Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Geiß & Krieger: The 'Legal Pluriverse' Surrounding Multinational Military Operations

Robin Geiß (Univ. of Glasgow - Law) & Heike Krieger (Freie Universität Berlin - Law) have published The 'Legal Pluriverse' Surrounding Multinational Military Operations (Oxford Univ. Press 2020). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

The 'Legal Pluriverse' Surrounding Multinational Military Operations conceptualizes and examines the "Pluriverse": the multiplicity of rules that apply to and regulate contemporary multinational missions, and the array of actors involved. These operations are further complicated by changes to the classification of the conflict, and the asymmetry of obligations on participants.

Structured into five parts, this work seeks, through the diversity of its authorship, to set out the web of legal regimes applicable to military operations including forces from more than one state. It maps out the ways in which different regimes interact, beginning with the laws of armed conflict and their relation to international humanitarian and human rights norms, and extending through to areas like law of the sea and environmental law.

A variety of contributors systematically compile and take stock of the various legal regimes that make up the pluriverse, assessing how these rules interact, exposing norm conflicts, areas of legal uncertainty, or protective loopholes. In this way, they identify and evaluate approaches to better streamline the different applicable legal frameworks with a view to enhancing cooperation and thereby ensuring the long-term success of multinational military operations.

Bhuiyan & Khan: Revisiting the Geneva Conventions: 1949-2019

Md. Jahid Hossain Bhuiyan (Southeast Univ. - Law) & Borhan Uddin Khan (Univ. of Dhaka - Law) have published Revisiting the Geneva Conventions: 1949-2019 (Brill | Nijhoff 2020). Contents include:
  • Md Jahid Hossain Bhuiyan & Borhan Uddin Khan, International Legal Protection of Persons Affected by War: Challenges and the Way Forward
  • Borhan Uddin Khan & Mohammad Nazmuzzaman Bhuian, The Development of the Geneva Conventions
  • Md Jahid Hossain Bhuiyan, The Legal Status and Protection of the Rights of Prisoners of War
  • Etienne Henry, The Prohibition of Deportation and Forcible Transfer of Civilian Populations in the Fourth Geneva Convention and Beyond
  • Yutaka Arai-Takahashi, Persons aboard Medical Aircraft Who Fall into the Hands of a Neutral Power – the Scope of Their Liability to Detention under the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Additional Protocol I
  • Pablo Antonio Fernández Sánchez, Forced Transfer of Aliens during Armed Conflicts
  • Noelle Higgins, The Geneva Conventions and Non-International Armed Conflicts
  • Srinivas Burra, Four Geneva Conventions of 1949: A Third World View
  • M Rafiqul Islam, Criminalising Rape and Sexual Violence in Armed Conflicts: Evolving Criminality and Culpability from the Geneva Conventions to the Bangladesh International Crimes Trial
  • Mohd Hisham Mohd Kamal, Principles of Distinction, Proportionality and Precautions under the Geneva Conventions: the Perspective of Islamic Law
  • Borhan Uddin Khan & Nakib M. Nasrullah, Implementation of International Humanitarian Law and the Current Challenges
  • Derek Jinks, The Geneva Conventions and Enforcement of International Humanitarian Law

New Issue: International Studies Review

The latest issue of International Studies Review (Vol. 21, no. 4, December 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Adam B Lerner, Theorizing Collective Trauma in International Political Economy
  • Orit Gazit, Van Gennep Meets Ontological (In)Security: A Processual Approach to Ontological Security in Migration
  • Jennifer Thomson, The Women, Peace, and Security Agenda and Feminist Institutionalism: A Research Agenda
  • Amnon Aran & Leonie Fleischmann, Framing and Foreign Policy—Israel's Response to the Arab Uprisings
  • Andrew Delatolla & Joanne Yao, Racializing Religion: Constructing Colonial Identities in the Syrian Provinces in the Nineteenth Century
  • Jenny Hedström, Confusion, Seduction, Failure: Emotions as Reflexive Knowledge in Conflict Settings
  • Gëzim Visoka, Critique and Alternativity in International Relations
  • Sarah Smith, The Production of Legitimacy: Race and Gender in Peacebuilding Praxis

New Issue: Questions of International Law

The latest issue of Questions of International Law / Questioni di Diritto Internazionale (no. 64, 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • From chattel slavery to ‘modern slavery’: The role for human dignity in the struggle against contemporary forms of human exploitation
    • Introduced by Silvia Borelli and Maria Chiara Vitucci
    • Pasquale De Sena, Slaveries and new slaveries: Which role for human dignity?
    • Silvia Scarpa, Conceptual unclarity, human dignity and contemporary forms of slavery: An appraisal and some proposals

New Issue: Asian International Arbitration Journal

The latest issue of the Asian International Arbitration Journal (Vol. 15, no. 2, 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Eunice Chua, Enforcement Of International Mediated Settlement Agreements In Asia: A Path Towards Convergence
  • Stavroula Angoura, Arbitrator’S Impartiality Under Article V(1)(D) Of The New York Convention
  • Judy Li Zhu, Time To Loosen Up On Ad Hoc Arbitration In China?

