Saturday, June 6, 2015

New Issue: International Relations

The latest issue of International Relations (Vol. 29, no. 2, June 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Roland Paris, States of mind: The role of governance schemas in foreign-imposed regime change
  • Lena Tan, Rethinking the role of ideas and norms in twentieth century decolonization: Constructing metropolitan British identities and responding to Indian nationalism (1929-1935)
  • Ali Bilgic, ‘We are not barbarians’: Gender politics and Turkey’s quest for the West
  • Eugenio Cusumano, The scope of military privatisation: Military role conceptions and contractor support in the United States and the United Kingdom
  • Forum
    • Félix Grenier, Helen Louise Turton, & Philippe Beaulieu-Brossard, The struggle over the identity of IR: What is at stake in the disciplinary debate within and beyond academia?
    • Helen Louise Turton, The importance of re-affirming IR’s disciplinary status
    • Félix Grenier, An eclectic fox: IR from restrictive discipline to hybrid and pluralist field
    • Pami Aalto, Interdisciplinary International Relations in practice
    • Ilan Zvi Baron, IR has not, is not and will not take place
    • Philippe Beaulieu-Brossard, Bypassing the reflexivity trap: IR’s disciplinary status and the politics of knowledge
    • Lene Hansen, Debating the identity of IR: Concluding reflections

Friday, June 5, 2015

Koh: Presence and Politics at the International Criminal Court

Steven Arrigg Koh (Office of International Affairs, U.S. Department of Justice) has posted an ASIL Insight on Presence and Politics at the International Criminal Court.

Sloane: Puzzles of Proportion and the 'Reasonable Military Commander'

Robert D. Sloane (Boston Univ. - Law) has posted Puzzles of Proportion and the 'Reasonable Military Commander': Reflections on the Law, Ethics, and Geopolitics of Proportionality (Harvard National Security Journal, Vol. 6, p. 299, 2015). Here's the abstract:
This article offers modest reflections on jus in bello proportionality. It suggests that the law of armed conflict (LOAC) build on the only consensus legal standard that exists: that of the good-faith reasonable military commander. The difficulty — here, as with any reasonableness standard — is to identify factors that realistically can, and legally should, guide adherence to it and to consider the objective and subjective dimensions of judgments under the standard. Part II scrutinizes the content and status of Additional Protocol I’s (API) canonical definition of proportionality. It analyzes its text and context to bring out the extent to which API compels more, and more diverse, subjectivities and indeterminacies than commonly recognized. This is not a problem to be solved; it is an inexorable feature of the principle. Part III therefore critiques perhaps the most popular effort to invest proportionality with more precise substantive content: the idea that it requires elites to conduct hostilities "as if" their own noncombatants were the ones at risk. Part IV considers the prospects for promoting proportionality within the spectrum of lawfulness authorized by the current standard. Those prospects depend on dynamics exogenous to the letter of positive international law but not, for that reason, beyond the influence of international lawyers. Empirical data suggest, for example, that the conceptual redefinition of victory in certain conflicts may encourage elites to respect proportionality conservatively as a matter of sound policy. Yet the point lies less in the validity of this example than in what it illustrates: to operationalize proportionality, the LOAC must identify new dynamics that have (sometimes) supplanted reciprocity. Today’s conflicts have their own characteristic dynamics; the comparative demise of reciprocity did not leave a vacuum. These dynamics might well be impressed into the law’s objective of aligning strategic and humanitarian objectives to further the viability and value of proportionality in modern LOAC.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Special Issue: Profession, juristes internationalistes ?

The latest issue of Monde(s). Histoire, Espaces, Relations (no. 7, May 2015) focuses on the theme "Profession, juristes internationalistes ?" Contents include:
  • Profession, juristes internationalistes ?
    • Dzovinar Kévonian & Philippe Rygiel, Introduction - « Faiseurs de droit » : les juristes internationalistes, une approche globale située
    • Florence Renucci, David Santillana, acteur et penseur des droits musulman et européen
    • Marilena Papadaki, Nicolas Politis, une approche biographique
    • Mark Weston Janis, Le début de la désillusion américaine envers l’Europe et le droit international, 1914‑1946 (traduit de l’anglais par Isabelle Vallée)
    • Reut Yael Paz, Kelsen’s Pure Theory of Law as « a Hole in Time »
    • Liliana Obregón Tarazona, Writing International Legal History : An Overview
    • Guillaume Mouralis, Outsiders du droit international. Trajectoires professionnelles et innovation juridique à Londres, Washington et Nuremberg, 1943-1945
    • Ignacio de la Rasilla del Moral, Beyond the Spanish Classics. The Ephemeral Awakening of the History of International Law in Pre-Democratic Spain
    • Entretien avec Géraud de Geouffre de La Pradelle par Dzovinar Kévonian et Philippe Rygiel
    • Débat autour d’un livre: Arnulf Becker Lorca, Mestizo International Law: A Global Intellectual History, 1842-1933, Cambridge University Press, January 2015. par Douglas Howland, Jean-Louis Halpérin, & Arnulf Becker Lorca
    • Miho Matsunuma, Casse-tête japonais. Conflits diplomatiques en Indochine française au début du XXe siècle
    • Jessica Pearson-Patel, Promoting Health, Protecting Empire: Inter-colonial Medical Cooperation in Postwar

Dolle: Streitbeilegung im Rahmen von Freihandelsabkommen

Tobias Dolle has published Streitbeilegung im Rahmen von Freihandelsabkommen: Wirtschaftliche Integration und Streitbeilegung im internationalen Handelsbereich (Nomos 2015). Here's the abstract:
Das Buch widmet sich unter einem globalen Ansatz den zwischenstaatlichen Streitbeilegungsregelungen in Freihandelsabkommen. Diese Abkommen enthalten mehr und mehr ausgefeiltere Streitbeilegungsregelungen, die in Konkurrenz zur WTO-Streitbeilegung treten und Streitigkeiten künftig komplexer gestalten können. Die Arbeit vergleicht auf globaler Ebene die Regelungen und leitet daraus ein Grundschema ab. Sie analysiert die Rechtsprechung und die Bezüge zur WTO sowie zur staatlichen Souveränität. Schließlich gibt sie einen Überblick über Probleme und Lösungsmöglichkeiten. Eine Bündelung der Streitbeilegung durch die WTO wäre wünschenswert, ist jedoch angesichts des relativen Stillstands der WTO-Verhandlungen kaum absehbar.

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Saul & Sweeney: International Law and Post-Conflict Reconstruction Policy

Matthew Saul (Univ. of Oslo - Law) & James A. Sweeney (Lancaster Univ. - Law) have published International Law and Post-Conflict Reconstruction Policy (Routledge 2015). Contents include:
  • Matthew Saul & James Sweeney, Introduction
  • Matthew Saul, International Law and the Identification of an Interim Government to Lead Post-Conflict Reconstruction
  • Aoife O’Donoghue, The Exercise of Governance Authority by International Organisations: The Role of Due Diligence Obligations after Conflict
  • Annika Jones, Tailoring Justice for Mass Atrocities: The Constraints of International Law and the ICC’s Complementarity Regime
  • Aisling Swaine, Practicing Women, Peace and Security in Post-Conflict Reconstruction
  • Catherine Turner and Ruth Houghton, Constitution Making and Post Conflict Reconstruction
  • Dustin Sharp, Security Sector Reform for Human Security: The Role of International Law and Transitional Justice in Shaping More Effective Policy and Practice
  • Padraig McAuliffe, The International Rule of Law as Trumps: Do International Criminal Trial Responsibilities Impede Realisation of Domestic Rule of Law Priorities?
  • Lisa Mardikian, Economic Self-Determination in Post-Conflict Reconstruction: The Case Study of Timor-Leste
  • Antoine Buyse, Media in Post-Conflict Transitions: Balancing Protection Against Violence and Freedom of Expression
  • Lars Waldorf, Legal Empowerment and Liberal-Local Peace-Building
  • Kristin Bergtora Sandvik & Julieta Lemaitre, From IDPs to Victims in Colombia: A Bottom-Up Reading of Law in Post- Conflict Transitions
  • James Sweeney, Law and Policy on Post-Conflict Restitution
  • Matthew Saul, Conclusion: Towards a Fuller Understanding of the Foundations, Practice, and Future of the Role of International Law in Post-Conflict Reconstruction Policy

New Issue: Human Rights Law Review

The latest issue of the Human Rights Law Review (Vol. 15, no. 2, June 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Mary Dowell-Jones, The Economics of the Austerity Crisis: Unpicking Some Human Rights Arguments
  • Pierre Thielbörger, Re-Conceptualizing the Human Right to Water: A Pledge for a Hybrid Approach
  • Paul Tiensuu, Whose Right to What Life? Assisted Suicide and the Right to Life as a Fundamental Right
  • Helen Quane, The Significance of an Evolving Relationship: ASEAN States and the Global Human Rights Mechanisms
  • Alastair Mowbray, Subsidiarity and the European Convention on Human Rights
  • Franz Christian Ebert & Romina I. Sijniensky, Preventing Violations of the Right to Life in the European and the Inter-American Human Rights Systems: From the Osman Test to a Coherent Doctrine on Risk Prevention?
  • Meritxell Abellán Almenara & Dirk van Zyl Smit, Human Dignity and Life Imprisonment: The Pope Enters the Debate
  • Jill Marshall, S.A.S. v France: Burqa Bans and the Control or Empowerment of Identities

Stahn: The Law and Practice of the International Criminal Court

Carsten Stahn (Leiden Univ. - Law) has published The Law and Practice of the International Criminal Court (Oxford Univ. Press 2015). Contents include:
  • Carsten Stahn, Introduction More than a Court, Less than a Court, Several Courts in One? - The International Criminal Court in Perspective
  • Richard Dicker, The International Criminal Court (ICC) and Double Standards of International Justice
  • Leslie Vinjamuri, The ICC and the Politics of Peace and Justice
  • Deborah Ruiz Verduzco, The Relationship between the ICC and the United Nations Security Council
  • Anton Du Plessis & Ottilia Anna Maunganidze, The ICC and the AU
  • Stuart Ford, How Much Money Does the ICC Need?
  • Jonathan O'Donohue, The ICC and the ASP
  • Rod Rastan, Jurisdiction
  • Mohamed M El Zeidy, Ad hoc Declarations of Acceptance of Jurisdiction: The Palestinian Situation under Scrutiny
  • Harmen van der Wilt, Self-Referrals as an Indication of the Inability of States to Cope with Non-State Actors
  • Carsten Stahn, Admissibility Challenges Before the ICC: From Quasi-Primacy to Qualified Deference?
  • Robert Cryer, The ICC and its Relationship to Non-States Parties
  • Dov Jacobs, The Frog that Wanted to Be an Ox: The ICCs Approach to Immunities
  • Paul Seils, Putting Complementarity in its Place
  • Susana SáCouto & Katherine Cleary Thompson, Investigative Management, Strategies, and Techniques of the ICCs OTP
  • Fabricio Guariglia & Emeric Rogier, The Selection of Situations and Cases by the OTP of the ICC
  • William Schabas, Selecting Situations and Cases
  • Jenia Iontcheva Turner, Accountability of International Prosecutors
  • Gilbert Bitti, Article 21 and the Hierarchy of Sources of Law before the ICC
  • Joseph Powderly, The Rome Statute and the Attempted Corseting of the Interpretative Judicial Function: Reflections on Sources of Law and Interpretative Technique
  • Elies van Sliedregt, Perpetration and Participation in Article 25(3)
  • Jens David Ohlin, Co-Perpetration: German Dogmatik or German Invasion?
  • Thomas Weigend, Indirect Perpetration
  • Hector Olasolo, Forms of Accessorial Liability under Article 25(3)(b) and (c)
  • Kai Ambos, The ICC and Common Purpose - What Contribution is Required under Article 25(3)(d)?
  • Alejandro Kiss, Command Responsibility under Article 28 of the Rome Statute
  • Mohamed Elewa Badar & Sara Porro, Rethinking the Mental Elements in the Jurisprudence of the ICC
  • Claus Kreß, The ICCs First Encounter with the Crime of Genocide: The Case against Al Bashir
  • Darryl Robinson, Crimes against Humanity: A Better Policy on Policy
  • Michael A. Newton, Charging War Crimes: Policy and Prognosis from a Military Perspective
  • Anthony Cullen, The Characterization of Armed Conflict in the Jurisprudence of the ICC
  • Roger S. Clark, The Crime of Aggression
  • Niamh Hayes, La Lutte Continue: Investigating and Prosecuting Sexual Violence at the ICC
  • Carl-Friedrich Stuckenberg, Cumulative Charges and Cumulative Convictions
  • Simon De Smet, The International Criminal Standard of Proof at the ICC - Beyond Reasonable Doubt or Beyond Reason?
  • Ignaz Stegmiller, Confirmation of Charges
  • Håkan Friman, Trial Procedures - with a Particular Focus on the Relationship between the Proceedings of the Pre-Trial and Trial Chambers
  • Margaret M. deGuzman, Proportionate Sentencing at the ICC
  • Volker Nerlich, The Role of the Appeals Chamber
  • Kevin Jon Heller, A Stick to Hit the Accused With: The Legal Recharacterization of Facts under Regulation 55
  • Alex Whiting, Disclosure Challenges at the ICC
  • Karim A A Khan & Caroline Buisman, Sitting on Evidence: Systematic Failings in the ICC Disclosure Regime - Time for Reform
  • Aiste Dumbryte, The Roads to Freedom - Interim Release in the Practice of the ICC
  • Joris van Wijk & Marjolein Cupido, Testifying behind Bars - Detained ICC Witnesses and Human Rights Protection
  • Markus Eikel, External Support and Internal Coordination - The ICC and the Protection of Witnesses
  • Sergey Vasiliev, Victim Participation Revisited - What the ICC is Learning about Itself
  • Conor McCarthy, The Rome Statutes Regime of Victim Redress: Challenges and Prospects
  • Nick Grono & Anna de Courcy Wheeler, The Deterrent Effect of the ICC on the Commission of International Crimes by Government Leaders
  • Olympia Bekou, The ICC and Capacity Building at the National Level
  • Elizabeth Evenson & Alison Smith, Completion, Legacy, and Complementarity at the ICC
  • Philipp Ambach, A Look towards the Future - The ICC and Lessons Learnt

Brölmann: Typologies and the ‘Essential Juridical Character’ of Treaties

Catherine M. Brölmann (Univ. of Amsterdam - Law) has posted Typologies and the ‘Essential Juridical Character’ of Treaties (in Conceptual and Contextual Perspectives on the Modern Law of Treaties, M. Bowman & D. Kritsiotis eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
Legal scholarship, doctrine and practice differentiate between treaties. References to ‘peace treaties’, ‘environmental treaties’, ‘fundamental treaties’, ‘contract treaties’, ‘constitutional treaties’, ‘self-executing treaties’ are a received part of public international law discourse. Classifications of treaties are also not new. In his 1930 article for the British Yearbook of International Law, McNair distinguished between ‘widely differing functions and legal character of the instruments which it is customary to comprise under the term “treaty”. This chapter aims to trace classifications of treaties prevalent in international affairs today, and to look at their significance within and outside the law of treaties framework. Findings may further our understanding of the various treaty typologies used, often without clarity about the implications.

New Issue: Military Law and the Law of War Review / Revue de Droit Militaire et de Droit de la Guerre

The latest issue of the Military Law and the Law of War Review / Revue de Droit Militaire et de Droit de la Guerre (Vol. 52, no. 2, 2013) is out. Contents include:
  • F. Mégret, Missions autorisées par le Conseil de sécurité à l'heure de la R2P: au-delà du jus in bello?
  • R. Arnold & S. Wehrenberg, Die Strafbarkeit des Vorgesetzten nach Art. 264k Schweiz. StGB
  • J. Hartmann, Detention in International Military Operations: Problems and Process
  • M. Aaron & D. Nauta, Operational Challenges of the Law on Air Warfare. The Example of Operation Unified Protector
  • A. Berkes, The Nagomo-Karabakh Conflict before the European Court of Human Rights: Pending Cases and Certain Forecasts on Jurisdiction and State Responsibility

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Workshop: Constructive Links or Dangerous Liaisons? The Case of Public International Law and European Union Law (Reminder)

A reminder that the final workshop of the Annual Seminar Series of the Centre for Law and Society in a Global Context will take place on June 25-26, 2015. The topic is: "Constructive Links or Dangerous Liaisons? The Case of Public International Law and European Union Law." The program is here. Here's the idea:
After an introductory roundtable discussion held in October 2014 on the general aspects of the relationship between EU law and PIL to set the scene, the project 'Beyond Pluralism? Co-Implication, Embeddedness and Interdependency between Public International Law and EU Law' opened in medias res, analysing specific legal areas from the viewpoint of both the EU and PIL in a series of ‘thematic dialogues’ (on monetary policy, energy & environmental law, human rights, crime, justice & terrorism, and common foreign & security policy), taking place from October 2014 to March 2015. An inductive methodology has been followed, based on direct observation of the respective thematic field, intended to allow contributors to draw conclusions on the actual processes of reception, compliance and/or contestation between the EU and international legal orders on that basis. This concluding two-day workshop will serve to put findings into perspective, reflect upon them and consider how best to articulate the link between the two regimes, possibly re-defining their relationship and offering a comprehensive account of their interaction, overcoming the limitations of monist, dualist and pluralist approaches.

Conference: Colloque en l’honneur du professeur Nicolas Michel

On June 29, 2015, the Académie de droit international humanitaire et des droits humains, the faculties of law at the Université de Fribourg and the Université de Genève, the Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement, and the Département fédéral des affaires étrangères will hold a conference in honor of Nicolas Michel. The program is here.

Blog Symposium on Ratner's The Thin Justice of International Law

This week, EJIL Talk! and the Ethics & International Affairs Blog will hold a symposium on Steven R. Ratner’s The Thin Justice of International Law: A Moral Reckoning of the Law of Nations (Oxford Univ. Press 2015). Several posts are already up at EJIL Talk!, including those by Steve, Anne Peters, and Jean d'Aspremont.

Merkouris: Article 31(3)(c) VCLT and the Principle of Systemic Integration

Panos Merkouris (Univ. of Groningen - Law) has published Article 31(3)(c) VCLT and the Principle of Systemic Integration: Normative Shadows in Plato’s Cave (Brill | Nijhoff 2015). Here's the abstract:
In Article 31(3)(c) VCLT and the Principle of Systemic Integration: Normative Shadows in Plato’s Cave the author tackles a provision on treaty interpretation that has risen in prominence, Article 31(3)(c) VCLT. This article, which enshrines the principle of systemic integration, and its exact scope has become and continues to be a hotly debated subject in academic and judicial circles. Through an examination of both its written and unwritten elements, the author argues that the ‘proximity criterion’ is the optimal way of understanding and utilizing this provision, that conflict resolution principles may be of use within Article 31(3)(c) and finally, that the principle of systemic integration is indispensable not only for interpreting treaty provisions but customary international law as well.

New Issue: Revista Latinoamericana de Derecho Internacional

The latest issue of the Revista Latinoamericana de Derecho Internacional (no. 2, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Roberto Gargarella, La democracia frente a los crímenes masivos: una reflexión a la luz del caso Gelman
  • Verónica Lavista, La nacionalidad de las sociedades: los principios de la protección diplomática, ¿un modelo para el CIADI?
  • Ann Y. Du, Ana S. Ayala & Daniel Hougendobler, La obesidad y la salud mental: una intersección olvidada
  • Anthony Duff, Autoridad y responsabilidad en Derecho penal internacional
  • David Luban, La legitimidad del Derecho penal internacional
  • Susan Marks, Falsa contingencia
  • Jorge E. Viñuales, La costumbre internacional en el Derecho de las inversiones
  • Entrevista a Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni y Guido Croxatto
  • Entrevista a Kathryn Sikkink

New Issue: Revue Québécoise de Droit International

The latest issue of the Revue Québécoise de Droit International (Vol. 27, no. 1, 2014) is out. Contents include:
  • Études
    • Gérard Aivo, Le rôle des accords spéciaux dans la rationalisation des conflits armés non internationaux
    • Harith Al-Dabbagh, Débaathification en Irak : justice transitionnelle ou simple vengeance ?
    • Ahmed Ali Abdallah, Réflexions critiques sur le droit à l'autodétermination des peuples autochtones dans la déclaration des Nations Unies du 13 septembre 2007
    • Vincent Dalpé, Canada – Feed in Tariff : Are Fits Desirable, or Even Legal? A Case Comment
    • Pierrot Damien Massi Lombat, Les sources et fondements de l’obligation de coopérer avec la Cour pénale internationale
    • Pierre Antoine Vaillancourt, Hot pursuit : moyen dépassé pour assurer le respect des normes dans les eaux d'un État côtier?
  • Notes et commentaires
    • Fannie Lafontaine, La compétence universelle au Canada : le droit chemin tracé par la Cour d’appel du Québec dans Munyaneza

Monday, June 1, 2015

Franck, Freda, Lavin, Lehmann, & van Aaken: The Diversity Challenge: Exploring the 'Invisible College' of International Arbitration

Susan D. Franck (Washington and Lee Univ. - Law), James Freda (Office of the Special Representative to the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, United Nations), Kellen Lavin (Washington and Lee Univ.), Tobias A. Lehmann (Univ. of St. Gallen - Law), & Anne van Aaken (Univ. of St. Gallen - Law) have posted The Diversity Challenge: Exploring the 'Invisible College' of International Arbitration (Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, Vol. 53, p. 429, 2015). Here's the abstract:

As diversity can affect the perceived legitimacy of a state’s dispute resolution system and the quality of judicial decisions, diversity levels in the national bench and bar have been an area of transnational concern. By contrast, little is known about diversity of adjudicators and counsel in international arbitration. With a lack of accurate, complete, and publicly available data about international arbitrators and practitioners, speculation about membership in the “invisible college” of international arbitration abounds. Using data from a survey of attendees at the prestigious and elite biennial Congress of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration permitted one glimpse into the membership of the international arbitration community. Although defining the international arbitration community is challenging, rather than leave the “invisible college” unexamined, this Article offers one systematic glimpse into the global elites of international arbitration using data from 413 subjects who served as counsel and 262 who acted as arbitrators (including 67 investment treaty arbitrators). The median international arbitrator was a fifty-three year old man who was a national of a developed state reporting ten arbitral appointments; and the median counsel was a forty-six year old man who was a national of a developed state and had served as counsel in fifteen arbitrations.

In addition: (1) 17.6% of the arbitrators were women, and there was a significant age difference such that male arbitrators were approximately ten years older than women; (2) for those acting as international arbitrators, we could not identify a significant difference in the number of appointments women and men obtained; (3) depending upon how development status was defined, developing world arbitrators accounted for fifteen to twenty percent of arbitrators; and (4) for all measures used to analyze development status, arbitrators from the developing world received a statistically lower number of appointments than their developed world counterparts.

Recognizing the data revealed diversity in international arbitration is a complex phenomenon, the data nevertheless supported, rather than disproved, claims that international arbitration is a relatively homogenous group. Acknowledging that international arbitration may improve over time and diversity issues challenge other forms of dispute resolution, diversity levels in international arbitration were somewhat lower than in several national court systems but were generally reflective of diversity levels in other international courts and tribunals. The international arbitration community seems aware of the distortions. For all subjects, 57.5% either somewhat or strongly agreed that international arbitration experiences challenges related to gender, nationality, or age. Younger subjects and women were statistically more likely to identify such challenges as compared to older or male subjects; but subjects from states outside the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) were less likely to identify challenges when compared to their OECD counterparts. Replication is necessary as the results may reflect a limited historical baseline of international arbitration global elites.

Given the self-identified concerns and the symbolic legitimacy of broader representation, the international arbitration community may wish to explore factors inhibiting full utilization of untapped talent and facilitate aims of procedural, and potentially distributive, justice. Structural and incremental strategies could then promote a sustainable international arbitration system for the future.

New Volume: Netherlands Yearbook of International Law

The latest volume of the Netherlands Yearbook of International Law (Vol. 45, 2014) is out. Contents include:
  • Between Pragmatism and Predictability: Temporariness in International Law
    • Mónika Ambrus & Ramses A. Wessel, Between Pragmatism and Predictability: Temporariness in International Law
    • Rene Uruena, Temporariness and Change in Global Governance
    • Jean Galbraith, Temporary International Legal Regimes as Frames for Permanent Ones
    • Sofia Ranchordás, The International Rule of Law Time After Time: Temporary Institutions Between Change and Continuity
    • Christian Djeffal, International Law and Time: A Reflection of the Temporal Attitudes of International Lawyers Through Three Paradigms
    • Panos Merkouris, (Inter)Temporal Considerations in the Interpretative Process of the VCLT: Do Treaties Endure, Perdure or Exdure?
    • Kate Nancy Taylor, Shifting Demands in International Institutional Law: Securing the United Nations’ Accountability for the Haitian Cholera Outbreak
    • Evan J. Criddle, Protecting Human Rights During Emergencies: Delegation, Derogation, and Deference
    • Jean-François Durieux, Temporary Protection: Hovering at the Edges of Refugee Law
    • Harro Asselt, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Enhancing Flexibility in International Climate Change Law
    • Christian Henderson, Commissions of Inquiry: Flexible Temporariness or Permanent Predictability?
    • Adeno Addis, Special Temporary Measures and the Norm of Equality
    • Michael Bohlander, Paradise Postponed? For a Judge-Led Generic Model of International Criminal Procedure and an End to ‘Draft-as-You-Go’
  • Dutch Practice in International Law
    • Richard Caddell, Platforms, Protestors and Provisional Measures: The Arctic Sunrise Dispute and Environmental Activism at Sea

New Issue: International Studies Quarterly

The latest issue of the International Studies Quarterly (Vol. 59, no. 2, June 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • International Law
    • Richard A. Nielsen & Beth A. Simmons, Rewards for Ratification: Payoffs for Participating in the International Human Rights Regime?
    • Pierre-Hugues Verdier & Erik Voeten, How Does Customary International Law Change? The Case of State Immunity
  • Democracies and Non-Democracies
    • Christopher S. P. Magee & John A. Doces, Reconsidering Regime Type and Growth: Lies, Dictatorships, and Statistics
  • International Organizations
    • Martin Binder & Monika Heupel, The Legitimacy of the UN Security Council: Evidence from Recent General Assembly Debates
    • Daniela Donno, Shawna K. Metzger & Bruce Russett, Screening Out Risk: IGOs, Member State Selection, and Interstate Conflict, 1951–2000
  • Foreign Policies and Domestic Politics
    • Xun Cao & Hugh Ward, Winning Coalition Size, State Capacity, and Time Horizons: An Application of Modified Selectorate Theory to Environmental Public Goods Provision
    • Michaela Mattes, Brett Ashley Leeds & Royce Carroll, Leadership Turnover and Foreign Policy Change: Societal Interests, Domestic Institutions, and Voting in the United Nations
  • Globalization and Trade
    • Andrey Tomashevskiy & Daniel Yuichi Kono, Extra Credit: Preferential Trade Arrangements and Credit Ratings
    • Edward D. Mansfield, Diana C. Mutz & Laura R. Silver, Men, Women, Trade, and Free Markets
    • Adam Dean, The Gilded Wage: Profit-Sharing Institutions and the Political Economy of Trade
  • Foreign Direct Investment
    • Moonhawk Kim, Amy H. Liu, Kim-Lee Tuxhorn, David S. Brown & David Leblang, Lingua Mercatoria: Language and Foreign Direct Investment
    • Chungshik Moon, Foreign Direct Investment, Commitment Institutions, and Time Horizon: How Some Autocrats Do Better than Others
  • Transnational Politics
    • Melanie M. Hughes, Mona Lena Krook & Pamela Paxton, Transnational Women's Activism and the Global Diffusion of Gender Quotas
    • Rebekah K. Tromble & Miriam Wouters, Are We Talking With or Past One Another? Examining Transnational Political Discourse across Western–Muslim “Divides”
    • Michaël Tatham, Regional Voices in the European Union: Subnational Influence in Multilevel Politics

Ramcharan: The Law, Policy and Politics of the UN Human Rights Council

Bertrand G. Ramcharan has published The Law, Policy and Politics of the UN Human Rights Council (Brill | Nijhoff 2015). Here's the abstract:

The UN Human Rights Council is the leading human rights organ of the United Nations and, ten years after it was established, it has attracted commendation as well as severe criticism. Its universal periodic review is widely recognized as a valuable process of international cooperation to advance the universal implementation of human rights. However, it has been criticized for not acting effectively and fairly in dealing with situations of shocking violations of human rights in many parts of the world. It is an international organ with the highest responsibilities to uphold universal values but, at the same time, it is a political organ of United Nations Member States, and it shows the characteristics of both a values-based body and a theatre of political drama.

It is the merit of this book to present the Human Rights Council in terms of its mandates, roles and organization while seeking to remind the membership and the international community at large that the Council must be anchored in the modern human rights law of the Charter - of which the author gives a superb presentation. The book then proceeds to make the case that human rights are part of international constitutional law and this is exceedingly important at a time when universal values have come under stress from various quarters including from terrorist formations. The argument of the book is essentially that the modern human rights law of the Charter and the human rights provisions of international constitutional law must take precedence for everyone, everywhere.

New Issue: Les Cahiers de l'Arbitrage

The latest issue of Les Cahiers de l'Arbitrage (2015, no. 1) is out. Contents include:
  • Doctrine – Débats
    • Sophie Nappert, Square Pegs and Round Holes: The Taxation Provision of the Energy Charter Treaty and the Yukos Awards
    • Grégoire Bertrou & Quentin de Margerie, Obligation de révélation de l’arbitre  : tentative de synthèse après la publication des nouvelles règles de l’IBA

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Conference: 23rd ANZSIL Annual Conference

The Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law will hold its 23rd Annual Conference on July 2-4, 2015, at the Victoria University of Wellington. The theme is: "International Law-Making at a Crossroads: Participants, Processes and Principles." The program is here. Here's the idea:
The expansion and fragmentation of international law has brought a new complexity to international law-making. Today, there is an unprecedented diversification of actors, processes and fora involved in the creation of international standards, with government organisations, non-state actors and other networks are increasingly involved in the norm developing process. While certain forms of international collaboration are deliberately aimed at facilitating international agreement without establishing legally binding obligations, such agreements achieve a remarkable degree of compliance by states. Theories of international law-making no longer focus only on the fixed sources of law, but also explore the generation of law as an ongoing process of communication, interpretation, and narration. These innovative efforts at engaging in and making sense of legal diplomacy raise significant questions about the legitimacy, accountability, effectiveness, and nature of international law.

New Issue: Military Law and the Law of War Review / Revue de Droit Militaire et de Droit de la Guerre

The latest issue of the Military Law and the Law of War Review / Revue de Droit Militaire et de Droit de la Guerre (Vol. 52, no. 1, 2013) is out. Contents include:
  • N. Melzer & C. Marchand, The Role of Law in International Security: Compendium in Memoriam BigGen Erwin Dahinden (1957-2012) Introduction
  • A. Blattmann, Eulogy on the Life and Services of Brigadier General Erwin Dahinden
  • W. Boothby, How Will Weapons Reviews Address the Challenges Posed by New Technologies?
  • D. Fleck, Arms Control and Disarmament Law: Its Role in Addressing New Security Threats
  • Y. Dinstein, Air and Missile Warfare under International Humanitarian Law
  • M.N. Schmitt, Charting the Legal Geography of Non-International Armed Conflict
  • P. Spoerri, From Dissemination towards Integration - An ICRC Perspective
  • F. Pocar, Criminal Prosecution as a Tool for Ensuring International Security and Stability
  • N. Lang, The Path to Better Compliance with International Humanitarian Law
  • P. Hostettler, Security through Law and Good Governance - What Can Armed Forces of Smaller States Contribute?

Carrubba & Gabel: International Courts and the Performance of International Agreements

Clifford Carrubba (Emory Univ. - Political Science) & Matthew Gabel (Washington Univ., St Louis - Political Science) have published International Courts and the Performance of International Agreements: A General Theory with Evidence from the European Union (Cambridge Univ. Press 2015). Here's the abstract:
Nations often turn to international courts to help with overcoming collective-action problems associated with international relations. However, these courts generally cannot enforce their rulings, which begs the question: how effective are international courts? This book proposes a general theory of international courts that assumes a court has no direct power over national governments. Member states are free to ignore both the international agreement and the rulings by the court created to enforce that agreement. The theory demonstrates that such a court can, in fact, facilitate cooperation with international law, but only within important political constraints. The authors examine the theoretical argument in the context of the European Union. Using an original data set of rulings by the European Court of Justice, they find that the disposition of court rulings and government compliance with those rulings comport with the theory's predictions.