Stern: Gender, Conflict and International Humanitarian Law

Orly Maya Stern (Harvard Humanitarian Initiative) has published Gender, Conflict and International Humanitarian Law: A critique of the 'principle of distinction' (Routledge 2018). Here's the abstract:

This book conducts a gendered critique of the ‘principle of distinction’ in international humanitarian law (IHL), with a focus on recent conflicts in Africa. The ‘principle of distinction’ is core to IHL, and regulates who can and cannot be targeted in armed conflict. It states that civilians may not be targeted in attack, while combatants and those civilians directly participating in hostilities can be. The law defines what it means to be a combatant and a civilian, and sets out what behaviour constitutes direct participation. Close examination of the origins of the principle reveals that IHL was based on a gendered view of conflict, which envisages men as fighters and women as victims of war. Problematically, this view often does not accord with the reality in ‘new wars’ today in which women are playing increasingly active roles, often forming the backbone of fighting groups, and performing functions on which armed groups are highly reliant. Using women’s participation in ‘new wars’ in Africa as a study, this volume critically examines the principle through a gendered lens, questioning the extent to which the principle serves to protect women in modern conflicts and how it fails them. By doing so, it questions whether the principle of distinction is suitable to effectively regulate the conduct of hostilities in new wars.

New Issue: Human Rights Review

The latest issue of the Human Rights Review (Vol. 19, no. 3, September 2018) is out. Contents include:

• Matt James & Jordan Stanger-Ross, Impermanent Apologies: on the Dynamics of Timing and Public Knowledge in Political Apology
• Paweł Łuków, A Difficult Legacy: Human Dignity as the Founding Value of Human Rights
• Kristi Giselsson, Rethinking Dignity
• Jeremy Sarkin, Redesigning the Definition a Truth Commission, but Also Designing a Forward-Looking Non-Prescriptive Definition to Make Them Potentially More Successful

New Issue: International Interactions

The latest issue of International Interactions (Vol. 44, no. 6, 2018) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Jana Krause, Werner Krause & Piia Bränfors, Women’s Participation in Peace Negotiations and the Durability of Peace
• Vito D’Orazio & Idean Salehyan, Who is a Terrorist? Ethnicity, Group Affiliation, and Understandings of Political Violence
• Mi Hwa Hong & Gary Uzonyi, Deeper Commitment to Human Rights Treaties: Signaling and Investment Risk Perception
• Research Note
• R. Urbatsch, Immigrant Out-Groups and Voting against Free Trade

New Issue: Journal of Conflict & Security Law

The latest issue of the Journal of Conflict & Security Law (Vol. 23, no. 2, Summer 2018) is out. Contents include:

• Mauro Barelli, Preventing and Responding to Atrocity Crimes: China, Sovereignty and the Responsibility to Protect
• Dana Burchardt & Rishi Gulati, International Counter-terrorism Regulation and Citizenship-stripping Laws—Reinforcing Legal Exceptionalism
• Patrick M Butchard, Back to San Francisco: Explaining the Inherent Contradictions of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter
• Alejandro Rodiles, Law and Violence in the Global South: The Legal Framing of Mexico’s ‘NARCO WAR’
• Maurice Cotter, Military Necessity, Proportionality and Dual-Use Objects at the ICTY: A Close Reading of the Prlić et al. Proceedings on the Destruction of the Old Bridge of Mostar

New Additions to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law

The Codification Division of the UN Office of Legal Affairs recently added new lectures to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law. They were given by Hussein Hassouna on “The International Law Commission: Challenges and Achievements,” Pavel Šturma on “Succession of States and State Responsibility,” and Yacouba Cissé on “La problématique de la délimitation des frontières maritimes: généralités et contexte africain.”

Call for Papers: Literature and International Law at the Edge

A call for papers has been issued for a conference on "Literature and International Law at the Edge," to take place December 14-15, 2018, in New York City. Here's the call:

Call for Papers: Literature and International Law at the Edge

New York City, December 14/15, 2018

Abstracts/proposals due by October 31, 2018

The past decade has seen a steady increase in interdisciplinary scholarship interested in the relationships between literature and international law. Much of this scholarship has remained deeply rooted in the home disciplines of the scholars, who not only operate with the prevailing assumptions and methodologies of those disciplines, but also tend to treat the other disciplines as stable and unproblematic. Moreover, while claiming to tell a global history, that scholarship largely repeats the Eurocentric bias that has historically characterized the fields of comparative literature and international law. In fact, much of the new scholarship on comparative literature and international law not only fails to take account of imperialism and its histories in the formation of disciplinary knowledge, it also tends to marginalize events and thinkers at the colonial and global edges, ignoring their roles as actors and agents of literary and legal world-making. In doing so, this new scholarship seems to be replicating the traditional prejudices of its contributing disciplines.

Through a series of events to be held in 2018 and 2019 (in, amongst other places, New York, London and Nairobi) this project aims to explore the imbrications of literature and international law at the edges. The project seeks to challenge many of the basic disciplinary blindnesses and Eurocentric assumptions that have characterized the emerging conversation by putting the Global South at the center of our interdisciplinary inquiry.

For a day-long workshop/conference, to be held in New York City on December 14/15, 2018, we are seeking contributions that:

– Explore interdisciplinary interfaces among literary, historical, and legal studies, and from positions of geo-historical marginalization across the Global South.

– Address the intersections between particular texts of “world literature” and Third World Approaches to International Law.

– Map the theoretical and historical relationships between comparative literature and international law as world-making, world-imagining, and world-governing regimes.

– Trace the historical global flows of knowledge at the “margins” of world literary and legal space that have been overlooked in the canonical and narrow focus of the separate disciplines, as well as new flows of global knowledge among the disciplines and across (and about) the Global South.

– Consider how the basic assumptions and doctrines of international law and comparative literature (e.g., sovereignty, self-determination, territoriality, equality of states, ethno-cultural nationalism, national languages, and rights to natural and cultural resources) were worked out historically in the Global South.

Please email short proposals/abstracts/inquires by 31 October 2018 to: iL.Lit.events@gmail.com

Marcoux: International Investment Law and Globalization

Jean-Michel Marcoux has published International Investment Law and Globalization: Foreign Investment, Responsibilities and Intergovernmental Organizations (Routledge 2018). Here's the abstract:

In a context of neoliberal globalization, have the processes of elaboration and implementation of foreign investors' responsibilities by intergovernmental organizations reached the realm of legality? Using an analytical framework and a methodology that combines international law with international relations, this book provides a twofold answer to this question. First, it demonstrates that the normative integration of foreign investors' responsibilities in international investment law is fragmented and consistent with the interests of the most powerful actors. Second, while using the interactional theory of international law to assess the normative character of several international instruments elaborated and implemented by intergovernmental organizations, it highlights the sense of obligation that each instrument generates. The analysis demonstrates that such a codification process is marked by relations of power and has resulted in several social norms, with relatively few legal norms.

Wind: International Courts and Domestic Politics

Marlene Wind (Univ. of Copenhagen - Political Science) has published International Courts and Domestic Politics (Cambridge Univ. Press 2018). Contents include:

• Marlene Wind, Introduction
• Lisa Conant, Missing in action? The rare voice of international courts in domestic politics
• Krzysztof Pelc & Jeffrey Kucik, What can financial markets tell us about international courts and deterrence?
• David Kosar, The Strasbourg Court and domestic judicial politics
• Steven Freeland, It's a good idea … isn't it? The impact of complementarity at the international criminal court on domestic law, politics and perceptions of sovereignty
• Benjamin Perryman, Rights-protecting iCourts: the curious case of the OP-ICESCR
• Mikael Rask Madsen, Re-assembling the French state via human rights: between human rights internationalism and political sovereignism
• Juan A. Mayoral, Impact through trust: the CJEU as a trust-enhancing institution
• Katarína Šipulová, Jozef Janovský & Hubert Smekal, Ideology and international human rights commitments in post-communist regimes: the cases of the Czech Republic and Slovakia
• Philippa Webb, Escalation and interaction: international courts and domestic politics in the law of state immunity
• Jasper Krommendijk, National parliaments: obstacles or aid to the impact of international human rights bodies?
• Odile Ammann, The European Court of Human Rights and Swiss politics: how does the Swiss judge fit in?
• Yaël Ronen, The use of international jurisprudence by Israel's Supreme Court
• Marlene Wind, Laggards or pioneers? When Scandinavian avant-garde judges don't cite international case law: a methodological framework

Call for Submissions: Yearbook on International Investment Law and Policy

The Yearbook on International Investment Law and Policy has issued a call for submissions for its 2018 edition. The call is here.

Call for Submissions: Cambridge International Law Journal

The Cambridge International Law Journal invites submissions for its eighth volume (issues to be published in June and December 2019). Here's the call:

The Editorial Board of the Cambridge International Law Journal (CILJ) is pleased to invite submissions for its eighth volume (Issues to be published in June and December 2019). The Board welcomes long articles, short articles, case notes and book reviews that engage with current themes in international law. All submissions are subject to double-blind peer review by the Journal’s Editorial Board. In addition, all long articles are sent to the Academic Review Board, which consists of distinguished international law scholars and practitioners.

Submissions can be made at any time. Articles submitted by 1 October 2018 will be considered for Volume 8 Issue 1. Any articles submitted after this date will be considered for the following issues.

For full submission instructions, please visit www.elgaronline.com/cilj.

Submissions can be made for Volume 8(1) here (please be aware the review process will begin in November 2018).

Alternatively, blog articles can be submitted here.

Further information can be obtained from the Editors-in-Chief at editors@cilj.co.uk

Melandri: Self-Determination, International Law and Post-Conflict Reconstruction

Manuela Melandri has published Self-Determination, International Law and Post-Conflict Reconstruction: A Right in Abeyance (Routledge 2018). Here's the abstract:

The right to self-determination has played a crucial role in the process of assisting oppressed people to put an end to colonial domination. Outside of the decolonization context, however, its relevance and application has constantly been challenged and debated. This book examines the role played by self-determination in international law with regard to post-conflict state building. It discusses the question of whether self-determination protects local populations from the intervention of international state-builders in domestic affairs. With a focus on the right as it applies to the people of an independent state, it explores how self-determination concerns that arise in the post-conflict period play out in relation to the reconstruction process. The book analyses the situation in Somalia as a means of drawing out the impact and significance of the legal principle of self-determination in the process of rebuilding post-conflict institutions. In so doing, it seeks to highlight how the relevance of self-determination is often overlooked in this context.

New Issue: Chicago Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Chicago Journal of International Law (Vol. 19, no. 1, Summer 2018) is out. Contents include:

• Patrick Jiang & Gonzalo Villalta Puig, Article 158(3) of the Hong Kong Basic Law and the Preliminary Reference Procedure of the European Union
• Michael N. Scmitt, "Virtual" Disenfranchisement: Cyber Election Meddling in the Grey Zones of International Law

Arato: The Private Law Critique of International Investment Law

Julian Arato (Brooklyn Law School) has posted The Private Law Critique of International Investment Law (American Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

International investment law goes further in disciplining States’ internal policy space than is commonly understood. This Article argues that investment treaties subtly constrain how nations organize and balance their internal systems of private law – including laws of property, contract, corporations, and IP. Problematically, they do so on a one-size-fits-all model, without regard for the wide variation in values undergirding these discrete legal institutions. Moreover, ISDS case-law exacerbates these constraints, unjustifiably distorting national private law arrangements. This hidden aspect of the system produces distinct problems of efficiency, fairness, and equitable distribution that have eluded critics and apologists alike.

Rodiles: Coalitions of the Willing and International Law: The Interplay between Formality and Informality

Alejandro Rodiles (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México) has published Coalitions of the Willing and International Law: The Interplay between Formality and Informality (Cambridge Univ. Press 2018). Here's the abstract:

Global action and regulation is increasingly the result of the interplay between formality and informality. From the management of State conduct in international security to the coordination of national policies in climate change, international organizations work ever closer with coalitions of the willing. This book carefully describes this dynamic game, showing that it consists of transformative orchestration strategies and quasi-formalization processes. On the institutional plane, coalitions of the willing turn into 'durable efforts', while international organizations perform as 'platforms' within broader regime complexes. On the normative level, informal standards are framed in legal language and bestowed with the force of law, while legal norms are attached to multilayered schemes of implementation, characterized by pragmatic correspondences, persuasion tactics, and conceptual framing. Understanding how this interplay alters the notion of 'international legality' is crucial for the necessary recalibrations of the political ideals that will inform the rule of law in global governance.

Conference: The International Law Applicable to Peace Operations

On November 14-17, 2018, the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War will hold its next international conference in Dublin, with the support of the Defence Forces Ireland, the Irish Group of the Society, and the Irish Centre for Human Rights of the National University of Ireland, Galway. The theme is: "The International Law Applicable to Peace Operations." The program is here.

New Issue: Business and Human Rights Journal

The latest issue of the Business and Human Rights Journal (Vol. 3, no. 2, July 2018) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Tori Loven Kirkebø & Malcolm Langford, The Commitment Curve: Global Regulation of Business and Human Rights
• Valentina Azarova, Business and Human Rights in Occupied Territory: The UN Database of Business Active in Israel’s Settlements
• Alejo José G Sison, Virtue Ethics and Natural Law Responses to Human Rights Quandaries in Business
• Stephen Kim Park, Social Bonds for Sustainable Development: A Human Rights Perspective on Impact Investing
• Developments in the Field
• Daniel Iglesias Márquez & Maria Prandi, How the Business Debate Influenced (or not) the Conflict Between Catalonia and Spain
• Arvind Ganesan, Business and Human Rights during the Trump Era
• Dan Bross, Fabrice Houdart, & Salil Tripathi, None of their Business? How the United Nations is Calling on Global Companies to Lead the Way on Human Rights of LGBTI people
• Doug Cassel, The Third Session of the UN Intergovernmental Working Group on a Business and Human Rights Treaty
• Sanyu Awori, Felogene Anumo, Denisse Cordova Montes, & Layla Hughes, A Feminist Approach to the Binding Instrument on Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises
• Michel Yoboué & Jonathan Kaufman, Inside the Dirty Fuels Campaign: Lessons for Business and Human Rights

Theilen, Hassfurther, & Staff: Towards Utopia – Rethinking International Law

Jens Theilen (Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel - Walther-Schücking-Institut für Internationales Recht), Isabelle Hassfurther (Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel - Walther-Schücking-Institut für Internationales Recht), & Wiebke Staff (Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel - Walther-Schücking-Institut für Internationales Recht) have posted Towards Utopia – Rethinking International Law (German Yearbook of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

In the face of recent challenges to international law and its institutions, a sense of despair and resignation pervades some parts of international legal scholarship – a mindset which may work to close off the ability to think, feel, and imagine alternatives. As a counterpoint to such despair, this paper explores the potential of utopianism as a framework for rethinking international law which provides grounds for hope. Building on the articles contained in the Special Section "Towards Utopia – Rethinking International Law" which it introduces, the paper discusses three topoi of utopianism in relation to international law: first, the diversity of utopian approaches, ranging from grand blueprints to everyday utopias; second, the relation of utopianism to critique, and specifically to critical approaches to international law; and third, the complicated role of international law in relation to social change.

New Issue: Transnational Dispute Management

The latest issue of Transnational Dispute Management (2018, no. 4) is out. This is a special issue on "Time and Cost Issues in International Arbitration." The table of contents is here.

Call for Papers: The League of Nations and International law, 1919-1945

The research project Laying the Foundations – The League of Nations and International Law, 1919-1945 at the University of Copenhagen has issued a call for papers for a conference on "The League of Nations and International law, 1919-1945." The call is here.

Institute for the History of International Law@Tilburg Lecture Series for 2018-2019

Here's the schedule for the Institute for the History of International Law@Tilburg lecture series for 2018-2019:

• September 26, 2018: Ziv Bohrer (Bar-Ilan Univ.), Nuremberg Was Not the First International Criminal Tribunal — by a Longshot
• November 21, 2018: Ilya Kotlyar (UvT), The International Legal Issues of the Dissolution of the Soviet Union
• December 12, 2018: Randall Lesaffer (UvT), The Persian Gulf Conflict and the Reinvention of Collective Security: A Historical Perspective
• January TBD, 2019: Emiliano Buis (Univ. of San Andrés, Buenos Aires) Feeling the Empire: Power, Emotions, and Interpolity Legal Rhetoric in the Classical Greek World
• March 27, 2019: Yuko Nishitani (Kyoto Univ.), The Rise and Fall of Nations State in Private International Law
• April 24, 2019: Ana Delic (UvT), Uniformity and Choice of Law in the Private International Law of Contracts

Sucker: Der Schutz und die Förderung kultureller Vielfalt im Welthandelsrecht

Franziska Sucker has published Der Schutz und die Förderung kultureller Vielfalt im Welthandelsrecht: Eine völkerrechtliche Studie zum Stand und zu Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten am Beispiel audiovisueller Medien (Springer 2018). Here's the abstract:

Das Buch nimmt eine völkerrechtliche Analyse des Spannungsverhältnisses zwischen Kultur und Handel vor. Staatliche Maßnahmen zum Schutz und zur Förderung der Vielfalt von Kulturprodukten, die deren grenzüberschreitenden Austausch beeinflussen, fallen in den Anwendungsbereich zweier völkerrechtlicher Verträge: Zum einen beziehen sie sich auf kulturelle Ausdrucksformen, weshalb der Anwendungsbereich der CCD eröffnet ist. Zum anderen betreffen sie den Handel mit Waren, Dienstleistungen sowie Daten und fallen daher in den Anwendungsbereich des Welthandelsrechts. Dies kann zu Überschneidungen und Konflikten zwischen den CCD und den WTO-Abkommen sowie zwischen verschiedenen Vorschriften dieser Verträge führen.Das Buch arbeitet diese Überschneidungen und Konfliktpotenziale heraus und widmet sich möglichen Lösungsmodellen. Der Bereich der audiovisuellen Medien findet dabei besondere Berücksichtigung, da sich das Konzept der kulturellen Vielfalt vornehmlich in Bezug auf audiovisuellen Medien entwickelt hat. Das Werk zeigt, dass zwar Konfliktpotenzial zwischen den CC-Vorschriften und den WTO-Vorschriften besteht und auch weiterhin bestehen bleibt, dessen Abschwächung aber möglich ist, indem eine die Vielfalt kultureller Ausdrucksformen begünstigende Umgebung geschaffen wird, in der sich kulturelle Ausdrucksformen entfalten und entwickeln können, ohne dass dabei der freie Handel übermäßig beschränkt würde.

Conference: The Accountability of ‘Major Powers’ for Alleged Serious Violations of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law

On October 1, 2018, the University of Essex Human Rights Centre and the Ulster University Transitional Justice Institute will hold a conference on "The Accountability of ‘Major Powers’ for Alleged Serious Violations of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law: Challenges and Prospects," in The Hague. The program is here.

Conference: Rethinking International Investment Governance: Principles for the 21st Century

On September 27-28, 2018, the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment will host the 13th Annual Columbia International Investment Conference. The theme is: "Rethinking International Investment Governance: Principles for the 21st Century." The program is here. Here's the idea:

The world has entered a critical moment for international economic policy. International investment is widely recognized as essential to global sustainable development, facilitating the transfer of technology, skills, capital, and jobs across borders, providing access to environmentally sound practices and offering livelihoods supported by the global economy. But mobility of capital can lead, among other things, to economic volatility, job insecurity, races to the bottom in terms of environmental, social, and fiscal policies, and governance gaps making it difficult for individuals or entities harmed by multinational enterprises to effectively secure remedies. The stakes are high, and the outcomes uncertain.

Public discontent with international investment treaties has produced a fundamental shift in policy in some contexts, and various discussions of reform in international and regional fora. This presents a crucial, and potentially fleeting, opportunity to advance a progressive vision of international investment that will govern this complex and nuanced field going forward.

This Conference seeks to elaborate principles for a progressive investment agenda. It will reflect on the current investment regime – of the network of over 3,000 investment agreements – and the extent to which the regime aligns with or undermines those principles. We will then re-imagine investment governance, and consider the role that international cooperation could play to advance sustainable, development-oriented investment.

van Aaken: Rationalist and Behavioralist Approaches to International Law

Anne van Aaken (Univ. of Hamburg - Law) has posted Rationalist and Behavioralist Approaches to International Law (in International Legal Theory: Foundations and Frontiers, Jeffrey L Dunoff & Mark A Pollack eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

The rationalist approach to international law mostly stands on two pillars: the rational choice assumption and, following the traditional international law assumptions in the aftermath of the Westphalian peace, the nation-state has mostly been analyzed as a unitary actor. Rational choice analysis has been used to conceptualize or reframe international law generally, including its sources, or particular institutions. The rational choice paradigm as used in economics has been thoroughly challenged, however, since the 1970s by psychological and economic experimental research that has revolutionized huge parts of economics itself as well as the economic analysis of law. Experiments show systematic deviations from the rationalist assumptions. This chapter analyzes the potential and the limits of the explanatory power of rationalist and behavioral approaches for international legal theory, in particular for the putative crisis in international law, in both variants – the unitary actor model as well as breaking up of the “black box” state.

New Issue: Virginia Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Virginia Journal of International Law (Vol. 57, no. 3, Summer 2018) is out. Contents include:

• John Bell, External Dimensions of the French Constitution
• Eyal Benvenisti & Mila Versteeg, The External Dimensions of Constitutions
• Melissa Carlson, Laura Jakli, & Katerina Linos, Refugees Misdirected: How Information, Misinformation, and Rumors Shape Refugees’ Access to Fundamental Rights
• Adam Chilton & Eric Posner, Country-Specific Investments and the Rights of Non-Citizens
• Rosalind Dixon & Brigid McManus, Detaining Non-Citizens: Political Competition and Weak v. Strong Judicial Review
• David Golove, The American Founding and Global Justice: Hamiltonian and Jeffersonian Approaches
• Heinz Klug, Constitution in the World: The External Dimensions of South Africa’s Post-Apartheid Constitution
• David Landau, Vulnerable Insiders: Constitutional Design, International Law, and the Victims of Internal Armed Conflict in Colombia
• George Rutherglen, The Rights of Aliens under the United States Constitution: At the Border and Beyond
• Adam Shinar, Israel’s External Constitution: Friends, Enemies, and the Constitutional/Administrative Law Distinction
• Ozan Varol, Alien Citizens: Kurds and Citizenship in the Turkish Constitution
• Neil Walker, Sovereignty and Beyond: The Double Edge of External Constitutionalism

New Issue: Revue de Droit International et de Droit Comparé

The latest issue of the Revue de Droit International et de Droit Comparé (Vol. 95, no. 3, 2018) is out. Contents include:

• M. Tavassoli Naini, Le mariage international et la question de la nationalité de la femme mariée à un étranger : une étude comparative du droit iranien, français et allemand
• T. Ojong, Un aperçu des lignes directrices de résolution des conflits de hiérarchie des normes et de juridictions dans le statut de Rome de la C.P.I.

Sivakumaran: Asia-Pacific States and the Development of International Humanitarian Law

Sandesh Sivakumaran (Univ. of Nottingham - Law) has posted Asia-Pacific States and the Development of International Humanitarian Law. Here's the abstract:

This chapter considers the development of international humanitarian law by states from the Asia-Pacific region. It explores the contribution of individual states from the region to the drafting of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Additional Protocols. It examines the extent to which state practice and opinio juris from states from the region are used in the formation of customary international humanitarian law rules, using as case studies the ICRC Customary International Humanitarian Law study and jurisprudence of the ICTY. The role of national judicial decisions from the region is analysed. The chapter then turns to the use of materials from Asia-Pacific states in leading teachings of publicists, such as the ICRC Commentaries on the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols and the work of expert groups.

Burnay: Chinese Perspectives on the International Rule of Law: Law and Politics in the One-Party State

Matthieu Burnay (Queen Mary Univ. of London - Law) has published Chinese Perspectives on the International Rule of Law: Law and Politics in the One-Party State (Edward Elgar Publishing 2018). Here's the abstract:

Building upon an understanding of the rule of law as an ‘essentially contested concept’, this insightful book investigates the historical, political, and legal foundations of the Chinese perspectives on the rule of law at both a national and international level. In particular, chapters focus on China’s impact on global trade and security governance. These case studies enable conclusions to be drawn regarding China’s more general perspectives on the international rule of law as a concept. Offering a thorough analysis of EU-China relationships, the book highlights the prospects and challenges for a meaningful dialogue on the rule of law and the international rule of law. In doing so, it illustrates the merits of the rule of law as a concept to engage in meaningful dialogues across a myriad of legal and political systems.

New Issue: International Affairs

The latest issue of International Affairs (Vol. 94, no. 5, September 2018) is out. Contents include:

• Yevgeniy Golovchenko, Mareike Hartmann, & Rebecca Adler-Nissen, State, media and civil society in the information warfare over Ukraine: citizen curators of digital disinformation
• Wu Xinbo, China in search of a liberal partnership international order
• Xiaoyu Pu & Chengli Wang, Rethinking China's rise: Chinese scholars debate strategic overstretch
• Alexander Libman & Anastassia V. Obydenkova, Regional international organizations as a strategy of autocracy: the Eurasian Economic Union and Russian foreign policy
• Sonia Le Gouriellec, Regional power and contested hierarchy: Ethiopia, an ‘imperfect hegemon’ in the Horn of Africa
• Kristof Titeca, Understanding the illegal ivory trade and traders: evidence from Uganda
• Philipp Schulz, Displacement from gendered personhood: sexual violence and masculinities in northern Uganda
• Aarie Glas, African Union security culture in practice: African problems and African solutions
• Paul Michael Brannagan & Richard Giulianotti, The soft power–soft disempowerment nexus: the case of Qatar

Call for Papers: 7th Forum of the African Union Commission on International Law

The African Union Commission on International Law has issued a call of papers for its 7th Forum, to take place on November 21-22, 2018 in Addis Ababa. The theme is: "Natural Resources Management in Africa." The call is here (English/Français).

Mattheis: Die Konstitutionalisierung des Völkerrechts aus systemtheoretischer Sichtweise

Clemens Mattheis has published Die Konstitutionalisierung des Völkerrechts aus systemtheoretischer Sichtweise (Springer 2018). Here's the abstract:

Das Buch befasst sich mit der Fragestellung nach einer Konstitutionalisierung des Völkerrechts und beleuchtet diese aus einer systemtheoretischen Sichtweise. Das Werk setzt sich zunächst intensiv mit der Systemtheorie von Niklas Luhmann auseinander und analysiert anschließend sowohl vorherrschende Konstitutionalisierungs- als auch Fragmentierungstendenzen. Ausführlich wird dabei auf den Ansatz des sog. Societal Constitutionalism eingegangen und die Hauptthese der Vertreter dieses Ansatzes kritisch gewürdigt. Schließlich beleuchtet das Werk die Konstitutionalisierung des Völkerrechts unter systemtheoretischen Gesichtspunkten und untersucht, inwieweit ein autonomes oder sogar autopoietisches Rechts- und Politiksystem auf internationaler Ebene existieren und ob diese beiden Systeme analog zur nationalstaatlichen Ebene durch eine Art strukturelle Kopplung verbunden sind. Im Kern bejaht das Werk ein Vorliegen einer strukturellen Kopplung und dadurch auch eine Konstitutionalisierung zumindest in einem abgeschwächten Maß.

New Issue: Global Summitry

The latest issue of Global Summitry (Vol. 3, no. 1, Summer 2017) is out. Contents include:

• Danny Cullenward, California’s Foreign Climate Policy
• Yves Tiberghien, Fostering Bold and Innovative Ideas for Urgent Global Challenges: The V20 Contribution to the G20 during the China–German Transition
• Jeannette Money & Sarah P Lockhart, The Paucity of International Protections: Global Migration Governance in the Contemporary Era
• Dawisson Belém Lopes & João Paulo Ferraz Oliveira, Latin American Secretaries-General of International Organizations: A Typical Case of “Diplomacy of Prestige” or Just Another Side Effect of Growing Cosmopolitanism?
• Trey Herr, Governing Proliferation in Cybersecurity

SFDI: La souveraineté pénale de l’Etat au XXIème siècle

The Société Française pour le Droit International has published La souveraineté pénale de l’Etat au XXIème siècle : Colloque de Lille (Pedone 2018). The table of contents is here.

Kovács: Attribution in International Investment Law

Csaba Kovács has published Attribution in International Investment Law (Kluwer Law International 2018). Here's the abstract:

Attribution in International Investment Law is the first in-depth book on attribution in international investment law analysing the treatment of attribution in applicable legal instruments and investment arbitration jurisprudence worldwide. The term ‘attribution’ refers to the means by which it is ascertained whether the State is involved in a dispute governed by international law. The notion of attribution is primarily used to determine if the State is responsible for the wrongful conduct of persons or entities with links to the State. In the context of international investment law, the exponentially growing arbitration jurisprudence arising from international investment agreements, especially bilateral investment treaties, reflects the extent and risk of attribution determined in investment relationships that often involve State enterprises. This book provides an extensive review of the application of special or customary rules of attribution for the purposes of State responsibility in investor-State disputes.

Sognigbé Sangbana: La sanction internationale de la violation des droits de l’homme

Muriel Sognigbé Sangbana (Fondation René Cassin – Institut international des droits de l’homme) has published La sanction internationale de la violation des droits de l’homme (Pedone 2018). Here's the abstract:

La sanction internationale de la violation des droits de l’homme peine à atteindre les objectifs qui lui sont assignés. Les sanctions non juridictionnelles mises en place au sein du système de la Charte des Nations unies sont le régime de droit commun, mais leur efficacité reste limitée pour la victime. Les Comités créés pour veiller à l’application des conventions relatives aux droits de l’homme prennent de simples recommandations à l’issue de l’examen des communications individuelles et sont incompétents pour connaître des violations graves. À défaut de mécanisme de sanction des violations graves, le Conseil de sécurité a étendu l’application des mesures collectives aux droits de l’homme. Le recours ainsi fait au Chapitre VII est confronté aux difficultés opérationnelles qui en limitent la portée. Face à ces difficultés, le Conseil de sécurité a diversifié ses sanctions. Toutefois, qu’elles soient des sanctions ciblées ou des mesures juridictionnelles comme la création de juridictions pénales ou la saisine de la Cour pénale internationale, les mesures collectives sont axées sur l’individu et non l’État. Bien que ce dernier soit le titulaire des obligations internationales en la matière, il est à l’abri de toute sanction contraignante, collective ou pénale. L’absence de sanction efficace à l’encontre de l’État et la garantie insuffisante des droits de la victime impose une réforme du contentieux international des droits de l’homme, à l’aune de la protection régionale des droits de l’homme qui se distingue par sa juridictionnalisation et par les garanties des droits de la victime. Au-delà du renforcement des mécanismes des organes de traités, la création d’une juridiction universelle chargée de sanctionner la violation des droits de l’homme au sein du système des Nations unies doit être envisagée.

New Issue: Review of International Studies

The latest issue of the Review of International Studies (Vol. 44, no. 4, October 2018) is out. Contents include:

• Jonathan Pass, Gramsci meets emergentist materialism: Towards a neo neo-gramscian perspective on world order
• Margarita H. Petrova, Weapons prohibitions through immanent critique: NGOs as emancipatory and (de)securitising actors in security governance
• Maria Tanyag, Depleting fragile bodies: the political economy of sexual and reproductive health in crisis situations
• Maria Martin de Almagro, Lost boomerangs, the rebound effect and transnational advocacy networks: a discursive approach to norm diffusion
• Jeppe Mulich, Transformation at the margins: Imperial expansion and systemic change in world politics
• Alex Hoseason, Between philosophy and social science: Harm and its object in International Relations
• Richard J. Aldrich & Lewis Herrington, Secrets, hostages, and ransoms: British kidnap policy in historical perspective
• Edward Newman & Gëzim Visoka, The European Union’s practice of state recognition: Between norms and interests

Coady, Dobos, & Sanyal: Challenges for Humanitarian Intervention: Ethical Demand and Political Reality

C.A.J. Coady (Univ. of Melbourne), Ned Dobos (UNSW Canberra), & Sagar Sanyal (Univ. of Melbourne) have published Challenges for Humanitarian Intervention: Ethical Demand and Political Reality (Oxford Univ. Press). Contents include:

• C.A.J. Coady, Morality, Reality and Humanitarian Intervention: An Introduction to the Debate
• Stephen Zunes, Complicating the Moral Case of Responsibility to Protect: Kosovo and Libya
• Richard W. Miller, Why Sovereignty Matters Despite Injustice: the Ethics of Intervention
• Janna Thompson, Women and Humanitarian Intervention
• Ramon Das, Humanitarian Intervention and Non-Ideal Theory
• Marco Meyer, The Leeriness Objection to the Responsibility to Protect
• Ned Dobos, On the Uses and "Abuses" of R2P
• Chrisantha Hermanson, Scrutinizing Intentions
• Aidan Hehir, "Words lying on the table"? Norm Contestation and the Diminution of the Responsibility to Protect
• Robert W. Murray and Tom Keating, Responsibility to Protect, Polarity and Society: R2P's Political Realities in the International Order
• Sagar Sanyal, Closing the R2P Chapter; Opening a Dissident Current within Philosophy of War

New Issue: Legal Issues of Economic Integration

The latest issue of Legal Issues of Economic Integration (Vol. 45, no. 3, 2018) is out. Contents include:

• The Invisible Core of Values in the European Integration Project
• Arnoud R. Willems & Matilda J. Brolin, The Unhappy Marriage of Customs and Anti-Dumping Legislation: Tensions Relating to Product Description and Origin
• Láncos Petra Lea, Soft Structure vs. Soft Measure: Fleshing Out the Tension in EU Education Policy
• Pablo Lizarreta Barrios, Halal Certification and Labelling Requirements and the TBT Regime: A Case Study of the Indonesian Halal Act 33/2014
• İlke Göçmen, Revealing the Potential of the EU – Turkey Customs Union: Case C-65/16, Istanbul Lojistik, 19 October 2017, ECLI:EU: C:2017:770
• Isidora Maletić, A Very Specific and Exhaustive Harmonization of Energy from Renewable Sources: C-549/15, E.ON Biofor Sverige AB v. Statens Energimyndighet [2017] ECLI:EU:C:2017:490
• Benjamin Jan, Mutual Recognition’s Failure in the Light of Free Movement of Food Supplements: Judgment of the CJEU, 27 April 2017, Noria Distribution SARL (Case C-672/15)

Szymczak, Gauthier, & Platon: Bioéthique et droit international et européen des droits de l’homme

David Szymczak, Catherine Gauthier & Sébastien Platon have published Bioéthique et droit international et européen des droits de l’homme : Actes du colloque de Bordeaux 1er et 2 juin 2017 (Pedone 2018). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

Procréation médicalement assistée, gestation pour autrui, expérimentation sur le vivant, euthanasie et suicide assisté… Autant de questions, et bien d’autres encore, qui divisent profondément nos sociétés contemporaines et qui se trouvent au cœur de la réflexion bioéthique. Autant de questions que s’efforce par ailleurs de réguler le droit de la bioéthique (aussi appelé biodroit), en particulier s’agissant de concilier le développement du progrès médical et scientifique et la nécessaire préservation des droits fondamentaux de la personne humaine. La tâche s’avère complexe du fait de la sensibilité des thématiques sous-jacentes, de la difficulté à formaliser des consensus sur ces questions à l’échelle nationale et a fortiori internationale, mais aussi de l’incertitude qui s’attache à une réflexion en perpétuelle évolution. La bioéthique est certes un « pont vers le futur »… mais vers quel futur ?

A l’occasion de vingt ans de la Convention d’Oviedo, l’objectif de cet ouvrage est de faire un point d’étape sur la façon dont le droit international et européen des droits de l’Homme est venu se saisir de la bioéthique. A cet égard, trois axes de réflexion ont été privilégiés. Le premier, consacré à la diversité des approches, reflète le caractère interdisciplinaire de la réflexion bioéthique et s’interroge incidemment sur l’existence d’un langage commun s’agissant de la protection des droits fondamentaux. Le deuxième, consacré à la richesse des thématiques est l’occasion d’aborder plus précisément un certain nombre de thématiques (statut de l’embryon, droits génésiques, GPA, identité biologique, fin de vie) à l’aune des questions fondamentales qu’elles posent en matière de respects des droits de la personne humaine. Enfin, le troisième axe, consacré à la complexité des défis, revient sur certaines questions liées aux difficultés d’un contrôle supranational véritablement effectif des violations des droits de l’Homme en matière de bioéthique.

Cantore: The Prudential Carve-Out for Financial Services: Rationale and Practice in the GATS and Preferential Trade Agreements

Carlo Maria Cantore (Univ. of Antwerp - Law) has published The Prudential Carve-Out for Financial Services: Rationale and Practice in the GATS and Preferential Trade Agreements (Cambridge Univ. Press 2018). Here's the abstract:

The World Trade Organization's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) sets out a framework and rules for the liberalization of international trade in services. Paragraph 2(a) of the GATS Annex on Financial Services is generally known as the Prudential Carve-Out (PCO). Notwithstanding GATS obligations, it allows WTO Members to pursue prudential regulatory objectives. This book studies the GATS PCO in light of its negotiating history and economic rationale as well as PCOs in all preferential trade agreements notified to the WTO Secretariat up to the summer of 2017. The author clarifies the state of play of international cooperation on financial services regulation; provides a current understanding of the GATS PCO; analyses how PCOs are drafted in preferential trade agreements and, finally, he seeks to understand whether alternative approaches to the mainstream understanding of the PCO are possible and suggests options for reform.

de Guttry, Frulli, Greppi, & Macchi: The Duty of Care of International Organizations Towards Their Civilian Personnel: Legal Obligations and Implementation Challenges

Andrea de Guttry (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies), Micaela Frulli (Università degli Studi di Firenze - Legal Studies), Edoardo Greppi (Università di Torino - Law), & Chiara Macchi (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies) have published The Duty of Care of International Organizations Towards Their Civilian Personnel: Legal Obligations and Implementation Challenges (Asser Press 2018). Contents include:

• Gaia Aurora Armenes, Abraham Jesus Arvizu III, Sami Aswad, MariaSole Fanuzzi, Fabio Frettoli, Alessia Moratto, & Valentina Strippoli, International Organizations and Alleged Duty of Care Breaches: A Growing Ethical, Reputational and Financial Challenge
• Andrea de Guttry, Comparative Analysis of International Jurisprudence and Relevant International Practice Related to the Duty of Care Obligations Incumbent on International Organizations Towards Their Mobile Workforce
• Andrea Spagnolo, The Duty of Care of International Organizations: Issues of Conduct and Responsibility Attribution
• Lorenzo Gasbarri, Overlapping Responsibility: The Legal Relationship Between the International Organization and the Host State
• Martina Buscemi, The Duty of States to Ensure Respect of the Duty of Care through Their Membership in International Organizations
• Vania Brino, International Organizations as Employers: Examining the Duty of Care in the Light of the Different Forms of Employment Relationships
• Annalisa Creta, Implementation of the Duty of Care by the United Nations
• Stefano Saluzzo, Implementation of the Duty of Care by the European Union
• Luisa Vierucci & Polina Korotkikh, Implementation of the Duty of Care by NATO
• Deborah Russo, Implementation of the Duty of Care by the OSCE
• Laura Magi, Implementation of the Duty of Care by the Council of Europe
• Leonardo Soares Nader & Samila Inácio Dutra, Implementation of the Duty of Care by the Organization of American States
• Linda Akua Opongmaa Darkwa, Implementation of the Duty of Care by the African Union
• Annamaria Viterbo, Implementation of the Duty of Care by the World Bank
• David Gold, Practical Measures in the Implementation of the Duty of Care by International Organizations
• Ludovica Poli, The Duty of Care as a Corollary of International Organizations’ Human Rights Obligations
• Chiara Macchi, The Transnational Dimension of International Organizations’ Duty of Care Towards Their Civilian Personnel: Lessons from the Case Law on States’ Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations
• Francesca Capone, Victims’ Right to Reparation and the Residual Application of Diplomatic and/or Functional Protection
• Edoardo Greppi, Concluding Remarks

New Issue: Global Trade and Customs Journal

The latest issue of Global Trade and Customs Journal (Vol. 13, no. 9, 2018) is out. Contents include:

• Edwin Vermulst & Folkert Graafsma, EU Safeguard Law and Practice: 1995–2018
• Akhil Raina, Meditations in an Emergency: The Appellate Body Deadlock – What It Is, Why It Is a Problem, and What to Do About It
• Céline Todeschini-Marthe, Dispute Settlement Mechanisms Under Free Trade Agreements and the WTO: Stakes, Issues and Practical Considerations: A Question of Choice?
• Alexandra Goetz-Charlier, Is the WTO Dispute Settlement System a Model for EU FTA Investor-State Disputes?

New Issue: International Relations

The latest issue of International Relations (Vol. 32, no. 3, 2018) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Rens van Munster & Casper Sylvest, The thermonuclear revolution and the politics of imagination: realist radicalism in political theory and IR
• Andrea Schapper, Climate justice and human rights
• Tobias Lemke & Michael W Habegger, A master institution of world society? Digital communications networks and the changing dynamics of transnational contention
• Barry H Steiner, Bargaining in asymmetric crisis
• Salvador Santino Fulo Regilme, Jr, A human rights tragedy: strategic localization of US foreign policy in Colombia
• Eglantine Staunton, France and the responsibility to protect: a tale of two norms

Duffy: Strategic Human Rights Litigation: Understanding and Maximising Impact

Helen Duffy (Leiden Univ. - Law) has published Strategic Human Rights Litigation: Understanding and Maximising Impact (Hart Publishing 2018). Here's the abstract:

Strategic human rights litigation (SHRL) is a growing area of international practice yet one that remains relatively under-explored. Around the globe, advocates increasingly resort to national, regional and international courts and bodies 'strategically' to protect and advance human rights. This book provides a framework for understanding SHRL and its contribution to various forms of personal, legal, social, political and cultural change, as well as the many tensions and challenges it gives rise to. It suggests a reframing of how we view the impact of SHRL in its multiple dimensions, both positive and negative. Five detailed case studies, drawn predominantly from the author's own experience, explore litigation in a broad range of contexts (genocide in Guatemala; slavery in Niger; forced disappearance in Argentina; torture and detention in the 'war on terror'; and Palestinian land rights) to reveal the complexity of the role of SHRL in the real world. Ultimately, this book considers how impact analysis might influence the development of more effective litigation strategies in the future.

Genin: Intégrer le droit international aux relations interétatiques : les juristes belges à Versailles en 1919

Vincent Genin (Université de Liège) has published Intégrer le droit international aux relations interétatiques : les juristes belges à Versailles en 1919 (Relations internationales, no. 174, 2018/2). Here's the abstract:

Cet article traite du rôle joué par les juristes belges lors de la Conférence de la Paix de Versailles de 1919, marquant l’entrée du droit international moderne dans sa phase active. Petit pays ayant abrogé sa neutralité, reconnu pour son expansion économique, la Belgique « martyre » d’août 1914 mobilise les arguments de l’expertise juridique afin d’aborder une grande négociation internationale où, à sa surprise, ses revendications seront peu entendues. Cette étude tend à cerner le poids relatif des juristes belges dans le processus décisionnel de Versailles mais aussi ce qu’ils expriment d’un pays en perte d’influence et à un tournant de sa manière d’être au monde.

Gao: Dispute Settlement Provisions in Asean's External Economic Agreements with China, Japan and Korea

Henry S. Gao (Singapore Management Univ. - Law) has posted Dispute Settlement Provisions in Asean's External Economic Agreements with China, Japan and Korea (in ASEAN Law in the New Regional Economic Order, Pasha L Hsieh & Bryan Mercurio eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This paper conducts a detailed critical analysis of the dispute settlement mechanisms in ASEAN’s external economic agreements with China, Japan and Korea by reviewing the main procedural rules of these mechanisms. The paper also discusses the difference among these agreements, and compares them with the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement mechanisms. The paper concludes with thoughts on how these dispute settlement mechanisms might evolve in the future, especially in view of the ongoing negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP).

Ahmadov: The Right of Actio Popularis before International Courts and Tribunals

Farid Ahmadov (ADA Univ., Baku) has published The Right of Actio Popularis before International Courts and Tribunals (Brill | Nijhoff 2018). Here's the abstract:

Actio Popularis before International Courts and Tribunals examines actio popularis in the context of the symbiotic relationship between procedural and substantive normativity in international law. Actio popularis is an important procedural tool devised to address the challenges posed by the relativization of substantive normativity and recognition of norms established to protect collective interests in international law. Farid Ahmadov’s analysis underlines the ineffectiveness of bipolar litigation in enforcement of collective obligations in international law and the importance of introducing new procedural mechanisms to address the challenges posed by the transition from bilateralist to multilateralist normativity. The volume highlights the subtle link between interpretation of standing rules and the ways in which judicial policy concerns inform decisions of international courts and tribunals on admissibility of actio popularis.