New Issue: Legal Issues of Economic Integration

The latest issue of Legal Issues of Economic Integration (Vol. 46, no. 4, 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • From the Board: Rule of Law Challenges in Europe: A Matter of Economic Constitutional Law
  • Tony Prosser, The Rule of Law, Economic Constitutions and Institutional Balance
  • Eleanor M. Fox, Antitrust and Democracy: How Markets Protect Democracy, Democracy Protects Markets, and Illiberal Politics Threatens to Hijack Both
  • Pieter Van Cleynenbreugel, Member States in the EU Economic Constitution: Rule of Law Challenges and Opportunities
  • Maciej Bernatt, Rule of Law Crisis, Judiciary and Competition Law
  • Christopher Harding, Enforcement Inconsistency in EU Competition Cases as a Rule of Law Problem

New Issue: Journal of International Arbitration

The latest issue of the Journal of International Arbitration (Vol. 36, no. 6, 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Kathrin Betz, Stéphane Bonifassi, Nadia Darwazeh, & Mark Pieth, Navigating Through Corruption and Money Laundering in International Arbitration: A Toolkit for Arbitrators and Counsel
  • Jörg Risse, The Future of Arbitration: A Poet’s Prophecy
  • Michal Kaczmarczyk & Joanna Lam, Sociology of Commercial Arbitration: Tools for the New Times
  • Gautam Mohanty & Raghav Bhargava, Separability of Arbitration Agreement in Mutual Termination of Contracts in India: A Legislative Guideline
  • Daniel Garcia-Barragan, Alexandra Mitretodis, & Andrew Tuck, The New NAFTA: Scaled-Back Arbitration in the USMCA
  • Nduka Ikeyi & Gabriel Onovo, Re-examining the Legal Basis for the Co-existence of Federal and State Arbitration Laws in Nigeria

New Issue: International Studies Quarterly

The latest issue of the International Studies Quarterly (Vol. 63, no. 4, December 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Patrick James, Systemist International Relations
  • Adrian J Shin, Primary Resources, Secondary Labor: Natural Resources and Immigration Policy
  • Federica Genovese, Sectors, Pollution, and Trade: How Industrial Interests Shape Domestic Positions on Global Climate Agreements
  • Andrew S Rosenberg, Measuring Racial Bias in International Migration Flows
  • Asfandyar Mir & Dylan Moore, Drones, Surveillance, and Violence: Theory and Evidence from a US Drone Program
  • Jason Quinn, Madhav Joshi, & Erik Melander, One Dyadic Peace Leads to Another? Conflict Systems, Terminations, and Net Reduction in Fighting Groups
  • Evan Perkoski, Internal Politics and the Fragmentation of Armed Groups
  • Tyler Kustra, Make Love, Not War: Do Single Young Men Cause Political Violence?
  • Luke N Condra & Austin L Wright, Civilians, Control, and Collaboration during Civil Conflict
  • Emily Jones & Alexandra O Zeitz, Regulatory Convergence in the Financial Periphery: How Interdependence Shapes Regulators’ Decisions
  • Claire Peacock, Karolina Milewicz, & Duncan Snidal, Boilerplate in International Trade Agreements
  • Arie Krampf, Monetary Power Reconsidered: The Struggle between the Bundesbank and the Fed over Monetary Leadership
  • Randall Germain, E.H. Carr and IPE: An Essay in Retrieval
  • Jessica Chen Weiss & Allan Dafoe, Authoritarian Audiences, Rhetoric, and Propaganda in International Crises: Evidence from China
  • Ches Thurber, Social Ties and the Strategy of Civil Resistance
  • Brendan J Connell, Electoral Rules, Interest Group Pressures, and the Price of Democratic Default
  • Ty Solomon, Rhythm and Mobilization in International Relations
  • Sebastian Schindler & Tobias Wille, How Can We Criticize International Practices?
  • William Spaniel & Iris Malone, The Uncertainty Trade-off: Reexamining Opportunity Costs and War
  • Daniel F Wajner, “Battling” for Legitimacy: Analyzing Performative Contests in the Gaza Flotilla Paradigmatic Case
  • Cosette D Creamer &, Beth A Simmons, Do Self-Reporting Regimes Matter? Evidence from the Convention Against Torture
  • Kelebogile Zvobgo, Human Rights versus National Interests: Shifting US Public Attitudes on the International Criminal Court
  • Valentina Carraro, Promoting Compliance with Human Rights: The Performance of the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review and Treaty Bodies
  • Tobias Lenz, Alexandr Burilkov, & Lora Anne Viola, Legitimacy and the Cognitive Sources of International Institutional Change: The Case of Regional Parliamentarization
  • Emilie M Hafner-Burton & Christina J Schneider, The Dark Side of Cooperation: International Organizations and Member Corruption
  • Jeffrey Kucik, How Do Prior Rulings Affect Future Disputes?
  • Sarah Sunn Bush & Jennifer Hadden, Density and Decline in the Founding of International NGOs in the United States
  • Matthew Castle & Krzysztof J Pelc, The Causes and Effects of Leaks in International Negotiations
  • David E Banks, The Diplomatic Presentation of the State in International Crises: Diplomatic Collaboration during the US-Iran Hostage Crisis
  • Joakim Kreutz & Enzo Nussio, Destroying Trust in Government: Effects of a Broken Pact among Colombian Ex-Combatants
  • Deborah Welch Larson & Alexei Shevchenko, Lost in Misconceptions about Social Identity Theory
  • David Blagden, Do Democracies Possess the Wisdom of Crowds? Decision Group Size, Regime Type, and Strategic Effectiveness

New Volume: European Investment Law and Arbitration Review

The latest volume of the European Investment Law and Arbitration Review (Vol. 4, 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Zongnan Wu, Abuse of Rights in the Context of Corporate Nationality Planning
  • Szilárd Gáspár-Szilágyi & Maxim Usynin, The Uneasy Relationship between Intra-EU Investment Tribunals and the Court of Justice’s Achmea Judgment
  • Aikaterini Florou, Whither Mutual Trust? Brexit, Achmea and the Future of Investor-State Arbitration in the EU-UK Investment Relations
  • Adam Marios Paschalidis & Nikos Lavranos, Comparative Analysis between the 2018 and 2004 Dutch Model Bilateral Investment Treaty Texts
  • Lorraine de Germiny, Nhu-Hoang Tran Thang & Duong Ba Trinh, The EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement Investor-State Dispute Settlement Mechanism in Perspective
  • Sahra Arif, The Future of Intra-EU Investment Arbitration: Intra-EU Investment Arbitration under the ECT post Achmea
  • Olga Magomedova, Performance Requirements: Is there a Real Reason for their Prohibition?
  • Venetia Argyropoulou, Vattenfall in the Aftermath of Achmea: Between a Rock and a Hard Place?
  • Kai-chieh Chan, Álvarez y Marín Corporación and Others v. Panama, ICSID Case No. ARB/15/14, Award, 12 October 2018
  • Nikos Lavranos, CJEU Opinion 1/17: Keeping International Investment Law and EU Law Strictly Apart
  • Matthieu Grégoire, Commission v. Hungary (Case C-235/17): Some Reassurance for Investors on the Substantive Protections for Expropriation under EU Law
  • Pablo Jaroslavsky & Florencia Wajnman, The Chevron Saga: The Denial of Justice Standard under the Fair and Equitable Treatment and Customary International Law
  • Colin Brown, The Path to a Multilateral Investment Court – Keynote to the 4th EFILA Annual Conference 2019
  • John P. Gaffney, Comment on the Keynote Speech ‘The Path to a Multilateral Investment Court’
  • José Rafael Mata Dona, Report of the 4th EFILA Annual Conference 2019
  • George A. Bermann, Recalibrating the EU – International Arbitration Interface – 4th EFILA Annual Lecture 2018

Jeffrey: The Edge of Law: Legal Geographies of a War Crimes Court

Alex Jeffrey (Univ. of Cambridge - Geography) has published The Edge of Law: Legal Geographies of a War Crimes Court (Cambridge Univ. Press 2020). Here's the abstract:
The Edge of Law explores the spatial implications of establishing a new legal institution in the wake of violent conflict. Using the example of the establishment of the War Crimes Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alex Jeffrey argues that legal processes constantly demarcate a line of inclusion and exclusion: materially, territorially and corporally. In contrast to accounts that have focused on the judicial outcomes of these transitional justice efforts, The Edge of Law draws on long-term fieldwork in Bosnia and Herzegovina to focus on the social and political consequences of the trials, tracing the fraught mechanisms that have been used by international and local political elites to convey their legitimacy.

New Issue: Journal of World Investment & Trade

The latest issue of the Journal of World Investment & Trade (Vol. 20, no. 6, 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Special Issue: Solving the WTO Dispute Settlement System Crisis
    • Giorgio Sacerdoti, Solving the WTO Dispute Settlement System Crisis: An Introduction
    • Yuka Fukunaga, The Appellate Body’s Power to Interpret the WTO Agreements and WTO Members’ Power to Disagree with the Appellate Body
    • Joshua Paine, The WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body as a Voice Mechanism
    • Geraldo Vidigal, Living Without the Appellate Body: Multilateral, Bilateral and Plurilateral Solutions to the WTO Dispute Settlement Crisis
  • Chen Yu, Currency Manipulation and WTO Laws: Should the Anti-Dumping Mechanism Be Entirely Dumped?
  • Karl P. Sauvant & Howard Mann, Making FDI More Sustainable: Towards an Indicative List of FDI Sustainability Characteristics

Monday, December 30, 2019

New Volume: Chinese (Taiwan) Yearbook of International Law and Affairs

The latest volume of the Chinese (Taiwan) Yearbook of International Law and Affairs (Vol. 36, 2018) is out. Contents include:
  • Roda Mushkat, Economics and International Law: Closer Alignment through Greater Analytical Diversity?
  • Christopher Chen & Wai Yee Wan, Transnational Corporate Governance Codes: Lessons from Regulating Related Party Transactions in Hong Kong and Singapore
  • Margaret K. Lewis, Creative Contacts: Taiwan’s Quest for International Law Enforcement Cooperation
  • Julian G. Ku, The Taiwan Travel Act is Legally Binding
  • Siao-Wun Chiu, Taiwan’s Antitrust Leniency Policy and the Framework to Build an Effective Antitrust Compliance Program
  • Weixia Gu, Belt and Road Dispute Resolution: New Development Trends
  • Huiqin Jiang, Demystifying China’s International Commercial Court Regime: International or Intra-National?

New Issue: International Journal of Refugee Law

The latest issue of the International Journal of Refugee Law (Vol. 31, nos. 2/3, June/October 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Special Issue: The OAU and Kampala Conventions
    • David James Cantor & Farai Chikwanha, Reconsidering African Refugee Law
    • Marina Sharpe, The Supervision (or Not) of the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention
    • Tamara Wood, Who Is a Refugee in Africa? A Principled Framework for Interpreting and Applying Africa’s Expanded Refugee Definition
    • Jamil Ddamulira Mujuzi, Mauritian Courts and the Protection of the Rights of Asylum Seekers in the Absence of Dedicated Legislation
    • Isaac Lenaola, The Role of African Courts in Promoting Refugee Rights
    • J O Moses Okello, In Lieu of a Travaux Préparatoires: A Commentary on the Kampala Convention for IDPs
    • Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme Statement by Volker Türk, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, UNHCR
    • Volker Türk & Madeline Garlick, Addressing Displacement in the Context of Disasters and the Adverse Effects of Climate Change: Elements and Opportunities in the Global Compact on Refugees

New Volume: Revue de droit international d'Assas

The latest volume of the Revue de droit international d'Assas (Vol. 2, 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Le dossier thematique: Le traitement des données personnelles et le droit international, questions ponctuelles et actuelles
    • Basile Darmois & Eloïse Glucksmann, avec la participation de Timothée Andro, Caroline Chaux & Mira Hamad, Introduction
    • Mathilde Gérot, Le renforcement des droits des personnes sur leurs données à caractère personnel – Aspects de droit interne
    • Martina Mantovani, Le RGPD en tant qu’espace juridique multi-échelle : quelles implications pour le droit international privé ?
    • Emilie Brunet, Les mécanismes de coopération des autorités de contrôle au sein de l’Union européenne et le Comité européen de la protection des données
    • Jennifer Merchant, Is our personal genetic data really protected? A panorama UnitedStates/Europe/France
    • Mathilde Gerot, Le renforcement des droits des personnels sur leurs données à caractère personnel, aspects de droit interne
    • Martina Mantovani, Le RGPD en tant qu’espace juridique multi-échelle : quelles implications pour le droit international privé
    • Philippe Bou Nader, Surveillance of a combatant and his/her right to privacy under the European Convention for Human Rights
    • Emilie Brunet, Les mécanismes de coopération des autorités de contrôle au sein de l’Union européenne et le Comité européen de la protection des données
    • Céline Castets-Renard, L’intelligence artificielle, les droits fondamentaux et la protection des données personnelles dans l’Union européenne et les Etats-Unis
    • Carlotta Gradin, L’effacement des données en ligne : une parenté entre le droit au déréférencement et les mécanismes de défense contre les cyberviolences
    • Basile Darmois, Les impensées de la politique juridique de lutte contre les fausses nouvelles : de la règlementation des publications en ligne à celle de l’édition
    • Bruno Deffains, Données judiciaires et intelligence artificielle : le temps des ruptures
    • Thomas Perroud, Publicité de la justice : une leçon venue d’outre-Manche
  • La recherche a l’ecole doctorale
    • Samuel Fulli-Lemaire, Le droit international privé de la famille à l’épreuve de l’impératif de reconnaissance des situations
    • Amina Lebdioui, Attribution de contrats pétroliers : Les pays africains à l’épreuve de la transparence
    • Karim El Chazli, L’impartialité de l’arbitre
    • Michel Tabbal, Les sessions extraordinaires du Conseil des droits de l’homme des Nations Unies
    • Rebecca Legendre, Droits fondamentaux et droit international privé - Réflexion en matière personnelle et familiale
    • Claudia Cavicchioli, Le forum shopping dans le contentieux international
  • Libres propos
    • Thibault Douville, Blockchains et droit international privé : état sommaire des questions
    • Kévin Bihannic, La mise en œuvre du Protocole n°16 CEDH - Le dialogue des juges tient-il ses promesses ?
    • Konstantinos A. Rokas, The Mennesson case: the end of 19 years of legal battles and the remaining questions on foreign surrogacy
    • Sophie Duparc, Le maniement de l’interprétation autonome par la CJUE : l’exemple de l’arrêt Feniks
    • Konstantinos A. Rokas, Molla Sali : l’apport de la CEDH à la problématique des relations entre religion, droit en droit interne et en droit international privé

New Issue: Journal of Conflict & Security Law

The latest issue of the Journal of Conflict & Security Law (Vol. 24, no. 3, Winter 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Natalino Ronzitti, Rescuing Nationals Abroad Revisited
  • Jonathan Black-Branch, International Obligations Concerning Disarmament and the Cessation of the Nuclear Arms Race: Justiciability over Justice in the Marshall Islands Cases at the International Court of Justice
  • Madelaine Chiam & Anna Hood, Nuclear Humanitarianism
  • Luca Ferro, Western Gunrunners, (Middle-)Eastern Casualties: Unlawfully Trading Arms with States Engulfed in Yemeni Civil War?
  • Hanne Cuyckens & Christophe Paulussen, The Prosecution of Foreign Fighters in Western Europe: The Difficult Relationship Between Counter-Terrorism and International Humanitarian Law
  • Talita de Souza Dias, The Activation of the Crime of Aggression before the International Criminal Court: Some Overlooked Implications Arising for States Parties and Non-States Parties to the Rome Statute
  • Barry de Vries, Could International Fact-Finding Missions Possibly Render a Case Inadmissible for the ICC? Remarks on the Ongoing Attempts to Include International Criminal Law in Fact-finding
  • Trevor Michael Rajah, Grant Dawson, & Lydia Aylett, The Chemical Weapons Convention and the Contribution of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to Sustainable Development

Craven, Pahuja, & Simpson: International Law and the Cold War

Matthew Craven (School of Oriental and African Studies, Univ. of London - Law), Sundhya Pahuja (Univ. of Melbourne - Law), & Gerry Simpson (London School of Economics and Political Science - Law) have published International Law and the Cold War (Cambridge Univ. Press 2020). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:
International Law and the Cold War is the first book dedicated to examining the relationship between the Cold War and International Law. The authors adopt a variety of creative approaches - in relation to events and fields such as nuclear war, environmental protection, the Suez crisis and the Lumumba assassination - in order to demonstrate the many ways in which international law acted upon the Cold War and in turn show how contemporary international law is an inheritance of the Cold War. Their innovative research traces the connections between the Cold War and contemporary legal constructions of the nation-state, the environment, the third world, and the refugee; and between law, technology, science, history, literature, art, and politics.

New Issue: Trade, Law and Development

The latest issue of Trade, Law and Development (Vol. 11, no. 2, Winter 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Ipsiata Gupta & Radhika Parthasarathy, Looking To The Future – Development In A Changing World
  • Yonov F. Agah, Trade & Development In The WTO
  • V. S. Seshadri, Treatment Of Trade Rules In Korea’s FTAs
  • Rafael Leal-Arcas, Danai Papadea, & Rosie Richardson, Aiming At Sustainable Trade In The Context Of The Rule Of Law: What Role For Citizens And How International Trade Can Help Reduce Fossil-Fuel Consumption
  • Joshua P. Meltzer, The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement: Developing Trade Policy For Digital Trade
  • Jesse Liss, China’s Investment Treaties With Latin America And Implications For South-South Cooperation: Evidence From Firm-Level Data
  • Alisher Umirdinov & Valijon Turakulov, The Last Bastion Of Protectionism In Central Asia: Uzbekistan’s Auto Industry In Post-WTO Accession
  • Alec Dawson, Safeguarding The Planet? Renewable Energy, Solar Panel Tariffs, And The World Trade Organization’s Rules On Safeguards
  • Michael Goodyear, Helping David Fight Goliath: Preserving The WTO In The Trump Era

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Oman: The Responsibility to Protect in International Law: Philosophical Investigations

Natalie Oman (Univ. of Ontario Institute of Technology) has published The Responsibility to Protect in International Law: Philosophical Investigations (Routledge 2020). Here's the abstract:
This book tracks the development of the emerging international legal principle of a responsibility to protect over the past two decades. It contrasts the influential version of the principle introduced by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty in 2001 with subsequent interpretations of the responsibility to protect advocated by the United Nations through its human protection agenda, and reviews the dangers and inconsistencies inherent in both perspectives. The author demonstrates that the evolving responsibility to protect principle can be recruited to support a wide range of irreconcilable projects, from those of cosmopolitan constitutionalism to those of hegemonic international law. However, despite the dangers posed by this susceptibility to conceptual hijacking, Oman argues that the responsibility to protect, like human rights, is an essential a modern emancipatory formation. To remedy this dangerous malleability, the author advocates a third, distinctive interpretation of the responsibility to protect designed to limit its cooptation by liberal anti-pluralist and hegemonic international law agendas. Oman outlines the key features of such a minimalist conception, and explores its fit with the "RtoP" version of the responsibility to protect promoted in recent years by the UN. The author argues that two crucial features missing from the UN reading of the principle should be developed in future: an acknowledgement of the role of non-state actors as bearers of the responsibility to protect, and a recognition of the principle's legal character. Both of these aspects of the principle offer means to democratize the international law-making enterprise.

Monday, December 23, 2019

New Issue: International Journal of Human Rights

The latest issue of the International Journal of Human Rights (Vol. 24, no. 1, 2020) is out. Contents include:
  • Activist Scholarship in Human Rights
    • Corinne Lennox, Introduction to the special issue on activist scholarship in human rights
    • Corinne Lennox & Yeşim Yaprak Yıldız, Activist scholarship in human rights
    • Aziz Choudry, Reflections on academia, activism, and the politics of knowledge and learning
    • Ornette D. Clennon, Scholar activism as a nexus between research, community activism and civil rights via the use of participatory arts
    • Senthorun Raj, Once more with feeling: queer activist legal scholarship and jurisprudence

Saturday, December 21, 2019

Caserta: International Courts in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Study of Foundations and Authority

Salvatore Caserta (Univ. of Copenhagen - iCourts) has posted International Courts in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Study of Foundations and Authority. Here's the abstract:
This chapter sets out the theoretical and methodological aspects of studying the foundations and processes of gaining authority of the Latin American and Caribbean economic courts. In terms of theory, the chapter relies on the concept of de facto authority, according to which International Courts (ICs) become authoritative and powerful when their rulings are endorsed by relevant audiences in their practices. To complement this approach, the chapter proposes five original analytical markers, which are central for analysing and explaining the social processes through which ICs gain or lose de facto authority. These are: I) the nature of the political environment surrounding ICs; II) the timing of their institutional founding; III) the material and/or abstract interests of the agents interacting with ICs; IV) the fundamental support of different social groups in relation to an IC; and V) the societal embeddedness of an IC in its operational context.

New Issue: World Politics

The latest issue of World Politics (Vol. 72, no. 1, January 2020) is out. Contents include:
  • Mario L. Chacón & Jeffrey L. Jensen, Democratization, De Facto Power, and Taxation: Evidence from Military Occupation during Reconstruction
  • Shelby Grossman, The Politics of Order in Informal Markets: Evidence from Lagos
  • Electoral Discrimination: The Relationship between Skin Color and Vote Buying in Latin America Marcus Johnson
  • Kate Cronin-Furman, Human Rights Half Measures: Avoiding Accountability in Postwar Sri Lanka

Benbaji & Statman: War By Agreement: A Contractarian Ethics of War

Yitzhak Benbaji
(Tel Aviv Univ. - Philosophy) & Daniel Statman (Univ. of Haifa - Philosophy) have published War By Agreement: A Contractarian Ethics of War (Oxford Univ. Press 2022). Here's the abstract:
War by Agreement presents a new theory on the ethics of war. It shows that wars can be morally justified at both the ad bellum level (the political decision to go to war) and the in bello level (its actual conduct by the military) by accepting a contractarian account of the rules governing war. According to this account, the rules of war are anchored in a mutually beneficial and fair agreement between the relevant players - the purpose of which is to promote peace and to reduce the horrors of war. The book relies on the long social contract tradition and illustrates its fruitfulness in understanding and developing the morality and the law of war.

New Issue: Journal of International Dispute Settlement

The latest issue of the Journal of International Dispute Settlement (Vol. 10, no. 4, December 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Current Developments
    • Serena Lee & Myron Phua, Why Allianz v West Tankers Still Applies under the Brussels Regulation (Recast): An Analysis of Nori Holdings v Bank Otkritie [2018] EWHC 1343 (Comm)
    • Meng Chen, Reforming Judicial Supervision of Chinese Arbitration
    • Myriam Gicquello, The Reform of Investor-State Dispute Settlement: Bringing the Findings of Social Psychology into the Debate
    • Margaret A Young, Emma Nyhan, & Hilary Charlesworth, Studying Country-Specific Engagements with the International Court of Justice
    • Manuel Casas, Functional Justiciability and the Existence of a Dispute: A Means of Jurisdictional Avoidance?
    • Caroline E Foster, The Problem with Public Morals

Powell: Islamic Law and International Law: Peaceful Resolution of Disputes

Emilia Justyna Powell (Univ. of Notre Dame - Political Science) has published Islamic Law and International Law: Peaceful Resolution of Disputes (Oxford Univ. Press 2020). Here's the abstract:

There are twenty-nine Islamic law states (ILS) in the world today, and their Muslim population is over 900 million. Muslims in these countries—and, to some extent, all Muslims—are ethically, morally, doctrinally, or politically committed to the Islamic legal tradition, a unique logic and culture of justice based on nonconfrontational dispute resolution. In Islamic Law and International Law, Emilia Justyna Powell examines the differences and similarities between the Islamic legal tradition and international law, focusing in particular on the issue of conflict management and resolution.

In many Islamic Law States, Islamic law displaces secular law in state governance and shapes these countries' international dealings. Powell considers why some of Islamic Law States accept international courts while others avoid them, stressing throughout that we cannot make blanket claims about such states. Each relationship is context-specific, hinging on the nature of the domestic legal system. Moreover, not all of these states are Islamic to the same degree or in the same way. Secular law and religious law fuse in different ways in different domestic legal systems.

Often, the Islamic legal tradition points in one direction, while the Western-based, secularized international law points in another. However, Powell argues that Islamic legal tradition contains elements that are compatible with modern international law. She marshals original data on the legal systems structures in thirty Islamic Law States over the entire course of the post-World War Two era, and she draws from in-depth interviews with Islamic law scholars and leading practitioners of international law, including judges of the International Court of Justice. Rich in empirical evidence, this book will reshape how we think about the relationship between ILS and the international system.

Friday, December 20, 2019

Dubberley, Koenig, & Murray: Digital Witness: Using Open Source Information for Human Rights Investigation, Documentation, and Accountability

Sam Dubberley (Univ. of Essex), Alexa Koenig (Univ. of California, Berkeley), & Daragh Murray (Univ. of Essex) have published Digital Witness: Using Open Source Information for Human Rights Investigation, Documentation, and Accountability (Oxford Univ. Press 2020). Here's the abstract:

From videos of rights violations, to satellite images of environmental degradation, to eyewitness accounts disseminated on social media, human rights practitioners have access to more data today than ever before. To say that mobile technologies, social media, and increased connectivity are having a significant impact on human rights practice would be an understatement. Modern technology - and the enhanced access it provides to information about abuse - has the potential to revolutionise human rights reporting and documentation, as well as the pursuit of legal accountability.

However, these new methods for information gathering and dissemination have also created significant challenges for investigators and researchers. For example, videos and photographs depicting alleged human rights violations or war crimes are often captured on the mobile phones of victims or political sympathisers. The capture and dissemination of content often happens haphazardly, and for a variety of motivations, including raising awareness of the plight of those who have been most affected, or for advocacy purposes with the goal of mobilising international public opinion. For this content to be of use to investigators it must be discovered, verified, and authenticated. Discovery, verification, and authentication have, therefore, become critical skills for human rights organisations and human rights lawyers.

This book is the first to cover the history, ethics, methods, and best-practice associated with open source research. It is intended to equip the next generation of lawyers, journalists, sociologists, data scientists, other human rights activists, and researchers with the cutting-edge skills needed to work in an increasingly digitized, and information-saturated environment.

New Issue: Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The latest issue of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law (Vol. 52, no. 4, October 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Paul C. Ney, Jr., Charney Lecture - The Rule of Law in International Security Affairs: A U.S. Defense Department Perspective
  • Manal Totry-Jubran, Transitional Justice in Housing Injustice: Housing Rights Violations Within Settler Democracies
  • Kevin Kolben, The Consumer Imaginary: Labor Rights, Human Rights, and Citizen-Consumers in the Global Supply Chain
  • Ji Ma, International Investment and National Security Review
  • Uche Ewelukwa Ofodile, Emerging Market Economies & International Investment Law:Turkey–Africa Bilateral Investment Treaties

Rasulov: The Discipline of International Economic Law at a Crossroads

Akbar Rasulov (Univ. of Glasgow - Law) has posted The Discipline of International Economic Law at a Crossroads (in New Voices and New Perspectives in International Economic Law, J. Haskell & A. Rasulov eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
Old certainties are melting away. An era has drawn to a close. The foundations of the global economic system are rapidly changing. The opening of intellectual horizons that has come in the wake of these epochal shifts calls for a fundamental rethinking of the main functions and tasks of international economic law (IEL) as a disciplinary project. It also calls for a new explanation of international law’s systemic potential, power, and effectivity in the context of contemporary global governance. How does international law influence the workings of international economic governance? What are the main ways in which it can impact on the course of global economic affairs? Drawing on the traditions of legal realism, Marxism, and classical law-and-economics, this essay outlines a four-fold theory of IEL’s regulatory effectivity: IEL as a price-setting mechanism, IEL as a mechanism for the structuring of opportunities, IEL as a mechanism of ideological legitimation, and IEL as a mechanism of disciplining and interpellation. The goal of this theoretical project is to promote an intellectual recalibration of IEL’s disciplinary ambit along fundamentally functionalist lines: the discipline of IEL should study everything that pertains to how the effective legal realities of global economic governance are set up, how they operate, and how they are produced.

Megiddo: Knowledge Production, Big Data and Data-Driven Customary International Law

Tamar Megiddo (Univ. of Haifa) has posted Knowledge Production, Big Data and Data-Driven Customary International Law. Here's the abstract:
This chapter investigates the role of “Big Data” analysis and data crowdsourcing in shifting power relations with respect to the identification of customary international law. Evidence of states’ practice and legal positions is required in order to determine that a new norm of customary international law has crystallized. And yet, international courts have often settled for anecdotal evidence and impressionistic analysis. However, recent academic works have crowdsourced data collection, compiled big datasets and applied computerized analysis methods to make comprehensive and systematic evaluation of the development of customary norms. I argue that this new mode of knowledge production may democratize both the data collected (giving greater weight to smaller states from the global periphery) and the potential contributors to the production process (including lawyers from different countries and language capabilities). Nevertheless, such production requires scientific sophistication and resources, which once more give actors from rich, developed countries a greater role in developing the law.

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. 21, no. 4, 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Dimitri Van Den Meerssche, International Law as Insulation – The Case of the World Bank in the Decolonization Era
  • Fernando Pérez Godoy, The Co-creation of Imperial Logic in South American Legal History
  • Mónica García-Salmones Rovira, The Impasse of Human Rights: a Note on Human Rights, Natural Rights and Continuities in International Law
  • Leonard V. Smith, Sovereignty under the League of Nations Mandates: The Jurists’ Debates

New Issue: International Organizations Law Review

The latest issue of the International Organizations Law Review (Vol. 16, no. 2, 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Forum: The World Health Organization at 70
    • Gian Luca Burci, The World Health Organization at 70: Challenges and Adaptation: Introductory Notes
    • Adam Kamradt-Scott, The International Health Regulations (2005): Strengthening Their Effective Implementation and Utilisation
    • Jan Klabbers, The Normative Gap in International Organizations Law: The Case of the World Health Organization
    • Kristina Daugirdas & Gian Luca Burci, Financing the World Health Organization: What Lessons for Multilateralism?
  • Cristina Contartese, Competence-Based Approach, Normative Control, and the International Responsibility of the EU and Its Member States: What Does Recent Practice Add to the Debate?
  • Davorin Lapaš, Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities for IGO-Like Entities: A Step Towards a New Diplomatic Law?
  • Clemens Treichl, The Denial of Oral Hearings by International Administrative Tribunals as a Factor for Lifting Organizational Immunity before European Courts: A(nother) Critical View

New Issue: International Legal Materials

The latest issue of International Legal Materials (Vol. 58, no. 6, December 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Case Concerning the Detention of Three Ukrainian Naval Vessels (Ukraine v. Russian Federation): Provisional Measures Order (ITLOS), with introductory note by Yurika Ishii
  • Convention Concerning the Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of Work (Int'L Lab. Org.), with introductory note by Julinda Beqiraj
  • Prosecutor v. Omar Al-Bashir, Judgment in the Jordan Referral Re Al-Bashir Appeal (Int'L Crim. Ct.), with introductory note by Thomas Weatherall
  • Protocol No. 16 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and Advisory Opinion Concerning the Recognition in Domestic Law of a Legal Parent-child Relationship Between a Child Born Through a Gestational Surrogacy Arrangement Abroad and the Intended Mother (Eur. Ct. H.R.), with introductory note by Scott W. Lyons
  • Alekseyev and Others v. Russia (Eur. Ct. H.R.), with introductory note by Pieter Cannoot
  • Confédération Paysanne and Others v. Premier Ministre and Ministre De L'Agriculture, De L'Agroalimentaire Et De La Forêt (C.J.E.U.), with introductory note by Hans-Georg Dederer

Benvenisti: The Applicability of the Law of Occupation to UN Administration of Foreign Territory

Eyal Benvenisti (Univ. of Cambridge - Law) has posted The Applicability of the Law of Occupation to UN Administration of Foreign Territory. Here's the abstract:
This contribution seeks to critically examine the UN position with respect to the legal status of the administration of territory by UN-authorised actors. The essay first explores whether the law of occupation applies to direct administration of foreign territory by the UN or its authorized organs. It then examines as a case study the practice of the UN administration of Kosovo. The essay argues that unfettered discretion for civil servants, even international civil servants, undermines the functionality of any administration. Embracing the discipline of accountability embedded in the law of occupation to UN-led administration of territories is therefore required. This discussion provides the grounding for the argument that as a matter of both lex lata and lex ferenda any administration of territories without a valid sovereign consent, even when exercised by the UN, qualifies as an occupation, and is hence subject to the requirements of law of occupation.

Klamberg: Interpretation of Security Council Resolutions and the Function of Explanation of Votes – Protecting the Status Quo or Agents of Change?

Mark Klamberg (Stockholm Univ. - Law) has posted Interpretation of Security Council Resolutions and the Function of Explanation of Votes – Protecting the Status Quo or Agents of Change? Here's the abstract:

The UN Security Council has within the UN system the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. The Council adopts resolutions, which are the decisions with the greatest potential consequences. Security Council resolutions are not always clear and need to be interpreted. Members of the Security Council may make statements in connection with their votes, so called explanation of votes. What is the purpose and role of these explanations of votes, if any?

Explanation of votes may have at least three functions. First, they may contribute to the formation of customary international law. Second, they can be used as a means for interpreting Security Council resolutions in relation to a specific matter. Finally, even if legal arguments are never the sole or even the decisive factor in Security Council deliberations, they may shape the debates and by being available for the public have an impact on positions taken, at least indirectly.

The study examines three debates which show Security Council resolutions and explanation of votes may protect the status quo in some instances and act as agents of change in others. The states need to consider that the Security Council does not operate in a legal vacuum; its decision has legal consequences in specific situations and may also contribute to the formation of customary international law.

New Issue: Nordic Journal of Human Rights

The latest issue of the Nordic Journal of Human Rights (Vol. 37, no. 3, 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • The Domestic Institutionalisation of Human Rights
    • Steven LB Jensen, Stéphanie Lagoutte & Sébastien Lorion, The Domestic Institutionalisation of Human Rights: An Introduction
    • Stéphanie Lagoutte, The Role of State Actors Within the National Human Rights System
    • Kirsten Roberts Lyer, Parliaments as Human Rights Actors: The Potential for International Principles on Parliamentary Human Rights Committees
    • Claire Methven O’Brien & Jolyon Ford, Business and Human Rights: From Domestic Institutionalisation to Transnational Governance and Back Again
    • Sébastien Lorion, A Model for National Human Rights Systems? New Governance and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
    • Domenico Zipoli, NHRI Engagement with UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies: A Goal-based Approach
    • Tomer Broude & Natan Milikowsky, Establishing an NHRI in a Contested Political Space: A Deliberative Process in Israel

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Dothan: The ICC is NOT a Slice of Cheese

Shai Dothan (Univ. of Copenhagen - iCourts) has posted The ICC is NOT a Slice of Cheese (Journal of International Criminal Justice, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
My friend Jakob Holtermann compared the International Criminal Court (ICC) to a slice of swiss cheese. The metaphor is meant to indicate that the ICC operates as a filter that would deter some of the criminals left undeterred by national criminal law systems, which is true. But the metaphor also suggests that the ICC would only deter extra criminals and would not damage the deterrence achieved by preceding filters, which is false. This paper explains why.

New Issue: Review of International Studies

The latest issue of the Review of International Studies (Vol. 46, no. 1, January 2020) is out. Contents include:
  • Øyvind Svendsen, ‘Practice time!’ Doxic futures in security and defence diplomacy after Brexit
  • Gustav Meibauer, Interests, ideas, and the study of state behaviour in neoclassical realism
  • Linus Hagström & Chengxin Pan, Traversing the soft/hard power binary: the case of the Sino-Japanese territorial dispute
  • Rita Abrahamsen, Internationalists, sovereigntists, nativists: Contending visions of world order in Pan-Africanism
  • Rebecca Adler-Nissen, Katrine Emilie Andersen, & Lene Hansen, Images, emotions, and international politics: the death of Alan Kurdi
  • Jennifer L. Erickson, Punishing the violators? Arms embargoes and economic sanctions as tools of norm enforcement
  • José Ciro Martínez, Topological twists in the Syrian conflict: Re-thinking space through bread
  • Lewis Turner, ‘#Refugees can be entrepreneurs too!’ Humanitarianism, race, and the marketing of Syrian refugees
  • Thomas Gregory, The costs of war: Condolence payments and the politics of killing civilians

New Issue: Cambridge International Law Journal

The latest issue of the Cambridge International Law Journal (Vol. 8, no. 2, December 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • The global governance of cyberspace: reimagining private actors' accountability
    • Eirini Kikarea & Maayan Menashe, The global governance of cyberspace: reimagining private actors' accountability: introduction
    • Benedict Kingsbury, Infrastructure and InfraReg: on rousing the international law ‘Wizards of Is’
    • Louise Arimatsu, Silencing women in the digital age
    • M R Leiser, Regulating computational propaganda: lessons from international law
    • Rachel Adams & Nóra Ní Loideáin, Addressing indirect discrimination and gender stereotypes in AI virtual personal assistants: the role of international human rights law
    • Enguerrand Marique & Yseult Marique, Sanctions on digital platforms: beyond the public–private divide
    • Paolo Cavaliere, Digital platforms and the rise of global regulation of hate speech
    • Petra Molnar, Technology on the margins: AI and global migration management from a human rights perspective
    • Shannon Raj Singh, Move fast and break societies: the weaponisation of social media and options for accountability under international criminal law

New Issue: Revista Tribuna Internacional

The latest issue of Revista Tribuna Internacional (Vol. 8, no. 16, 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Especial
    • Luis Valentín Ferrada, Tratado Antártico: 60 años de paz
    • Marcial Mora Miranda, Tratado Antártico
  • Artículos
    • Ignacio Antonio Sánchez González, Ley Zamudio en perspectiva. Derecho Antidiscriminación chileno frente a estándares de la Unión Europea.
    • Sebastián Flores Díaz, La misión del embajador Juan Miguel Bákula en Santiago en mayo de 1986

Purcell: Geographical Change and the Law of the Sea

Kate Purcell (Univ. of New South Wales) has published Geographical Change and the Law of the Sea (Oxford Univ. Press 2020). Here's the abstract:

This book examines the implications of geographical change for maritime jurisdiction under the law of the sea. In a multistranded intervention, it challenges existing accounts of the consequences of climate-related change for entitlement to maritime space, maritime limits, and international maritime boundaries. It also casts new light on the question of whether a loss of habitable land and large-scale population displacement will precipitate a loss of territorial sovereignty and the legal 'extinction' of affected States.

This study of the legal significance of geographical change is grounded in an in-depth study of the role of geography in the law of the sea. As well as offering a new perspective on the pressing question of how climate change will affect maritime jurisdiction, territorial sovereignty, and statehood, the book contributes to the scholarship on maritime delimitation and international boundaries generally (on land and at sea). It includes an analysis of the principle of intertemporal law that suggests a useful framework for considering questions of stability and change in international law more broadly.

This rigorous and original study will be of value to anyone concerned with the implications of climate-related change for maritime jurisdiction, territorial sovereignty, and statehood. Its broader analysis of the existing law and engagement with a range of doctrinal debates through the lens of the question of geographical change will be of interest to scholars and practitioners of the law of the sea, the law of territory, and the law relating to international boundaries.

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Elmekki: Les réserves aux traités relatifs aux droits de l'homme : évolutions récentes

Abir Elmekki (Faculté de droit et des sciences politiques de Tunis) has published Les réserves aux traités relatifs aux droits de l'homme : évolutions récentes (L'Harmattan 2019). Here's the abstract:
Cet ouvrage analyse les évolutions de la pratique des réserves aux traités relatifs aux Droits de l'homme. