Ford: Regulating Business for Peace

Jolyon Ford (Univ. of Oxford - Global Economic Governance Programme) has published Regulating Business for Peace: The United Nations, the Private Sector, and Post-Conflict Recovery (Cambridge Univ. Press 2015). Here's the abstract:

This book addresses gaps in thinking and practice on how the private sector can both help and hinder the process of building peace after armed conflict. It argues that weak governance in fragile and conflict-affected societies creates a need for international authorities to regulate the social impact of business activity in these places as a special interim duty. Policymaking should seek appropriate opportunities to engage with business while harnessing its positive contributions to sustainable peace. However, scholars have not offered frameworks for what is considered 'appropriate' engagement or properly theorised techniques for how best to influence responsible business conduct. United Nations peace operations are peak symbols of international regulatory responsibilities in conflict settings, and debate continues to grow around the private sector's role in development generally. This book is the first to study how peace operations have engaged with business to influence its peace-building impact.

Wagner: The Dehumanization of International Humanitarian Law: Legal, Ethical, and Political Implications of Autonomous Weapon Systems

Markus Wagner (Univ. of Miami - Law) has posted The Dehumanization of International Humanitarian Law: Legal, Ethical, and Political Implications of Autonomous Weapon Systems (Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, Vol. 47, 2014). Here's the abstract:

In the future, a growing number of combat operations will be carried out by autonomous weapon systems (AWS). At the operational level, AWS would not rely on direct human input. Taking humans out of the loop will raise questions of the compatibility of AWS with the fundamental requirements of international humanitarian law (IHL), such as the principles of distinction and proportionality, as well as complicate allocation of responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

This Article addresses the development toward greater autonomy in military technology along three dimensions: legal, ethical, and political concerns. First, it analyzes the potential dehumanizing effect of AWS with respect to the principles of distinction and proportionality and criminal responsibility.

Second, this Article explores, from an ethical perspective, the advantages and disadvantages of the deployment of AWS independent of legal considerations. Authors from various fields have weighed in on this debate, but oftentimes without linking their discourse to legal questions. This Article fills this gap by bridging these disparate discourses and suggests that there are important ethical reasons that militate against the use of AWS.

Third, this Article argues that the introduction of AWS alters the risk calculus of whether to engage in or prolong an armed conflict. This alteration is likely to make that decision politically more palatable and less risky for the political decision makers.

New Issue: Review of International Political Economy

The latest issue of the Review of International Political Economy (Vol. 22, no. 2, 2015) is out. Contents include:

• Eleni Tsingou, Club governance and the making of global financial rules
• Photis Lysandrou & Anastasia Nesvetailova, The role of shadow banking entities in the financial crisis: a disaggregated view
• Lucy M. Goodhart, Brave New World? Macro-prudential policy and the new political economy of the federal reserve
• Kristen Hopewell, Different paths to power: The rise of Brazil, India and China at the World Trade Organization
• Cameron G. Thies, The declining exceptionalism of agriculture: identifying the domestic politics and foreign policy of agricultural trade protectionism
• Yang Jiang, Vulgarisation of Keynesianism in China's response to the global financial crisis
• Helen Callaghan, Something left to lose? Network preservation as a motive for protectionist responses to foreign takeovers
• Kendra E Dupuy, James Ron & Aseem Prakash, Who survived? Ethiopia's regulatory crackdown on foreign-funded NGOs

Stephens: ITLOS Advisory Opinion: Coastal and Flag State Duties to Ensure Sustainable Fisheries Management

Tim Stephens (Univ. of Sydney - Law) has posted an ASIL Insight on ITLOS Advisory Opinion: Coastal and Flag State Duties to Ensure Sustainable Fisheries Management.

New Issue: World Trade Review

The latest issue of the World Trade Review (Vol. 14, no. 2, April 2015) is out. Contents include:

• Eleventh report of the American Law Institute project on World Trade Organization Case Law covering 2013
• Chad P. Bown & Petros C. Mavroidis, Introduction
• Steve Charnovitz & Carolyn Fischer, Canada–Renewable Energy: Implications for WTO Law on Green and Not-So-Green Subsidies
• Luca Rubini, ‘The wide and the narrow gate’: Benchmarking in the SCM Agreement after the Canada–Renewable Energy/FIT Ruling
• Michael O. Moore & Mark Wu, Antidumping and Strategic Industrial Policy: Tit-for-Tat Trade Remedies and the China–X-Ray Equipment Dispute
• Thomas J. Prusa & Edwin Vermulst, China – Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duty Measures on Broiler Products from the United States: How the chickens came home to roost
• Philip I. Levy & Donald H. Regan, EC–Seal Products: Seals and Sensibilities (TBT Aspects of the Panel and Appellate Body Reports)

Call for Papers: ESIL International Economic Law International Group Workshop

The International Economic Law Interest Group of the European Society of International Law has issued a call for papers for a workshop to be held on September 9, 2015, in Oslo, preceding the ESIL Annual Conference. Here's the call:

ESIL International Economic Law Interest Group - Call for Papers

2015 Oslo ESIL Conference

Workshop of the IEL IG – 9 September 2015 h. 11:00 - 17:00

Abstract submission deadline: 31 May 2015

At the 11th Annual Conference of the European Society of International Law taking place in Oslo, Norway, the ESIL International Economic Law Interest Group will convene a Full Day Workshop, which will take place on 9 September 2015.

Three panels will be organized, which will deal with

1.The European Union and WTO dispute settlement

2.The European Union and international investment law

3.The European Union and preferential trade agreements

For each of the three panels of the workshop the ESIL IELIG invites papers, which should be unpublished, in an advanced stage of completion, and ready to be possibly later included in the ESIL SSRN Conference Paper Series / ESIL Conference Proceedings. The working languages of the ESIL IELIG are English and French, and thus the proposals may be submitted in English or French (see below for the paper submission procedure and timeline).

Call for Papers 1: The European Union and the WTO Dispute Settlement

On 1 January 2015 the WTO system celebrated its 20th anniversary. The multilateral and plurilateral Agreements agreed on in Marrakesh have acquired a prominent place in the governance of international trade also because of the Geneva dispute mechanism. In fact, the WTO panels and the Appellate Body developed many important principles and clarifications concerning WTO law, which are constantly taken into considerations by nationals officials when developing domestic legislation, and lawyers and scholars when considering the scope of multilateral trade rules, as well as when researching in other fields of international law. Of course, WTO case-law is also provoked by WTO Members; and among them, one of the major actors of the WTO system is the European Union. The 20th anniversary of the WTO is thus an appropriate moment to provide for an analysis of the role played by the EU within the Geneva dispute settlement mechanism, investigating on the way in which the EU approached the SPS Agreement, the TBT Agreement, the GATS, GATT Article XX or the WTO Agreements devoted to trade defence measures (dumping, subsidies and safeguards); whether or not the EU promoted mutually agreed solutions instead of going directly to the litigation phase of the WTO DSU; and the institutional solutions found within the EU Law of external relations for adequately and legitimately representing Europe before the WTO judging bodies.

Call for Papers 2: The European Union and International Investment Law

Since the 2009 Lisbon treaty has furnished the EU with exclusive powers in the area of investment law, many debates have taken place on an EU approach in this area, which in a way culminated in the public consultation exercise, which has been recently undertaken in regard to the investment chapter in the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Initiative (TTIP). Vivid Debates actually take place in public as well as in academia. The proposal to establish an international investment court or at least an appeals body is one issue at stake. To the more, the impact of investment law on European law came into focus recently. For instance, the issue has been raised, what implications the Opinion 2/13 of the European Court of Justice on the accession of the EU to the ECHR of December 2014 might have for future EU commitments on investment arbitration. To the more and also in regard to the constitutional law of Member States, questions as to the principle of democracy, the priority for primary remedies over compensation and the reverse discrimination of domestic investors and investments have been raised.

Call for Papers 3: The European Union and Preferential Trade Agreements

The ratification of CETA and the TTIP talks should not make forgotten, that the European Commission actually pursues negotiations on free trade agreements with a number of other States. Aside from the investment protection issues, a whole lot of other issues merit further discussion. These include inter alia regulatory cooperation, intellectual property, competition law and innovative aspects such as sustainable development and labour standards. Above all, the question arises, whether the mushrooming of these agreements are building blocks or a stumbling blocks for the world trading system.

PAPER SUBMISSION PROCEDURE

Senior and junior scholars (including PhD students) are invited to participate to the ESIL IELIG calls for papers. Papers will be selected on the basis of the submitted abstracts. Only one abstract per author in each call for papers will be considered.

Abstracts must not exceed 800 words, and have to be submitted to the following mail addresses: elisa.baroncini@unibo.it; pstoll@gwdg.de.

