been heeded with the creation of the ICJ’s Environmental Chamber, which seems to be a failed experiment. While there has been a small number of environmental disputes submitted to international courts and tribunals in the last couple of decades, this may not be evidence of a trend, particularly when one notes that environmental cases considered on their merits remain rare.

This panel will address the relevance, actual and potential, of adjudicatory bodies for international environmental norms. Papers may address the following issues:

• What can realistically be expected of courts and tribunals hearing environmental disputes?
• What contributions could adjudicatory bodies, whether specialised or not, make to this body of law?
• Does the highly specialised nature of international environmental law require highly specialised adjudicatory bodies? Is environmental law still too broad – must adjudicatory bodies be even more highly specialised than this?
• What is the role of general courts and tribunals such as the ICJ?
• What factors contribute to state reluctance to submit environmental disputes to adjudication?
• Where are disputes in this area being addressed? Are other adjudicatory bodies, or other approaches to dispute resolution altogether, adequate, or perhaps even better adapted?
• What role does fragmentation of international law play in this context? Is it counterbalanced by dialogue among international courts and circulation of principles?
• Do “pure” environmental disputes actually exist or are they always intertwined with other aspects?
• Are judges well equipped to deal with environmental disputes? Could this affect the attitude of States towards international adjudication?
• What role for amicus curiae submissions in relation to environmental disputes?
• Should the ICJ’s environment chamber be reinvigorated, and if so, how? Are there certain incentives which could enhance state submissions to the court / the chamber?
• What can be learned from other bodies of law, notably areas such as law of the sea or international criminal law for which specialised adjudicatory bodies have been created?

Submission of paper proposals

ESIL members are invited to submit proposals for papers to be included in a panel proposal for the 2015 ESIL conference in Oslo. Abstracts should be no more than 500 words and be accompanied by a short CV. Proposals must be submitted by 25 January to Jaye Ellis (jaye.ellis@mcgill.ca) or to Birgit Lode (birgit.lode@iass.potsdam.de).

Panel convenors:

Jaye Ellis; Birgit Lode; Oren Perez; Alejandra Torres-Camprubi; Elisa Ruozzi

de la Rasilla del Moral: Beyond the Spanish Classics - the Ephemeral Awakening of the History of International Law in Pre-Democratic Spain

Ignacio de la Rasilla del Moral (Brunel Univ. - Law) has posted Beyond the Spanish Classics - the Ephemeral Awakening of the History of International Law in Pre-Democratic Spain (Monde(s). Histoire, Espaces, Relations, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

The archetypal role that the Spanish Classics of International law have largely played in the consciousness of every generation of international lawyers globally for, at least, the last century and a half is widely acknowledged. The likes of Francisco de Vitoria, Suarez, De Las Casas et al. are still often heralded as the founders of the discipline of international law and continue to be brought out in public iconic procession at key-historical turning points of the history of international law. Against the cyclical attempts to build on a historically distorted mythology of the Spanish Classics of International Law without paying due attention to the evolution of international law during the 19th and 20th centuries in the cradle of those same Spanish classics of international law, this work highlights the intellectually emancipatory role and anti-dictatorial credentials of an ephemeral attempt to renovate the study of the history of international law in Franco's pre-democratic Spain.

Call for Papers: International Law as a Mechanism for Justice

The British Branch of the International Law Association has issued a call for papers for its annual spring conference, which will take place at the University of Essex School of Law, on May 29-30, 2015. The theme is "International Law as a Mechanism for Justice." Here's the call:

ILA British Branch Spring Conference

International Law as a Mechanism for Justice

School of Law, University of Essex

29th-30th May 2015

Call for papers

From its origins, and the interwoven debates and developments emerging from notions of jus gentium and the law of nature, international law has been viewed as a tool for justice. This conference sets out to explore whether it has achieved the aims of its early advocates, posing a number of broad, crosscutting themes:

Conceptual and Theoretical Frameworks of Justice

It might be asked whether justice is conceived as a central objective of international law, and how it might be balanced against other objectives. We can consider, for instance, how existing frameworks balance states’ accountability against conceptions of national interest and state sovereignty. Furthermore, how might foundational principles such as the exhaustion of domestic remedies, sovereign immunities, and the doctrine of act of state contribute to the denial of justice? At a further order of critique, is the justice of international law Eurocentric or cosmopolitan? And does justice ever give way to, or serve as an expression of, power?

Substantive and Practical Challenges for Justice in International Law

Today’s global society sees numerous challenges presented to the substantive workings of public international law. We might reflect on justice in the economy, considering, for instance, whether international law can support an equitable international order, and whether it succeeds in protecting nations against economic sanctions and unilateral coercive measures. The legal regulation of war also raises exigent questions about the dynamics of justice in humanitarian law, regime change, and our legal conceptions of states’ aggression. There is scope to consider the pursuit of justice through human rights, including the feasibility of universal jurisdiction and the accountability of non-state actors for human rights violations. Further, it is important to ask how particular demands of justice are raised by the global commons. For instance, do we have a satisfactory framework for promoting environmental justice, and can international law advance inter-generational equity?

Actor-oriented Perspectives on Justice

We invite discussion on whether current legal frameworks succeed in allowing individuals access to justice against states and international organisations, and how international law can protect individuals against non-state actors, particularly armed groups and commercial companies. To pick out some more specific issues, can diplomatic protection become an effective instrument for states to protect individuals in foreign countries? What is the impact of states’ extra-territorial obligations on the quest for justice under international law? More broadly, we can also ask to what extent international prosecution has strengthened respect for international law.

Justice and Institutions

International judicial and arbitration mechanisms inevitably hold a crucial responsibility in the promotion of justice, the effectiveness of which should be explored. How successful are judicial processes, such as the ICC, in securing domestic justice—including where there is no domestic forum for redress? Do regional and international courts undermine democratic institutions, and can over-legalization ultimately undermine justice? Similarly, we might ask if there are trade-offs between the independence and effectiveness of international courts.

We welcome papers from both academics and practitioners, and we encourage the participation of early career researchers.

Please send abstracts of around 300 words to ilaconference2015@essex.ac.uk by 28th February 2015. If you have any queries please direct these to the same address.

Oxford Public International Law Discussion Group - Hilary Term 2015

Here's the schedule for the Oxford Public International Law Discussion Group for Hilary Term 2015:

• January 22, 2015: Ilias Plakokefalos (Univ. of Amsterdam - Law), Causation in the Law of State Responsibility
• January 29, 2015: Stephen Haines (Univ. of Greenwich - Law), Protecting Schools in Conflict: Developing International Guidelines
• February 5, 2015: tbc
• February 12, 2015: Efthymios Papastavridis (Univ. of Thrace - Law; Academy of Athens), Controlling Irregular Migration and the Law of International Responsibility: the case of FRONTEX
• February 19, 2015: Nigel Rodley (Univ. of Essex - Law), Reflections on Four Decades of International Action against Torture
• February 26, 2015: Jessica Gladstone (King’s College London - Law), title tbc
• March 5, 2015: Kimberley Trapp (London School of Economics - Law), Pluralism and the ‘Turn to Responsibility’ in the Jus ad Bellum: ‘Unwilling or Unable’ in context
• March 12, 2015: tbc

Call for Applications: Arthur C. Helton Fellowships

The American Society of International Law is accepting applications for the Arthur C. Helton Fellowships, which "provide financial assistance in the form of 'micro-grants' for law students and young professionals to pursue field work and research on significant issues involving international law, human rights, humanitarian affairs, and related areas." Applications must be submitted to fellowship@asil.org and must be received no later than Monday, January 19, 2015, by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Additional information is available here.

Call for Papers: XXVI Jornadas de la AEPDIRI

A call for papers has been issued for the Twenty-Sixth Conference of the Asociación Española de Profesores de Derecho Internacional y Relaciones Internacionales, which will take place October 15-16, 2015, in Sevilla. The theme is: "España y la Unión Europea en el orden internacional." The call is here (English / Español).

Pauwelyn: WTO Panelists Are From Mars, ICSID Arbitrators Are From Venus: Why? And Does it Matter?

Joost Pauwelyn (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies) has posted WTO Panelists Are From Mars, ICSID Arbitrators Are From Venus: Why? And Does it Matter? Here's the abstract:

Who are the individuals deciding today’s international disputes? Is the pool of people, their nationality, professional background, diversity, status or ideology different across international tribunals? If so, why? And does it matter in terms of outcomes, or the effectiveness or legitimacy of the tribunal or the broader legal system within which the tribunal operates?

This contribution focuses on adjudicators in World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement and investor-state arbitration at the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Part II identifies six striking differences between WTO panelists and ICSID arbitrators. Part III offers a number of factors that explain these differences. Part IV points at some of the possible consequences of these differences, a full assessment of which is left for future research. Part V concludes.

Call for Papers: El rol de América Latina en el Derecho Económico Internacional

A call for papers has been issued for the third biennial conference of La Red Latinoamericana de Derecho Económico Internacional, which will take place October 22-24, 2015, in Porto Alegre. The theme is: "El rol de América Latina en el Derecho Económico Internacional." Here's the call:

Tercera Conferencia Bienal de la Red Latinoamericana de Derecho Económico Internacional

El rol de América Latina en el

Derecho Económico Internacional

22 a 24 de octubre de 2015

Porto Alegre, Brasil

Convocatoria para Artículos

La Red Latinoamericana de Derecho Económico Internacional (RED LADEI), las Universidades Federal de Río Grande del Sur, Federal de Minas Gerais, Federal de Paraíba, Estatal de Río de Janeiro y el Centro Universitario de Brasilia, con el apoyo de la Society of International Economic Law, convocan a la presentación de propuestas de artículos para la Tercera Conferencia Bienal de la RED LADEI sobre el “El rol de América Latina en el Derecho Económico Internacional” a desarrollarse entre el 22 y 24 de octubre de 2015, en Porto Alegre, Brasil.

PLAZO PARA PRESENTAR PROPUESTAS: 8 de febrero de 2015

COMUNICACIÓN DE LOS RESULTADOS: 8 de marzo de 2015

ENTREGA ARTÍCULOS: 15 de agosto de 2015

El tema de la conferencia será: “El rol de América Latina en el Derecho Económico Internacional”. La convocatoria está abierta para practicantes, académicos y funcionarios internacionales o de gobierno. La sinergia entre los tres sectores es positiva, por lo que la Red impulsa esta iniciativa.

El programa general de la Conferencia incluye sesiones plenarias, diferentes paneles temáticos y posters. Los ponentes de las sesiones plenarias serán convocados por la coordinación del evento de la Red LADEI, los expositores de los paneles y de posters, serán seleccionados según los términos de esta convocatoria. Los idiomas de trabajo de la Conferencia serán español y portugués.

Les invitamos a reunirse con reconocidos expertos en derecho económico internacional de diferentes partes del mundo para discutir sobre el rol de nuestra región en el DEI, si es un actor que propone soluciones, sugiere nuevas teorías, o si se trata de un actor pasivo que sigue juiciosamente las políticas de los países con más recursos de poder.

En las pasadas conferencias en las universidades Externado de Colombia y Pontificia Universidad Católica de Perú, participaron algunos de los más importantes expertos en derecho internacional económico de la región, entre ellos miembros del Tribunal Permanente de Revisión del MERCOSUR, jueces del Tribunal de Justicia de la Comunidad Andina y del Órgano de Apelación de la OMC, y más de 200 académicos, abogados y representantes de organizaciones internacionales. Las ponencias y artículos entregados en la conferencia han sido editados por los co-directores de la Red y la Universidad Externado de Colombia, y publicados. La conferencia contará con mesas individuales y conferencias magistrales en formato de plenaria. Cada mesa tendrá un moderador y, según el caso, comentaristas. Esperamos contar con una representación geográfica y de género equilibrada.

Los paneles y posters

Con el objeto de fomentar el debate entre los participantes, los paneles ofrecen un espacio para discutir la experiencia práctica y/o resultados de investigaciones y la presentación de posters. Las propuestas para paneles y posters deben estar relacionadas con el tema de la conferencia y abordar, por ejemplo cuestiones sobre:

• historia del derecho económico internacional y/o de las relaciones económicas internacionales en América Latina

• derecho económico internacional (comercio, inversión, derecho financiero o monetario) en Latinoamérica o con un enfoque sobre Latinoamérica y sus vínculos con otras regiones;
• las instituciones de integración en Latinoamérica, su fragmentación y/o coherencia con otras instituciones globales;
• teoría jurídica de las relaciones económicas internacionales.
• Relaciones entre el derecho internacional económico y otros temas (energía, clima, derechos de los trabajadores, derechos humanos, etc.);
• Relaciones entre el derecho interno y el derecho económico internacional en los países de la región

Las propuestas deben ser entregadas antes del 8 de febrero de 2015.

Postulación individual, panel o poster

Para postular, solicitamos a los interesados enviar por correo electrónico un resumen de no más de 300 palabras con el tema a tratar en su ponencia, nombre, afiliación y breve biografía o CV por e-mail. Solicitamos indicar en el título del correo que envíen si se trata de panel, postulación individual o poster.

En caso de ser escogida, un borrador avanzado del artículo o estructura del poster que desarrolla la propuesta debe entregarse antes del 15 de agosto de 2015.

Por favor, indicar si el trabajo ha sido publicado, es un documento de trabajo o es inédito, y sí está dispuesto a publicar el trabajo final en un libro temático de la red. Para efectos de la publicación, el artículo será de entre 20 y 30 paginas máximo.

Para efectos de la publicación, se conformará un comité editorial que escogerá los trabajos que cumplan los requisitos de calidad y pertinencia en razón del tema de la conferencia.

Postulación individual de profesionales no académicos

Con el objetivo de fomentar el dialogo entre la academia y los sectores privado y gubernamental serán admitidas un número limitado de ponencias sin la obligación de presentar un artículo desarrollando la propuesta. Esta opción está disponible solamente para profesionales que no tengan vinculación con el sector académico. Los requisitos para este tipo de postulación son: (a) presentar un resumen de no más de 300 palabras sobre el tema a tratar en la ponencia; (b) el tema de la ponencia debe estar relacionado directamente con la experiencia profesional del postulante – la propuesta debe incluir una breve descripción de la experiencia profesional relevante para el tema de la ponencia además del CV del postulante; (c) compromiso de enviar una presentación en formato electrónico (Power Point) que se usará durante la conferencia no más tarde que el 12 de octubre de 2015.

Postulación de mesas

La postulación de mesas debe contar con al menos tres integrantes, un título y resumen de la mesa, conferencistas comprometidos, información sobre ellos (afiliación), los títulos y resúmenes de las presentaciones individuales, y al menos el nombre de un comentarista. Los conferencistas deben estar de acuerdo con el título de su charla y confirmar su interés y disposición en participar.

Los plazos para el envío de los artículos finales que son aquellos señalados anteriormente para los paneles.

Preferiblemente las mesas deben contar con representatividad regional y de género, así como diversidad de opiniones existentes. Es responsabilidad del organizador de la mesa, garantizar la participación de los integrantes de las mesas.

Financiación

La organización del evento no cubre los gastos de viaje ni de alojamiento de los panelistas, presentadores de posters o moderadores.

Les pedimos enviar las propuestas vía e-mail a red.dei2015@gmail.com;

Ninguna persona podrá envuelta en más de dos propuestas, cualquiera que sea el formato.

Los resultados serán anunciados el 8 de marzo de 2015. Cada propuesta será evaluada por dos árbitros, miembros del comité organizador, conformado por los directores de la Red, representantes de las universidades organizadoras y el Comité Ejecutivo de la Red.

New Issue: Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht

The latest issue of the Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht (Vol. 74, no. 4, 2014) is out. Contents include:

• Abhandlungen
• Felix Lange, Carl Bilfingers Entnazifizierung und die Entscheidung für Heidelberg: Die Gründungsgeschichte des Völkerrechtlichen Max-Planck-Instituts nach dem Zweiten Welt-krieg
• Gunther Teubner, Transnationale Wirtschaftsverfassung: Franza Böhm und Hugo Sinzheimer Jenseits des Nationalstaates
• Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann, Narrating "International Economic Law": Methodological Pluralism and Its Constitutional limits
• Jannika Jahn, Normative Guidance from Strasbourg through Advisory Opinions. Deprivation or Relocation of the Convention's Core?
• Lars Berster & Björn Schiffbauer, Völkermord im Nordirak? Die Handlungen der Terrorgruppe "Islamischer Staat" und ihre völkerrechtlichen Implikationen
• Max Bloch, Dr. Joachim-Dieter Bloch (1906-1945). Ein Juristenleben am Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht

Ley: Opposition im Völkerrecht: Ein Beitrag zur Legitimation internationaler Rechtserzeugung

Isabelle Ley has published Opposition im Völkerrecht: Ein Beitrag zur Legitimation internationaler Rechtserzeugung (Springer 2015). Here's the abstract:

Dieses mit der Otto-Hahn-Medaille der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft ausgezeichnete Werk entwickelt eine eigene These vom völkerrechtlichen Legitimationsdefizit: Völkerrechtlicher Rechtserzeugung fehlt es an Mechanismen institutionalisierter Opposition. Obwohl die Rechtserzeugungskompetenzen internationaler Institutionen zunehmen, fehlt es an Möglichkeiten, Regelungsalternativen und Änderungsvorschläge in völkerrechtlichen Verfahren zu artikulieren. „Opposition im Völkerrecht“ entwirft im Anschluss an Hannah Arendt und Claude Lefort eine Theorie des Konzepts der Opposition, die auch im Völkerrecht Anwendung finden kann. ​Es folgt eine interdisziplinäre Studie, die zum ersten Mal völkerrechtliche Rechtserzeugungsprozesse (konkret an drei Beispielen der Parlamentarischen Versammlung des Europarats, des WTO waiver-Mechanismus, der UNESCO Konvention zur kulturellen Vielfalt und des Cartagena-Protokolls zur Biodiversität) unter dem Gesichtspunkt mangelnder Politisierung untersucht und die in der Völkerrechtswissenschaft bisher nicht rezipierten philosophischen Ansätze von Hannah Arendt und Claude Lefort hierfür fruchtbar macht.

New Issue: Die Friedens-Warte

The latest issue of Die Friedens-Warte (2014, nos. 1-2) is out. Contents include:

• Die Ukraine-Krise
• Debatte: Außenpolitische Konsequenzen aus der Ukraine-Krise?
• Ute Finckh-Krämer, Die Ukraine-Krise: Entscheidung über die Zukunft einer europäischen Friedensordnung
• Manuel Sarrazin, Die Ukraine-Krise: EU Perspektive und Transformationsagenda zum Erhalt der europäischen Friedensordnung
• Die Ukraine-Krise im internationalen politischen Kontext
• August Pradetto, Die Ukraine-Krise: Geopolitik und Identität im Verhältnis zwischen Russland und dem Westen
• Andrea Gawrich, Zurück auf der sicherheitspolitischen Bühne – Die Ukrainisch-Russische Krise und die OSZE in der Europäischen Sicherheitsarchitektur
• Gisela Müller-Brandeck-Bocquet & Philipp Gieg, Die Europäische Union und die Ukraine Von enttäuschten Erwartungen zu konstruktivem Krisenmanagement?
• Anne Wetzel, Die Europäische Nachbarschaftspolitik gegenüber der Ukraine: Vom Scheitern einer Politik mit technokratischen Mitteln
• Heike Krieger, Völkerrechtliche Aspekte der Ukraine-Krise Ungebetene Gäste – Zum Eingreifen auf Einladung in der Ukraine 2014
• Hans-Joachim Heintze, Der völkerrechtliche Status der Krim und ihrer Bewohner
• Michael Geistlinger, Der Schutz ihrer Landsleute im Ausland durch die Russländische Föderation unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Ukraine
• Felix Boor & Karsten Nowrot, Von Wirtschaftssanktionen und Energieversorgungssicherheit: Völkerrechtliche Betrachtungen zu staatlichen Handlungsoptionen in der Ukraine-Krise
• Tatiana Zhurzhenko, Gesellschaftspolitische Entwicklungen in der Ukraine Eine geteilte Nation? Die Rolle der Identitätspolitik in der ukrainischen Krise
• Karina V. Korostelina, Nationale Narrative im Konflikt: Euromaidan und darüber hinaus

de la Rasilla del Moral: Sovereignty Through the Inter-Disciplinary Kaleidoscope

Ignacio de la Rasilla del Moral (Brunel Univ. - Law) has posted Sovereignty Through the Inter-Disciplinary Kaleidoscope (Nordic Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

In the beginning was state sovereignty, or so the oft-quoted statement by the International Court of Justice according to which “state sovereignty” is “the fundamental principle (...) on which the whole of international law rests” appears to indicate. There is a remarkable circularity at play between this now classic statement of the principal judicial organ of the United Nations and the fact that Western international lawyers often use the etiological myth (of Westphalia to retrace the very origins of their discipline to the emergence of the concept of state sovereignty itself. It comes, thus, as no wonder that in the early stages of the 21st century, when international law is portrayed in leading textbooks, as “an ubiquitous presence in global policy-making and in academic and journalistic commentary”, international lawyers continue to speculate about the locus classicus of their discipline. Indeed, sovereignty is one of the two core themes that J. Trachtman The Future of International Law. Global Government and H. Kalmo and Q. Skinner’s edited collection Sovereignty in Fragments have in common. The second core-theme that both books share is inter-disciplinarity. This appears, in both books, as the kaleidoscope through which “the past, present and future of a contested concept” is examined.

New Issue: Netherlands International Law Review

The latest issue of the Netherlands International Law Review (Vol. 61, no. 3, December 2014) is out. Contents include:

• Karin Arts, Twenty-Five Years of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: Achievements and Challenges
• Rumyana Grozdanova, ‘Terrorism’ – Too Elusive a Term for an International Legal Definition?
• Iréne Couzigou, International Organisations and States within an Agency Relationship: The Distribution of Responsibility

New Issue: Revue trimestrielle des droits de l'homme

The latest issue of the Revue trimestrielle des droits de l'homme (No. 101, January 2015) is out. Contents include:

• Roger Errera, La protection des droits fondamentaux, la démocratie et l’État de droit dans l’Union européenne : rapport sur la France
• Dean Spielmann, La contribution des juges belges au rayonnement de la Convention européenne des droits de l’homme
• Frédéric Krenc, Quels défis pour l’avocat dans l’Europe des droits de l’homme ?
• Giorgio Malinverni, Le Protocole no 15 à la Convention européenne des droits de l’homme
• Katia Lucas, Regard sur le processus de révision initié à Interlaken : entre (ré)action et inhibition
• Béatrice Pastre-Belda, Et si la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme renonçait à l’interprétation consensuelle ?
• Gauthier de Beco, L’inclusion des enfants et des jeunes en situation de handicap dans la société : quelles approches, quelles mesures, quelles politiques ?
• Thomas Hochmann, Chronique des arrêts de la Cour suprême des États-Unis en matière de droits fondamentaux (octobre 2012-septembre 2014)
• Nicolas Bernard, L’accès des sans-abri aux foyers d’hébergement en fonction du critère contestable de leurs « attaches locales » : les premières « mesures immédiates » du Comité européen des droits sociaux, sur le modèle des « mesures provisoires » ordonnées par les organes de protection des droits de l’homme (obs/s. Comité eur. drts. sociaux, FEANTSA c. Pays-Bas, 25 octobre 2013)
• Marie-Aude Beernaert, Transactions, accords de plaider coupable et autres procédures judiciaires simplifiées - Quelques considérations sur la jurisprudence de la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme en matière de justice pénale consensuelle ou négociée, en marge de l’arrêt Natsvlishvili et Togonidze c. Géorgie du 29 avril 2014 (obs/s. Cour eur. dr. h., Natsvlishvili et Togonidze c. Géorgie, 29 avril 2014)
• Guy Haarscher & Gérard Gonzalez, Consécration jésuitique d’une exigence fondamentale de la civilité démocratique ? Le voile intégral sous le regard des juges de la Cour européenne (obs/s. Cour eur. dr. h., Gde Ch., S.A.S. c. France, 1er juillet 2014)

New Issue: Questions of International Law

The latest issue of Questions of International Law / Questioni di Diritto Internazionale (no. 11, 2015) is out. Contents include:

• The inclusion of emissions from aviation in the EU ETS: unilateralism vs multilateralism in international environmental governance
• Introduced by Elena Carpanelli, Annalisa Savaresi and Francesco Sindico
• Kati Kulovesi, Unilateral Extraterritorial Action or ‘Minilateralism’ within Territorial Jurisdiction? The EU Emissions Trading Scheme for Aviation Emissions and International Law
• Jacques Hartmann, The Inclusion of Emissions from Aviation in the EU ETS: Unilateralism vs Multilateralism in International Environmental Governance

Caminos & Cogliati-Bantz: The Legal Regime of Straits: Contemporary Challenges and Solutions

Hugo Caminos (formerly, Judge, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea) & Vincent P. Cogliati-Bantz (Univ. of Queensland - Law) have published The Legal Regime of Straits: Contemporary Challenges and Solutions (Cambridge Univ. Press 2015). Here's the abstract:

The right of transit passage in straits and the analogous right of archipelagic sealanes passage in archipelagic states, negotiated in the 1970s and embodied in the 1982 UNCLOS, sought to approximate the freedom of navigation and overflight while expressly recognising the sovereignty or jurisdiction of the coastal state over the waters concerned. However, the allocation of rights and duties of the coastal state and third states is open to interpretation. Recent developments in state practice, such as Australia's requirement of compulsory pilotage in the Torres Strait, the bridge across the Great Belt and the proposals for a bridge across the Strait of Messina, the enhanced environmental standards applicable in the Strait of Bonifacio and Canada's claims over the Arctic Route, make it necessary to reassess the whole common law of straits. The Legal Regime of Straits examines the complex relationship between the coastal state and the international community.

Marceau & Morosini: The Status of Sustainable Development in the Law of the World Trade Organization

Gabrielle Marceau (World Trade Organization) & Fabio C. Morosini (Federal Univ. of Rio Grande do Sul - Law) have posted The Status of Sustainable Development in the Law of the World Trade Organization. Here's the abstract:

Current developments in international law witness an increasing number of disputes arising out of conflicting societal values, such as the promotion of economic development versus the protection of health and the environment. Irrespective of its precise normative content, sustainable development, defined as an “interstitial norm” or a “meta-principle,” has been instrumental in resolving these disputes in a more harmonious fashion. This Article seeks to explore the role sustainable development has played in the rules and jurisprudence of the World Trade Organization (WTO). We argue that the objective of sustainable development has reshaped the interpretation of key provisions within the WTO Agreement, allowing Members more policy space to protect essential interests, such as the protection of the environment. We contend that the concept has indeed operated at the interstices of two competing priorities in WTO law, namely the right to free trade and economic development on one hand, and the right to inhibit trade in order to protect life, health and the environment on the other.

Workshop: The Public and the Private in Global Governance

Later this week, on January 15-16, 2015, IBEI and ESADE will host the 2015 Barcelona Workshop on Global Governance. The topic is: "The Public and the Private in Global Governance." The workshop brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars; speakers include Andrew Hurrell (Univ. of Oxford), Benedict Kingsbury (New York Univ.) and Jonas Tallberg (Stockholm Univ.). More information (including on how to register) can be found here; the program is here. Here's the idea:

Global governance is constructed by both public and private actors. Governments have created international institutions and transgovernmental networks; companies have established self-regulatory structures; civil society and business organizations have been active in norm-setting and monitoring. They have joined forces in various hybrid organizations, which collaborate and compete with each other, and all perform functions in the many regulatory spaces that include institutions and actors of various origins. At the same time, many privately-created bodies claim to provide public goods, while many institutions of public origin are criticized for pursuing private gains or for being strongly influenced by private interests. As a result, the boundaries between public and private in global governance have become blurred, and the classical public/private distinction – central to structuring our understanding of domestic government – is under increasing pressure. On this background, the 2015 Barcelona Workshop on Global Governance asks how ‘the public’ and ‘the private’ are related in current structures of global governance.

New Issue: International Legal Materials

The latest issue of International Legal Materials (Vol. 53, no. 6, 2014) is out. Contents include:

• S.A.S. v. France (Eur. Ct. H.R.), with introductory note by Tom Syring
• Kurić and Others v. Slovenia & Kurić and Others v. Slovenia (Just Satisfaction) (Eur. Ct. H.R.), with introductory note by Steven M. Schneebaum
• The M/V “Virginia G” Case (Panama/Guinea-Bissau) (ITLOS), with introductory note by Vincent Cogliati-Bantz
• Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (I.L.O.), with introductory note by Donald K. Anton

Dür & Elsig: Trade Cooperation: The Purpose, Design and Effects of Preferential Trade Agreements

Andreas Dür (Universität Salzburg - Politics) & Manfred Elsig (Universität Bern - International Relations & World Trade Institute) have published Trade Cooperation: The Purpose, Design and Effects of Preferential Trade Agreements (Cambridge Univ. Press 2015). Contents include:

• Andreas Dür & Manfred Elsig, Introduction: the purpose, design and effects of preferential trade agreements
• Moonhawk Kim, Technology, politics and economic exchanges: historical patterns in international economic agreements
• Edward D. Mansfield & Helen V. Milner, The political economy of preferential trade agreements
• Jean-Louis Arcand, Marcelo Olarreaga & Laura Zoratto, Weak governments and preferential trade agreements
• Víctor Umaña, Thomas Bernauer & Gabriele Spilker, Natural trading partners? A public opinion perspective on preferential trade agreements
• Soo Yeon Kim, Regionalisation in search of regionalism: production networks and deep integration commitments in Asia's PTAs
• Leonardo Baccini, Andreas Dür & Yoram Z. Haftel, Imitation and innovation in international governance: the diffusion of trade agreement design
• Mark Manger, PTA design, tariffs, and intra-industry trade
• Kerry A. Chase, PTAs and audiovisual services
• Anu Bradford & Tim Büthe, Competition policy and free trade: antitrust provisions in PTAs
• Stephanie J. Rickard, PTAs and public procurement
• Yoram Z. Haftel, Trade agreements, violent conflict and security
• Todd Allee & Manfred Elsig, Dispute settlement provisions in PTAs: new data and new concepts
• Scott L. Baier, Jeffrey H. Bergstrand & Matthew W. Clance, Preliminary examination of heterogeneous effects on international trade of economic integration agreements
• Peter Egger & Sergey Nigai, Effects of deep versus shallow trade agreements in general equilibrium
• Anirudh Shingal, Revisiting the trade effects of services agreements
• Jeffrey Kucik, Trade agreements as protection from risk
• Chad P. Bown, Baybars Karacaovali & Patricia Tovar, What do we know about preferential trade agreements and temporary trade barriers?
• Thomas Cottier, Charlotte Sieber-Gasser & Gabriela Wermelinger, The dialectical relationship of preferential and multilateral trade agreements
• Joost Pauwelyn and Wolfgang Alschner, Forget about the WTO: the network of relations between PTAs and 'double PTAs'
• Bernard Hoekman, Plurilateral agreements, variable geometry and the WTO
• James Flett, Referring PTA disputes to the WTO dispute settlement system

Cho: The Social Foundations of World Trade: Norms, Community and Constitution

Sungjoon Cho (Chicago-Kent College of Law) has published The Social Foundations of World Trade: Norms, Community and Constitution (Cambridge Univ. Press 2015). Here's the abstract:

As highlighted by Pascal Lamy, the former head of the WTO, world trade traditionally involves state-to-state contracts and is based on an anachronistic 'monolocation' production/trade model. It therefore struggles to handle new patterns of trade such as global value chains, which are based on a 'multilocation' model. Although it continues to provide world trade on a general level with a powerful heuristic, the traditional 'rationalist' approach inevitably leaves certain descriptive and normative blind spots. Descriptively, it fails to explain important ideational factors, such as culture and norms, which can effectively guide the behaviour of trading nations with or without material factors such as interests and utilities. Normatively, the innate positivism of the traditional model makes it oblivious to the moral imperatives of the current world trading system, such as development. This book emphatically redresses these blind spots by reconstructing the WTO as a world trade community from a social perspective.

New Issue: International Organization

The latest issue of International Organization (Vol. 69, no. 1, Winter 2015) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• David B. Carter & Randall W. Stone, Democracy and Multilateralism: The Case of Vote Buying in the UN General Assembly
• Cristina Bodea & Raymond Hicks, Price Stability and Central Bank Independence: Discipline, Credibility, and Democratic Institutions
• Paul Poast, Central Banks at War
• Elena V. McLean, Multilateral Aid and Domestic Economic Interests
• Navin A. Bapat & Bo Ram Kwon, When Are Sanctions Effective? A Bargaining and Enforcement Framework
• Research Notes
• Jeff D. Colgan & Jessica L.P. Weeks, Revolution, Personalist Dictatorships, and International Conflict
• Joakim Kreutz, Human Rights, Geostrategy, and EU Foreign Policy, 1989–2008
• David H. Bearce, Cody D. Eldredge & Brandy J. Jolliff, Do Finite Duration Provisions Reduce International Bargaining Delay?

Walker: Intimations of Global Law

Neil Walker (Univ. of Edinburgh - Law) has published Intimations of Global Law (Cambridge Univ. Press 2015). Here's the abstract:

A strain of law reaching beyond any bounded international or transnational remit to assert a global jurisdiction has recently acquired a new prominence. Intimations of Global Law detects this strain in structures of international law claiming a planetary scope independent of state consent, in new threads of global constitutional law, administrative law and human rights, and in revived notions of ius gentium and the global rule of law. It is also visible in the legal pursuit of functionally differentiated global public goods, general conflict rules, norms of 'legal pluralism' and new legal hybrids such as the global law of peace and humanity law. The coming of global law affects how law manifests itself in a global age and alters the shape of our legal-ethical horizons. Global law presents a diverse, unsettled and sometimes conflicted legal category, and one which challenges our very understanding of the rudiments of legal authority.

Call for Submissions: Yearbook of International Environmental Law

The Yearbook of International Environmental Law has issued a call for submissions for its forthcoming volume. Here's the call:

Yearbook of International Environmental Law vol. 25 (2014)

Our call for papers covers topics that were on the agenda during 2014. We request articles of 10,000-15,000 words including footnotes to be submitted to Stacy Belden at the latest by March 15, 2015. Instructions to authors can be found here. In light of recent developments and the topics covered in past volumes of the YIEL, we have chosen the following topics:

The Anthropocene as a challenge to international environmental law: Is international environmental law sufficiently robust to face the challenges posed by the potential end of the Holocene and the emergence of the Anthropocene? We may also question whether our approach to international environmental law-making has been too anthropocentric. It can be argued that, as compared to the immediate post-1972 thrust on conservation, the process has drifted to hard-core human-centric interests and human-induced changes in the global environment. Against this background, it may be necessary to reconsider some of the key approaches and principles of international environmental law. For example: What is the status of the principle of sustainable development and what will mainstreaming the principle through the High-Level Forum on Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals do to the principle? Other candidates for analyses include: Common but differentiated responsibilities, the polluter pays principle, the precautionary principle, and common heritage of mankind.

Environment and security: The consequences of moving into the Anthropocene are also closely linked to security threats. Climate instability, scarcity of natural resources, and environmental degradation are among key factors that may lead to threats against international security. We invite contributions that address environment and security through the prism of international law.

Marine protected area – ways forward: Moving into the Anthropocene may have important implications for marine resources. We will be looking to the sea for ways in which to satisfy basic human needs. The parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity have set the ambitious target of establishing MPAs for 10 % of the sea and continental shelf areas by 2020. This raises important issues regarding the relationship between international environmental law and other areas of international law. What kinds of economic activities will be restricted in MPAs and how can MPAs be coordinated with rights and duties of states under other parts of international law? Do Particular Sensitive Sea Areas and Special Areas established by the IMO qualify as MPAs? How can such areas be integrated with initiatives to establish MPAs? Can high sea MPAs regulate activities of non-contracting parties? What is the regulatory status of the areas that are part of the OSPAR Network of MPAs?

We encourage contributions from developing country authors that address perspectives from the Global South. In addition to the above topics, we welcome articles on any international environmental law topics of general interest.