Saturday, September 10, 2016

Meger: Rape Loot Pillage: The Political Economy of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict

Sara Meger (Central European Univ. - Gender Studies) has published Rape Loot Pillage: The Political Economy of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict (Oxford Univ. Press 2016). Here's the abstract:

Rape and other forms of sexual violence have always been a feature of war. Yet it is only fairly recently that researchers have identified rape as a deliberate tool of war-making rather than simply an inevitable side effect of armed conflict. Much of the emerging literature has suggested that the underlying causes of rape stem from a single motivation-whether individual, symbolic, or strategic-leading to disagreement in the field about how we can understand and respond to the causes and consequences of sexual violence in war.

In Rape Loot Pillage, Sara Meger argues that sexual violence is a form of gender-based political violence (perpetrated against both men and women) and a manifestation of unequal gender relations that are exacerbated by the social, political, and economic conditions of war. She looks at trends in the form and function of sexual violence in recent and ongoing conflicts to contend that, in different contexts, sexual violence takes different forms and is used in pursuit of different objectives. For this reason, no single framework for addressing conflict-related sexual violence will be sufficient. Taking a political economy perspective, Meger maintains that these variations can be explained by broader struggles over territory, assets, and other productive resources that motivate contemporary armed conflicts. Sexual violence is a reflection of global political economic struggles, and can't be addressed only at the local level-it must be addressed through regional and international policy. She concludes by providing some initial ideas about how this can be done via the UN and national governments.

Tromp: Prosecuting Slobodan Miloševic: The Unfinished Trial

Nevenka Tromp (Univ. of Amsterdam - East European Studies) has published Prosecuting Slobodan Miloševic: The Unfinished Trial (Routledge 2016). Here's the abstract:
With the premature death of Miloševic in March 2006 his trial was left unfinished. Although the traditional objectives of criminal law, such as retribution, justice for victims, and deterrence, were not achieved, the Miloševic trial archive is a significant historical resource for researchers from various fields. This book extracts details from the collection of documentary and transcript evidence that makes up the trial record – sources which would be almost impossible to extricate without an insider’s guiding hand – to allow readers to trace the threads of several historical narratives. The value of this methodology is particularly evident in the Miloševic case as, acting as his own defence counsel, he responded to, and interacted with, almost all witnesses and evidence presented against him. By providing snapshots of the behaviour displayed by Miloševic in court while conducting his defence, in combination with passages of carefully selected evidence from an immense archive familiar to few scholars, this volume reveals how these trial records, and trail records in general, are a truly invaluable historical source. The book underlines the premise that any record of a mass atrocities trial, whether finished or unfinished, establishes a record of past events, contributes to interpretations of a historical period and influences the shaping of collective memory.

Friday, September 9, 2016

New Issue: International Law: Revista Colombiana de Derecho Internacional

The latest issue of International Law: Revista Colombiana de Derecho Internacional (Vol. 13, no. 27, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Andrés Sarmiento-Lamus, Caso De Los Pueblos Indígenas Kuna De Madungandí Y Emberá De Bayano Y Sus Miembros vs. Panamá
  • Maria Elizabeth Guimarães-Teixeira-Rocha, El Principio De La Seguridad Jurídica Ante La Cosa Juzgada Inconstitucional
  • Daniel Eduardo Bonilla-Maldonado, Derecho Internacional, Diversidad Cultural Y Resistencia Social El Caso De La Ley General Forestal En Colombia
  • José Manuel Castro-Arango, Ganancias De Capital Por La Enajenación De Activos Explotados En El Tráfico Internacional En Los Convenios De Doble Imposición
  • María Angélica Benavides-Casals, El Efecto Erga Omnes De Las Sentencias De La Corte Interamericana De Derechos Humanos
  • Luís Carlos Martins-Alves Jr., El Activismo Judicial "República Togada" Y El Principio De La Legalidad "Democracia Parlamentaria"
  • Astrid Liliana Sanchez-Mejia, El Potencial (Des)Protector Y (Des)Empoderador Del Derecho Y El Discurso De Los Derechos Humanos En Reclamos De Justicia Social Y Tierras

New Issue: International Organizations Law Review

The latest issue of the International Organizations Law Review (Vol. 13, no. 1, 2016) is out. Contents include:
  • Special Issue: Partnerships between International Institutions and Issues of (Shared) Responsibility
    • Laurence Boisson de Chazournes & André Nollkaemper, Partnerships between International Institutions and Issues of (Shared) Responsibility: Introductory Notes
    • Niels Blokker, On the Nature and Future of Partnerships in the Practice of International Organizations
    • Paolo Palchetti, Applying the Rules of Attribution in Complex Scenarios
    • Katarina Grenfell, Partnerships in UN Peacekeeping
    • Vassilis Pergantis, UN–AU Partnerships in International Peace and Security and Issues of Responsibility Allocation in Cases of UN Support to Regional Missions
    • Marten Zwanenburg, What’s in a Word? ‘Partnerships’ between NATO and Other International Institutions and Some Issues of Shared Responsibility
    • Andrea E. Stumpf, Trust-Funded Partnership Programmes of the World Bank under the ARIO
    • Eelco Szabó, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
    • Antonella Angelini, A Trouble Shared is a Trouble Halved

García-Salmones: The Disorder of Economy? The First Relectio de Indis in a Theological Perspective

Mónica García-Salmones (Univ. of Helsinki - Law) has posted the abstract for The Disorder of Economy? The First Relectio de Indis in a Theological Perspective (in System, Order and International Law – The Early History of International Legal Thought, Stefan Kadelbach, Thomas Kleinlein & David Roth-Isigkeit eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
Theologians of the scholastic tradition, like Francisco de Vitoria (1483-1546) cemented the work of rationalization and secularization of the communication between peoples – from there the already traditional title of founder of international law. The fact that between the internal perspective of the moral and virtuous individual and the external needs of an expanding economy of exchange the moral theologians of Salamanca appeared to have been drawn to choose the latter is particularly visible in Vitoria’s De Indis, which continues to astonish the reader due to its remarkable novelty and independence of contemporary theory. Despite its avowedly Thomistic approach to many doctrinal points, the Salamanca School avoided the tension that would have arisen if Aquinas’s theory of moral virtue had been applied to its members’ thinking on economic and political matters. It seems that the School developed an economic theory and employed a type of moral theory that reflect one another. This chapter explores three avenues: Vitoria’s theology, his understanding of the dispensation of natural law, and the actual text of De Indis. Its aim is to acquire further insight into this influential text and its relationship with the doctrinal history of the discipline of international law, as well as into the moral theology of the Salamancan theologians in general. An analysis of the ideas that Vitoria poured into his influential work will also help to assess the argument that in the late Middle Ages a new world order focused on economic issues that a new economic morality adjudicated upon. Rather than in economy, the chapter seeks in a specific style of doing theology and in its partial resurgence as natural law the reasons for disorder, for that division between faith and practice and for the fragmentation between reason and moral decision.

Busch: Establishing Continental Shelf Limits Beyond 200 Nautical Miles by the Coastal State

Signe Veierud Busch (Univ. of Tromsø - K.G. Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea) has published Establishing Continental Shelf Limits Beyond 200 Nautical Miles by the Coastal State: A Right of Involvement for Other States? (Brill | Nijhoff 2016). Here's the abstract:

In Establishing Continental Shelf Limits Beyond 200 Nautical Miles by the Coastal State: A Right of Involvement for Other States?, Signe Veierud Busch undertakes a study of all coastal State submissions to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf and asks under which circumstances and to what extent States other than the coastal State may intervene in the process of establishing final and binding continental shelf limits.

After analysing relevant provisions in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Commission’s Rules of Procedure compared with the practice of States and the Commission, Busch raises the overall question if the possibility for other States to block the work of the Commission may in fact be undermining the mandate and functions of the Commission.

Kim: Regime Accommodation in International Law

Heejin Kim (National Univ. of Singapore - Law) has published Regime Accommodation in International Law: Human Rights in International Economic Law and Policy (Brill | Nijhoff 2016). Here's the abstract:
In Regime Accommodation in International Law: Human Rights in International Economic Law and Policy, Heejin Kim analyses the ways in which international human rights and economic law interact and conflict across a range of complex issues. These sub-branches of international law are not entirely autonomous; as the author shows, they have been developed in a close relation to each other. International law – imperfect as it is – provides means to resolve the antinomies arising from conflicting rights and obligations under these sub-fields. Against the difficulties of addressing non-economic concerns including human rights in the practice of WTO and foreign investment regime, Kim examines how decision-makers at different stages of international economic policy-making can accommodate, invoke, or reflect human rights in a better way.

Pauwelyn: Sources of International Trade Law: Mantras and Controversies at the World Trade Organization

Joost Pauwelyn (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies) has posted Sources of International Trade Law: Mantras and Controversies at the World Trade Organization (in The Oxford Handbook on the Sources of International Law, Samantha Besson & Jean d’Aspremont eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
This contribution focuses on sources of law in Word Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement rather than sources of international trade or international economic law more broadly. Section II illustrates how, from a certain perspective, the sources of WTO law are relatively uncontroversial, the WTO being treaty-based and member-driven, two ‘mantras’ of the WTO legal system. Section III, in contrast, demonstrates that, from a different vantage point, sources of law have become one of the thorniest questions in WTO governance with recent developments questioning the source-monopoly of WTO members, WTO covered agreements, and legally binding instruments. Section IV, finally, offers a number of factors — two-tiered compulsory dispute settlement, consensus decision-making and increased membership diversity — that may explain the current state of play.

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Call for Submissions: NALSAR International Law Journal

The NALSAR International Law Journal has issued a call for submissions for its second volume. Here's the call:

Call for Papers: NALSAR International Law Journal
(submit by November 5th, 2016)

The NALSAR International Law Journal is an annual student edited, peer reviewed journal published by the International Law Society at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad.

The Journal seeks to promote the growth and engagement of scholarship in the field of international law, and provides a forum for the discussion of legal issues within the domain of public international law, which it wishes to make readily available in the public domain, by publishing it online.

The Editorial Board invites submissions from students and practitioners in the field of international law for Volume II of the Journal to be released in April, 2017.

Nature of Submissions

Submissions may fall under any of the following categories:

Articles (5000-7500 words)
Essays/Notes (2500-5000 words)
Case Comments/Treaty Appraisal/Book or Article Review (1500-3000 words)

Submission Guidelines

Originality: All submissions must be the original and unpublished works of the author. Plagiarism in any form shall result in instant rejection of the submission. The decision of the Board of Editors in this matter is final and binding. The Editorial Board of NILJ shall not be responsible for any material that is libelous or scandalous and the author shall be deemed to have obtained the permission of the referred author in case the work is unpublished.

Abstract: Each submission must be accompanied by an abstract of not more than 250 words. There will not be any prior selection of manuscripts on the basis of the abstract. It is merely meant to assist the Editorial Board in the review process.

Word Limit: All the word limits mentioned above are inclusive of footnotes.

Citation Format:

The citation format to be followed throughout the submission is ‘The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (19th Ed.)’. Speaking footnotes are discouraged; where used, they will be included within the word limit.

Co-authorship: Co-authorship up to two authors (from the same or different institutions) is permitted.

Format: The body of the manuscript should be in Times New Roman, size 12 in 1.5 spacing. The footnotes should be in Times New Roman, size 10 in single spacing. All submissions must be compatible with Microsoft Word 2003 and 2007.

Biographical Information: The manuscript must not contain any indication of the identity of the author. The covering email must include the following biographical details of the authors: Name, E-mail address, Postal Address, Name of Institution, and Academic Year. It must also clearly state the Title of the manuscript.

Submission and Deadline: All submissions must be e-mailed to nalsar.ils@gmail.com on or before November 5th, 2016 with the subject ‘NILJ Submission’.

Contact: For any clarifications, please send a mail at nalsar.ils@gmail.com

The Editorial Board
NALSAR International Law Journal

Du: The Necessity Test in World Trade Law: What Now?

Ming Du (University of Surrey - Law) has posted The Necessity Test in World Trade Law: What Now? (Chinese Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
The necessity test in the GATT/WTO legal system has long been attacked on two grounds. First, the legal test formulated by the WTO Appellate Body to assess necessity has been described as ambiguous, illogical and arbitrary. Second, the WTO Appellate Body’s stringent interpretation of the necessity requirement has interfered with WTO Members’ domestic choices about policy objectives. This article revisits these conventional criticisms in the light of the recent WTO case law and attempts to make three claims in relation to the necessity test in WTO law. First, we now have a much clearer understanding of the role each element of the necessity test plays, how different elements interact and how to draw a conclusion after weighing and balancing these elements. Second, the WTO Appellate Body has gradually and substantially relaxed the necessity test over the past decade. It is no longer justifiable to depict the necessity test as a straightjacket. Third, the WTO Appellate Body has successfully pushed for a broad convergence in necessity tests across various WTO Agreements, despite their textual and structural differences.

Viñuales: Investor Diligence in Investment Proceedings: Sources and Arguments

Jorge E. Viñuales (Univ. of Cambridge - Law) has posted Investor Diligence in Investment Proceedings: Sources and Arguments. Here's the abstract:
This paper analyses the concept of investor diligence and its practical and policy implications for investment arbitration proceedings. It proceeds in two stages. Firstly, the sources of investor diligence are identified and discussed. In this process, I discuss not only (i) the main CSR and SRI instruments but also (ii) the legal techniques to give legal grounding to these and other standards of investor behaviour and, perhaps most importantly, (iii) how investor diligence has featured in investment proceedings at the jurisdictional, admissibility, merits and quantum levels. Secondly, I analyse the implications of mainstreaming investor diligence for three policy questions, namely (i) the debate over investor-State asymmetry in investment protection frameworks, (ii) the distinction between commercial and political risk, and (iii) the use of the legitimate expectations doctrine.

New Issue: International Relations

The latest issue of International Relations (Vol. 30, no. 3, September 2016) is out. Contents include:
  • Special Issue: Critical Perspectives on the Responsibility to Protect: BRICS and Beyond
    • Gareth Evans, Foreword
    • Charles E Ziegler, Critical perspectives on the Responsibility to Protect: BRICS and beyond
    • Charles Cater & David M Malone, The origins and evolution of Responsibility to Protect at the UN
    • Benjamin N Schiff, Can the International Criminal Court contribute to the Responsibility to Protect?
    • Timothy William Waters, The spear point and the ground beneath: territorial constraints on the logic of Responsibility to Protect
    • Vitaly Kozyrev, Harmonizing ‘Responsibility to Protect’: China’s vision of a post-sovereign world
    • Charles E Ziegler, Russia on the rebound: using and misusing the Responsibility to Protect
    • Sumit Ganguly, India and the Responsibility to Protect
    • Oliver Stuenkel, Brazil and Responsibility to Protect: a case of agency and norm entrepreneurship in the Global South
    • Karen Smith, South Africa and the Responsibility to Protect: from champion to sceptic

New Issue: Human Rights Review

The latest issue of the Human Rights Review (Vol. 17, no. 3, September 2016) is out. Contents include:
  • Tom Buitelaar, The ICC and the Prevention of Atrocities: Criminological Perspectives
  • Sam Grey & Alison James, Truth, Reconciliation, and “Double Settler Denial”: Gendering the Canada-South Africa Analogy
  • Tim Cunningham, Cutting with the Grain: Human Rights, Conflict Transformation and the Urban Planning System—Lessons from Northern Ireland
  • Georgia du Plessis, The Legitimacy of Using the Harm Principle in Cases of Religious Freedom Within Education
  • Elaine Webster, Interpretation of the Prohibition of Torture: Making Sense of ‘Dignity’ Talk

Orford: International Law and the Limits of History

Anne Orford (Univ. of Melbourne - Law) has posted International Law and the Limits of History (in The Law of International Lawyers: Reading Martti Koskenniemi, W. Werner, A. Galán, & M. de Hoon eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This chapter explores the effect that the turn to history has had on the field of international law. The publication of Martti Koskenniemi’s history of the international legal profession, The Gentle Civilizer of Nations, is often presented as representing a moment at which the field of international law took a ‘turn to history’, or more precisely, a turn in its mode of writing history. Of course, international law has always had a deep engagement with the past. Past texts and concepts are constantly retrieved and taken up as a resource in international legal argumentation and scholarship. Thus the ‘turn to history’ trope marks a turn to history as a critical method, rather than a turn to history as a substantive engagement with the past. Koskenniemi himself introduced The Gentle Civilizer as a ‘move from structure to history in the analysis of international law’ and ‘a kind of experimentation in the writing about the disciplinary past’. In later work, however, he became much conventional in his exposition of history as method, arguing against the ‘sin of anachronism’ and urging critical scholars to focus on the meaning of texts for their authors’ ‘contemporaries’. A similar turn to history as method more broadly begin to shape new writing about international law over the decade following The Gentle Civilizer’s publication.

This chapter suggests that the turn to history as method that followed in the wake of The Gentle Civilizer was an abandonment of the critical potential of that initial work. What marked out The Gentle Civilizer as a singular achievement was Koskenniemi’s attempt to hold together the history of international law, the sociology of international law, and the practice of international law. If the attempt to hold together those genres is abandoned, the critical potential of historical work in international law is lost. The chapter concludes by exploring what the historicizing of international law as a critical gesture might mean for the field going forward.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

New Issue: International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law

The latest issue of the International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law (Vol. 31, no. 3, 2016) is out. Contents include:
  • Special Issue: Port State Jurisdiction: Challenges and Potential
    • Cedric Ryngaert & Henrik Ringbom, Introduction: Port State Jurisdiction: Challenges and Potential
    • Judith Swan, Port State Measures—from Residual Port State Jurisdiction to Global Standards
    • Andrew Serdy, The Shaky Foundations of the FAO Port State Measures Agreement: How Watertight Is the Legal Seal against Access for Foreign Fishing Vessels?
    • Robin Churchill, Port State Jurisdiction Relating to the Safety of Shipping and Pollution from Ships—What Degree of Extra-territoriality?
    • Bevan Marten, Port State Jurisdiction over Vessel Information: Territoriality, Extra-territoriality and the Future of Shipping Regulation
    • Arron N. Honniball, The Exclusive Jurisdiction of Flag States: A Limitation on Pro-active Port States?
    • Laura Carballo Piñeiro, Port State Jurisdiction over Labour Conditions: A Private International Law Perspective on Extra-territoriality

Helfer: Human Rights and Intellectual Property: Mapping an Evolving and Contested Relationship

Laurence R. Helfer (Duke Univ. - Law) has posted Human Rights and Intellectual Property: Mapping an Evolving and Contested Relationship (in The Oxford Handbook of Intellectual Property Law, Rochelle C. Dreyfuss & Justine Pila eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
This chapter, a contribution to The Oxford Handbook of Intellectual Property Law, provides an overview of the contested and evolving relationship between the international legal regimes governing human rights and intellectual property (IP). The chapter is organized chronologically, dividing the intersection of the regimes into four periods. Prior to the mid-1990s, human rights and IP existed as separate and distinct legal and policy domains. The second period, between the mid-1990s and 2000, involved a rapid expansion of IP protection rules in numerous treaties and national laws. In the decade from 2000 to 2010, the most salient events were backlashes against the expansion of IP protection together efforts clarify the understanding of the how IP could undermine human rights. The most recent period, since 2010, has seen efforts to codify ceilings on IP protection in treaties and, separately, the invocation of human rights arguments in litigation involving IP before national and regional courts and international arbitral tribunals. A brief conclusion identifies three developments concerning the interface of human rights and IP likely to occupy the attention of governments, civil society groups, and scholars in the near future.

New Issue: Revue de Droit International et de Droit Comparé

The latest issue of the Revue de Droit International et de Droit Comparé (Vol. 93, no. 3, 2016) is out. Contents include:
  • A.C. Mballa Eloundou, La famille dans la jurisprudence administrative en France et au Cameroun
  • Y. Hamuli Kabumba, Le statut juridique de la victime devant la section du droit international pénal de la future Cour africaine de justice, des droits de l'homme et des peuples
  • F. Quilleré-majzoub, « Vingt fois sur le métier remettez votre ouvrage » : le problème de la définition du concept de « ressource naturelle » en droit des cours d'eau internationaux
  • R. Chouvel, Le secteur privé et le contrôle externe des collectivités territoriales dans l'Union européenne

New Issue: Journal of the History of International Law / Revue d'histoire du droit international

The latest issue of the Journal of the History of International Law / Revue d'histoire du droit international (Vol. 18, no. 4, 2016) is out. Contents include:
  • Edward J. Kolla, Maritime Intercourse and the Commercial Origins of the Alien Tort Statute
  • Emily Haslam, International Criminal Law and Legal Memories of Abolition: Intervention, Mixed Commission Courts and ‘Emancipation’
  • Dante Fedele, The Renewal of Early-Modern Scholarship on the Ambassador: Pierre Ayrault on Diplomatic Immunity

Hafner-Burton, Puig, & Victor: Against International Settlement? Secrecy, Adjudication and the Transformation of International Law

Emilie Marie Hafner-Burton (Univ. of California, San Diego - School of Global Policy and Strategy), Sergio Puig (Univ. of Arizona - Law), & David G. Victor (Univ. of California, San Diego - School of Global Policy and Strategy) have posted Against International Settlement? Secrecy, Adjudication and the Transformation of International Law. Here's the abstract:

Three decades ago Owen Fiss published a landmark article - Against Settlement - which argued that the rising popularity of pretrial settlement and alternative dispute resolution was an unwelcome trend. It sacrificed the public benefits of complete and transparent adjudication for the private expedience of settling disputes. In this Article, we propose that international law is on the cusp of its very own settlement crisis.

As international governance is taking on increasingly more difficult and demanding topics, firms and governments have radically expanded the use of international courts to resolve complex legal disputes. In their effort to become more legitimate and effective, these bodies have adopted a wide array of reforms aimed at promoting transparency. Using a unique dataset on all investor-state arbitrations under the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), we show that those reforms are, in part, failing because parties have found ways to use pre-judgment or ‘out-of-court’ settlement to hide procedural and substantive outcomes. In fact, such settlements are the dominant means by which parties keep the outcomes of investment adjudication secret.

We illustrate, statistically, how different factors explain why private interests favor settlements and argue that international scholars have tended to view dispute resolution as an unalloyed good even when it is done in private - exactly the bias Fiss warned about long ago. Reforms, such as stronger disclosure rules and supervised settlements, will be needed to stem the settlement crisis in international law and yield a more consistent, coherent, and legitimate corpus of law.

New Issue: Arbitration International

The latest issue of Arbitration International (Vol. 32, no. 3, September 2016) is out. Contents include:
  • Articles
    • Alan Redfern & Sam O’Leary, Why it is time for international arbitration to embrace security for costs
    • Klaus Peter Berger & J. Ole Jensen, Due process paranoia and the procedural judgment rule: a safe harbour for procedural management decisions by international arbitrators
    • Maxi Scherer, The fate of parties’ agreements on judicial review of awards: a comparative and normative analysis of party-autonomy at the post-award stage
  • Recent Developments
    • Odysseas G. Repousis, Why Russian investment treaties could apply to Crimea and what would this mean for the ongoing Russo–Ukrainian territorial conflict
    • Johan Tufte-Kristensen, The unilateral appointment of co-arbitrators
    • Valentina Frignati, Ethical implications of third-party funding in international arbitration
    • Adam Beaumont, Reasons and reasons for reasons revisited: has the domestic arbitral award moved away from the fundamental basis behind the reasoned award, and is it now time for realignment?

Conference: 12th Annual ESIL Conference/12e conférence annuelle de la SEDI (Reminder)

The European Society of International Law will hold its 12th Annual Conference, September 8-10, 2016, in Riga, hosted by the Riga Graduate School of Law in cooperation with the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia. The theme is: "How International Law Works in Times of Crisis." The program is here. A full slate of interest group workshops and meetings will take place today, September 7. Their programs are available here.

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Bäumler: Das Schädigungsverbot im Völkerrecht

Jelena Bäumler has published Das Schädigungsverbot im Völkerrecht (Springer 2016). Here's the abstract:
Die Arbeit befasst sich mit der Frage nach Existenz und Umfang des Schädigungsverbots im Völkerrecht. Dabei liegt der Arbeit das Verständnis zugrunde, dass auch rechtmäßige Handlungen der Staaten durch die zunehmende Interdependenz zu Beeinträchtigungen bis hin zu Schädigungen bei anderen Staaten führen können. Dabei wurden die Referenzgebiete mit Blick darauf gewählt, dass es sich beim Umweltvölkerrecht um ein gewohnheitsrechtlich verankertes Schädigungsverbot zum Schutze der territorialen Souveränität handelt, beim Welthandelsrecht und Währungsrecht das Schädigungsverbot in Form einer vertraglichen Ausgestaltung vorliegt und beim Steuerrecht überlegt werden kann, welche grundsätzlichen Überlegungen zur Akzeptanz eines Schädigungsverbots in einem Gebiet führen, das jedenfalls auf multilateraler Ebene noch nicht vertraglich durchdrungen ist.

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

The latest issue of International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics (Vol. 16, no. 5, October 2016) is out. Contents include:
  • Niels Anger, Emmanuel Asane-Otoo, Christoph Böhringer, & Ulrich Oberndorfer, Public interest versus interest groups: a political economy analysis of allowance allocation under the EU emissions trading scheme
  • Anna Korppoo, Who is driving Russian climate policy? Applying and adjusting veto players theory to a non-democracy
  • Göran Duus-Otterström, Allocating climate adaptation finance: examining three ethical arguments for recipient control
  • Meriem Hamdi-Cherif & Henri Waisman, Global carbon pricing and the “Common But Differentiated Responsibilities”: the case of China
  • Joel R. Carbonell, Military spending, liberal institutions and state compliance with international environmental agreements
  • In Tae Yoo & Inkyoung Kim, Free trade agreements for the environment? Regional economic integration and environmental cooperation in East Asia
  • Christian Downie, Prolonged international environmental negotiations: the roles and strategies of non-state actors in the EU
  • Luke Kemp, Framework for the future? Exploring the possibility of majority voting in the climate negotiations

Lewis, Blum, & Modirzadeh: War-Algorithm Accountability

Dustin A. Lewis (Harvard Univ. - Law), Gabriella Blum (Harvard Univ. - Law), & Naz K. Modirzadeh (Harvard Univ. - Law) have posted War-Algorithm Accountability. Here's the abstract:

In this briefing report, we introduce a new concept — war algorithms — that elevates algorithmically-derived “choices” and “decisions” to a, and perhaps the, central concern regarding technical autonomy in war. We thereby aim to shed light on and recast the discussion regarding “autonomous weapon systems.”

We define “war algorithm” as any algorithm that is expressed in computer code, that is effectuated through a constructed system, and that is capable of operating in relation to armed conflict. In introducing this concept, our foundational technological concern is the capability of a constructed system, without further human intervention, to help make and effectuate a “decision” or “choice” of a war algorithm. Distilled, the two core ingredients are an algorithm expressed in computer code and a suitably capable constructed system.

Through that lens, we link international law and related accountability architectures to relevant technologies. We sketch a three-part (non-exhaustive) approach that highlights traditional and unconventional accountability avenues. We focus largely on international law because it is the only normative regime that purports — in key respects but with important caveats — to be both universal and uniform. By not limiting our inquiry only to weapon systems, we take an expansive view, showing how the broad concept of war algorithms might be susceptible to regulation — and how those algorithms might already fit within the existing regulatory system established by international law.

New Issue: Journal of International Arbitration

The latest issue of the Journal of International Arbitration (Vol. 33, no. 4, 2016) is out. Contents include:
  • Stephan Wilske & Chloë Edworthy, The Future of Intra-European Union BITs: A Recent Development in International Investment Treaty Arbitration against Romania and Its Potential Collateral Damage
  • Sam Luttrell & Peter Harris, Reinventing the Redfern
  • B. van Zelst, Unilateral Option Arbitration Clauses in the EU: A Comparative Assessment of the Operation of Unilateral Option Arbitration Clauses in the European Context
  • Arthad Kurlekar, Space – The Final Frontier: Analysing Challenges of Dispute Resolution Relating to Outer Space
  • Victoria Narancio & Laura Galindo-Romero, Colombia: New Presidential Directive Seeks to Increase Governmental Oversight over Arbitration Agreements and the Arbitral Selection Process

Caron & Shirlow: Dissecting Backlash: The Unarticulated Causes of Backlash and its Unintended Consequences

David D. Caron (King's College London – Law) & Esme Shirlow (King's College London - Law) have posted Dissecting Backlash: The Unarticulated Causes of Backlash and its Unintended Consequences (in The Judicialization of International Law - A Mixed Blessing?, Geir Ulfstein & Andreas Føllesdal eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
References to “backlash” are becoming increasingly ubiquitous in international law scholarship. Few have, however, sought to define or unpack the complexities of backlash. In this chapter, we seek to develop a notion of “backlash”, identify what underlies it, and illuminate its potential unintended consequences. While we focus upon investment treaty arbitration as a case study, we endeavor to illuminate the complexities of evaluating opposition to international regimes. These issues hold particular relevance to investor-State arbitration given current State negotiations of major bi‑ and multi‑ lateral treaties with investor-State protections. They are also likely to gain in relevance with many investment treaties shortly coming up for renewal or termination.

Monday, September 5, 2016

New Issue: Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law

The latest issue of the Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law (Vol. 4, no. 3, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Special Issue: The Fundamental Rights of States in International Law
    • Sahib Singh, The Fundamental Rights of States in Neoliberal Times
    • Daniel H Joyner & Marco Roscini, Is There Any Room for the Doctrine of Fundamental Rights of States in Today’s International Law?
    • Stephen C Neff, The Dormancy, Rise and Decline of Fundamental Liberties of States
    • Jean d’Aspremont, The Doctrine of Fundamental Rights of States and Anthropomorphic Thinking in International Law
    • Helmut Philipp Aust, Fundamental Rights of States: Constitutional Law in Disguise?
    • Jure Vidmar, The Concept of the State and its Right of Existence
    • Niki Aloupi, The Right to Non-intervention and Non-interference
    • Yogesh Tyagi, Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources
    • Antonios Tzanakopoulos, The Right to be Free from Economic Coercion
    • Marco Roscini, On the ‘Inherent’ Character of the Right of States to Self-defence
    • Daniel H Joyner, Fundamental Rights of States in International Law and the Right to Peaceful Nuclear Energy

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Natens: Regulatory Autonomy and International Trade in Services: The EU Under GATS and RTAs

Bregt Natens (Sidley Austin LLP) has published Regulatory Autonomy and International Trade in Services: The EU Under GATS and RTAs (Edward Elgar Publishing 2016). Here's the abstract:
This book considers how the interplay between multilateral and preferential liberalisation of trade in services increasingly raises concerns, both from the perspective of the beneficiaries of such liberalisation (whose rights are uncertain) and that of regulators (whose regulatory autonomy is constrained). The author shows how these concerns lead to vast underutilisation of, and strong prejudices against, the benefits of services liberalisation. The book meticulously analyses and compares the EU's obligations under the GATS and the services chapters of several RTAs to finally assess the merits of the raised concerns.