In addition to the abstract, each submission should contain a separate file containing information on:

• The topic of the call for papers for which the abstract is submitted
• The author’s name and affiliation
• A short (one page) author’s CV, including a list of relevant publications
• The author’s contact details, including email address and phone number
• Whether the author is an ESIL member and, if so, the date of affiliation

TIMELINE

• The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 31 May 2015
• Successful applicants will be informed by 10 June 2015

Isiksel: The Rights of Man and the Rights of the Man-Made: Corporations and Human Rights

Turkuler Isiksel (Columbia Univ. - Political Science) has posted The Rights of Man and the Rights of the Man-Made: Corporations and Human Rights. Here's the abstract:

Recent decisions of the US Supreme Court have stoked the long-standing controversy over the recognition of corporations as “persons” entitled to certain rights under the US Constitution on the same basis as citizens. It is less widely noted that in some fields of international economic law, firms are increasingly considered not just legal persons but bearers of human rights. This article critically examines the incipient arrogation of human rights discourse in the context of international investment law in particular, where the claims of firms are often articulated and adjudicated with language and standards borrowed from human rights law. This development constitutes part of a larger process whereby transnational economic institutions endow corporations with legal status, protections, and benefits. The article traces the implications of business corporations being considered as bearers of human rights for foundational debates regarding the proper scope and purpose of international human rights norms.

Conference: The European Convention on Human Rights and General International Law

On June 5, 2015, the European Court of Human Rights and the European Society of International Law will hold a conference on "The European Convention on Human Rights and General International Law," in Strasbourg. The program is here.

Conference: 15th BIICL WTO Conference

The British Institute of International and Comparative Law will hold its 15th WTO conference on May 7, 2015, in London. The program is here.

Conference: 11th Annual Conference of the European Society of International Law

The European Society of International Law's 11th Annual Conference 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?" Registration is open and early bird registration fees apply until April 30.

Zidar: WHO International Health Regulations and Human Rights: From Allusions to Inclusion

Andraz Zidar (British Institute of International and Comparative Law) has posted WHO International Health Regulations and Human Rights: From Allusions to Inclusion (International Journal of Human Rights, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

As a response to an increasing threat of infectious diseases in the globalised world (e.g. SARS, H1N1 influenza, Ebola, MERS, Poliovirus), the World Health Organization adopted a reinvigorated version of the International Health Regulations in 2005. The Regulations empower the WHO Director-General to proclaim a public health emergency of international concern and issue temporary recommendations of health measures to States Parties. However, although the Regulations and related health measures inevitably touch upon human rights of affected individuals, the Regulations contain but a few allusions to the international human rights framework. The aim of this article is to include the international human rights regime in the system for the fight against infectious diseases under the Regulations.

Mariniello: The International Criminal Court in Search of its Purpose and Identity

Triestino Mariniello (Edge Hill Univ. - Law) has published The International Criminal Court in Search of its Purpose and Identity (Routledge 2015). Contents include:

• Triestino Mariniello, Introduction: ‘One, No One and One Hundred Thousand’: Reflections on the Multiple Identities of the ICC
• Harmen van der Wilt & Inez Braber, The case for inclusion of terrorism in the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court
• Chantal Meloni, Command responsibility, joint commission and ‘control over the crime’ approach in the first ICC jurisprudence
• Stefano Manacorda & Giulio Vanacore, The right not to be tried twice for international crimes: An overview of the ne bis in idem principle within the Statutes of the ICC and the International Criminal Tribunals
• Morris Anyah, Balancing Rights of the Accused with Rights of Victims before the International Criminal Court
• Paolo Lobba, Lubanga Decision on Victims' Reparations: Handing off the Hot Potato?
• Olympia Bekou, Building National Capacity for the International Criminal Court: Prospects and Challenges
• Lyal S. Sunga, Has the International Criminal Court Unfairly Targeted Africa or has Africa Unfairly Targeted the International Criminal Court?
• Patricia Pinto Soares, Transitional Justice in DRC: The 2014 Amnesty Law and the Principle of Complementarity – Quid Juris?
• Silvia D'Ascoli, The First Decision on Sentence of the International Criminal Court in the Lubanga case: Great (Unmet) Expectations
• Triestino Mariniello & Niccolò Pons, The Confirmation of Charges at the International Criminal Court: A Tale of Two Models
• Sarah Finnin, From Lubanga to Ruto: Witness Proofing under the Applicable Law of the ICC
• Mohamed Badar & Noelle Higgins, General Principles of Law in the Early Jurisprudence of the ICC

Böttcher: Dekonstitutionalisierungstendenzen im internationalen Investitionsschutzrecht

Anna Lotte Böttcher has published Dekonstitutionalisierungstendenzen im internationalen Investitionsschutzrecht (Nomos 2015). Here's the abstract:

Das internationale Investitionsschutzregime steht in jüngster Zeit vermehrt im Fokus der öffentlichen Kritik. Dabei werden verschiedene Defizite des bestehenden Regimes diskutiert und unterschiedliche Konsequenzen gefordert. Zum Teil wird von einem backlash gegen das Investitionsschutzregime gesprochen, zum Teil von notwendigen Mankos, die es mit Blick auf die positiven Errungenschaften zu akzeptieren gilt.

Kritik kam seit jeher aus Südamerika. Daher überraschte es nicht, dass es mit Bolivien, Ecuador und Venezuela drei Staaten dieses Kontinents waren, die die Kündigung des ICSID erklärten und in Form neuer Verfassungen strukturelle Veränderungen des Regimes anvisierten.

Das Buch geht auf diese strukturellen Entwicklungen, ihre Ursachen und Konsequenzen ein. Es wird eine Einordnung der nationalen rechtlichen Prozesse in die aktuellen völkerrechtlichen Entwicklungen vorgenommen. Daneben werden konkrete Schwachstellen des Regimes identifiziert und mögliche Lösungswege aufgezeigt.

Maia & Kolb: Le statut international de la province angolaise du Cabinda à la lumière du droit international public

Catherine Maia (Université Lusofona de Porto - Law) & Robert Kolb (Université de Genève - Law) have published Le statut international de la province angolaise du Cabinda à la lumière du droit international public (Pedone 2015). Here's the abstract:

Cette étude a pour vocation d'appliquer certains concepts clés du droit international dans un contexte relativement peu connu en France, à savoir des revendications à la sécession en Angola.

D'anciens « traités » conclus avec des chefs indigènes pouvaient-ils être considérés comme des conventions de droit international ou étaient-ils des actes de droit interne ? Quel rôle peuvent-ils jouer dans des revendications actuelles d'autodétermination ? Comment apprécier en droit international la validité d'un accord relatif à l'indépendance d'une colonie conclu dans le cadre d'un droit constitutionnel portugais en pleine mutation? La question appelle des commentaires tant sous l'angle du droit national que sous celui de l'article 46 de la Convention de Vienne sur le droit des traités, dont le contenu pourrait éventuellement être appliqué à titre de droit coutumier.

Que penser, ensuite, de l'argument du droit de sécession en faveur du « peuple » cabindais ? Un tel peuple existe-t-il au sens du droit international ? Qu'est-ce, d'ailleurs, qu'un peuple au sens du droit de l'autodétermination ? Et comment le définir en l'espèce ? Que faut-il penser de l'argument de la sécession-remède, selon lequel une minorité opprimée et sans accès équitable au Gouvernement d'un État acquerrait un droit de sécession en droit international ? Une telle doctrine existe-t-elle en droit international public général ? Comment définir l'oppression qu'elle vise ? Quelle est la pratique internationale à cet égard ? Quelle est, enfin, la situation concrète des natifs du Cabinda vis-à-vis du Gouvernement de l'Angola, c'est-à-dire leur traitement en matière de droits humains ou de participation au pouvoir?

Ce sont là des questions, parmi d'autres, sur lesquelles cet ouvrage tente d'apporter des lumières. L'espace lusophone servant ici de toile de fond est inédit, dans le sens qu'il a été jusqu'ici très peu étudié dans la littérature francophone. Cet espace donne, par ailleurs, un prisme tangible aux divers aspects de droit international public analysés, lesquels viennent s'agglutiner autour de lui en épousant ses contours.

New Issue: Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The latest issue of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law (Vol. 48, no. 1, January 2015) is out. Contents include:

• Cyra Akila Choudhury, The Political Economy and Legal Regulation of Transnational Commercial Surrogate Labor
• Megan A. Fairlie, Alternate Judges as Sine Qua Nons for International Criminal Trials
• Stephen Meili, Do Human Rights Treaties Help Asylum-Seekers?: Lessons from the United Kingdom
• Michal Saliternik, Reducing the Price of Peace: The Human Rights Responsibilities of Third-Party Facilitators

New Volume: Anuario Español de Derecho Internacional

The latest volume of the Anuario Español de Derecho Internacional (Vol. 30, 2014) is out. Contents include:

• Estudios Doctrinales
• Montserrat Abad Castelos, La diplomacia paralela de las organizaciones de la sociedad civil ante los conflictos: ventajas, inconvenientes y desafíos, con especial referencia a la UE
• Alicia Cebada Romero, La violencia sexual en el conflicto de Mali: la mujer como víctima y como protagonista de la lucha contra la impunidad
• María Cervera Vallterra, El caso de la República Democrática del Congo: efectos perversos de la globalización en un estado fallido
• José Elías Esteve Moltó, La Ley Orgánica 1/2014 de reforma de la jurisdicción universal: entre el progresivo avance de la globalización comercial y de la deuda y la no injerencia en los asuntos internos de China
• Luis A. López Zamora, El Unificador Fragmenado. La fenomenología de las normas de ius cogens en un contexto de cambio
• Sagrario Morán Blanco, Brasil: protagonismo e incertidumbres en la escena internacional
• Luciano Pezzano, Las obligaciones de los Estados en el sistema universal de protección de los Derechos Humanos
• José Manuel Sánchez Patrón, El Derecho Internacional ante los crímenes cometidos contra la población civil
• Notas
• Gerardo Copelli Ortiz, Influencia normativa de las Organizaciones Internacionales Económicas en los procesos de integración económica
• Felipe Gómez Isa, El desplazamiento forzado de los pueblos indígenas en Colombia
• Francesco Seatzu, When good intentions do not go too well: assessing the role of the Latin American Parliament in the achievement of socio-economic development in Latin America

New Issue: Journal of International Arbitration

The latest issue of the Journal of International Arbitration (Vol. 32, no. 2, 2015) is out. Contents include:

• M. Belén Olmos Giupponi, The Protection of Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America: Where Do We Stand on International Arbitration?
• Maria Davies, The Use of Arbitration in Loan Agreements in International Project Finance: Opening Pandora’s Box or an Unexpected Panacea?
• Olga Vishnevskaya, Anti-suit Injunctions from Arbitral Tribunals in International Commercial Arbitration: A Necessary Evil?
• Valerio de Oliveira Mazzuoli & Diego Luis Alonso Massa, Analysis of the Decision Rendered by the U.S. Supreme Court in Re BG Group plc v. Republic of Argentina: Do All Roads Lead to Rome?
• Philippe Cavalieros & Janet (Hyun Jeong) Kim, Can the Arbitral Community Learn from Sports Arbitration?

New Issue: International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics

The latest issue of International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics (Vol. 15, no. 2, May 2015) is out. Contents include:

• Joel R. Carbonell & Juliann E. Allison, Democracy and state environmental commitment to international environmental treaties
• Tobias Böhmelt & Jürg Vollenweider, Information flows and social capital through linkages: the effectiveness of the CLRTAP network
• Chaewoon Oh & Shunji Matsuoka, The position of the Low Carbon Growth Partnership (LCGP): at the end of Japan’s navigation between the Kyoto Protocol and the APP
• Stefan Renckens, The Basel Convention, US politics, and the emergence of non-state e-waste recycling certification
• Johannes Urpelainen & Thijs Van de Graaf, The International Renewable Energy Agency: a success story in institutional innovation?
• Kenji Kamigawara, Comparative typological study of change in global environmental regimes
• Zinatul A. Zainol, Rohaida Nordin, & Frank I. Akpoviri, Mandatory labelling of genetically modified (GM) foods
• Mathias Zannakis, The blending of discourses in Sweden’s “urge to go ahead” in climate politics

New Issue: Rivista di Diritto Internazionale

The latest issue of the Rivista di Diritto Internazionale (Vol. 98, no. 1, 2015) is out. Contents include:

• Articoli
• P. Picone, Unilateralismo e guerra contro l'ISIS
• R. Baratta, Il telos dell'interpretazione conforme all'acquis dell'Unione
• B. Nascimbene, Il principio di attribuzione e l'applicabilità della Carta dei diritti fondamentali: l'orientamento della giurisprudenza
• L. Magi, Criminal Conduct on the High Seas: Is a General Rule on Jurisdiction to Prosecute still Missing?
• Note e Commenti
• P. Palchetti, « A key institution for interpreting international law and guaranteeing global compliance with its provisions »: la dichiarazione italiana di accettazione della competenza della Corte internazionale di giustizia
• E. Cannizzaro, Jurisdictional Immunities and Judicial Protection: the Decision of the Italian Constitutional Court No. 238 of 2014
• P. Picone, Ancora sul rinvio « integrale » nel diritto internazionale privato
• Panorama
• G. Gaja, Una mancata disconnessione relativamente alla Convenzione europea dei diritti dell'uomo?
• F.M. Palombino, Quale futuro per i giudizi di costituzionalità delle norme internazionali generali? Il modello rivisitato della sentenza interpretativa di rigetto
• G. Bartolini, La definizione di disastro nel progetto di articoli della Commissione del diritto internazionale

New Issue: Global Society

The latest issue of Global Society (Vol. 29, no. 2, 2015) is out. Contents include:

• Special Issue: Theorising the European Union as an International Security Provider: Actors, Processes, Outcomes and Impact
• Annemarie Peen Rodt, Richard G. Whitman & Stefan Wolff, The EU as an International Security Provider: The Need for a Mid-range Theory
• Alistair J.K Shepherd, The European Security Continuum and the EU as an International Security Provider
• Benjamin Pohl & Niels van Willigen, Analytic Eclecticism and EU Foreign Policy (In)action
• Argyro Kartsonaki & Stefan Wolff, The EU's Responses to Conflicts in its Wider Neighbourhood: Human or European Security?
• Gorm Rye Olsen, After Afghanistan: The European Union as Security Provider in Africa
• Jan Orbie & Karen Del Biondo, The European Union's “Comprehensive Approach” in Chad: Securitisation and/or Compartmentalisation?
• Laura Davis, Reform or Business as Usual? EU Security Provision in Complex Contexts: Mali

Conference: XX Convegno annuale della SIDI

The Italian Society of International Law will host its Twentieth Annual Conference, on June 5-6, 2015, in Macerata. The theme is "L’incidenza del diritto non scritto sul diritto internazionale ed europeo." The program is here.

Magsig: International Water Law and the Quest for Common Security

Bjørn-Oliver Magsig (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research) has published International Water Law and the Quest for Common Security (Routledge 2015). Here's the abstract:

The world’s freshwater supplies are increasingly threatened by rapidly increasing demand and the impacts of global climate change, but current approaches to transboundary water management are unsustainable and may threaten future global stability and international security. The absence of law in attempts to address this issue highlights the necessity for further understanding from the legal perspective.

This book provides a fresh conceptualisation of water security, developing an operational methodology for identifying the four core elements of water security which must be addressed by international law: availability; access; adaptability; and ambit. The analysis of the legal framework of transboundary freshwater management based on this contemporary understanding of water security reveals the challenges and shortcomings of the current legal regime. In order to address these shortcomings, the present mindset of prevailing rigidity and state-centrism is challenged by examining how international legal instruments could be crafted to advance a more flexible and common approach towards transboundary water interaction.

The concept of considering water security as a matter of ‘regional common concern’ is introduced to help international law play a more prominent role in addressing the challenges of global water insecurity. Ways for implementing such an approach are proposed and analysed by looking at international hydropolitics in Himalayan Asia. The book analyses transboundary water interaction as a ‘case study’ for advancing public international law in order to fulfil its responsibility of promoting international peace and security.

Bachmann & Fatić: The UN International Criminal Tribunals: Transition without Justice?

Klaus Bachmann (Univ. of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw - International Politics) & Aleksandar Fatić (Univ. of Belgrade - Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory) have published The UN International Criminal Tribunals: Transition without Justice? (Routledge 2015). Here's the abstract:

Both the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) are now about to close. Bachmann and Fatic look back at the achievements and shortcomings of both tribunals from an interdisciplinary perspective informed by sociology, political science, history, and philosophy of law and based upon on two key notions: the concepts of legitimacy and efficiency. The first asks to what extent the input (creation) of, the ICTY and the ICTR can be regarded as legitimate in light of the legal and public debate in the early 1990s. The second confronts the output (the procedures and decisions) of the ICTY and the ICTR with the tasks both tribunals were assigned by the UN Security Council, the General Assembly, and by key organs (the president and the chief prosecutors). The authors investigate to what extent the ICTY and the ICTR have delivered the expected results, whether they have been able to contribute to 'the maintenance of peace', 'stabilization' of the conflict regions, or even managed to provide 'reconciliation' to Rwanda. Furthermore, the book is concerned with how many criminals, over whom the ICTY and the ICTR wield jurisdiction, have actually been prosecuted and at what cost.

d'Aspremont: The Law of International Organizations and the Art of Reconciliation: From Dichotomies to Dialectics

Jean d'Aspremont (Univ. of Manchester - Law; Univ. of Amsterdam - Law) has posted The Law of International Organizations and the Art of Reconciliation: From Dichotomies to Dialectics (International Organizations Law Review, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

After submitting that most scholarly and practical debates about the law of international organizations can be construed as a battle between arguments based on the idea of a contract and those based on the idea of a constitution, this article discusses international legal scholars' ability to turn the foundational dichotomies between contractualism and constitutionalism into a dynamic and dialectic framework. It makes the argument that international legal scholars, and especially legal academics, while unanimously acknowledging the existence of such paradigmatic tensions, are regularly tempted to iron them out through the promotion of a series of dialectical concepts or moves.

New Issue: Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law

The latest issue of the Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law (Vol. 24, no. 1, April 2015) is out. Contents include:

• Nadia Sánchez Castillo, Differentiating between Sovereignty over Exclusive and Shared Resources in the Light of Future Discussions on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers
• Loretta Feris, The Human Right to Sanitation: A Critique on the Absence of Environmental Considerations
• Pedi Obani & Joyeeta Gupta, The Evolution of the Right to Water and Sanitation: Differentiating the Implications
• Harri Kalimo, Reid Lifset, Atalay Atasu, Chris Van Rossem & Luk Van Wassenhove, What Roles for Which Stakeholders under Extended Producer Responsibility?
• Antto Vihma, Climate of Consensus: Managing Decision Making in the UN Climate Change Negotiations
• Suvi Borgström, Assessing the Capacity of Nature Conservation Law to Help Biodiversity Adapt to Climate Change: The Case of Finland
• Hana Müllerová, Environment Playing Short-handed: Margin of Appreciation in Environmental Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights
• Jerneja Penca, Biodiversity Offsetting in Transnational Governance
• Melita Carević, Commission v. Italy: Managing Waste Management in Italy

Wagner: Regulatory Space in International Trade Law and International Investment Law

Markus Wagner (Univ. of Miami - Law) has posted Regulatory Space in International Trade Law and International Investment Law (University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Domestic regulatory decisions involving matters of human health or the environment are increasingly coming under scrutiny by international courts and tribunals. One of the latest examples concerns an Australian law that mandates the plain packaging of cigarettes and which is being challenged in international investment law and international trade law.

Both of these fields are closely related, yet despite the use of similar rules differ in important respects. This article analyzes the extent of the regulatory space that is afforded to states and WTO members in the international investment and international trade regimes. It does so by comparing the jurisprudence of investment tribunals regarding regulatory expropriations and the jurisprudence of the WTO dispute settlement organs in cases concerning human, animal and plant life or health as well as international standards.

The article suggests that international investment law and international trade law offer insights for one another. But it also finds that international trade law has been more adept at incorporating concerns such as human health or the environment as a countervailing force to the prevailing paradigm of trade liberalization. International investment law is currently undergoing a similar discourse that has shaped international trade law shortly after the inception of the WTO in 1995. That discussion is carried out on the basis of different text and context, a different set of institutions and different epistemic communities. Despite these differences, there are growing signs of convergence of how much regulatory space is afforded in international trade and investment law, respectively.

Bockley, Kriebaum, & Reinisch: Nichtstaatliche Akteure und Interventionsverbot

Andrea Bockley (Univ. of Vienna - Law), Ursula Kriebaum (Univ. of Vienna - Law), & August Reinisch (Univ. of Vienna - Law) have published Nichtstaatliche Akteure und Interventionsverbot (Peter Lang 2015). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

Der Sammelband enthält die Beiträge des 39. Österreichischen Völkerrechtstages 2014 in Klosterneuburg zum Thema Nichtstaatliche Akteure und Interventionsverbot. Die ersten beiden Teile widmen sich diesen Themenbereichen. Der dritte Teil behandelt traditionell Fragestellungen aus der völkerrechtlichen Praxis und gibt mit Erfahrungsberichten der Außenministerien Österreichs, der Schweiz und Deutschlands Einblick in den Umgang mit Privilegien und Immunitäten internationaler Einrichtungen.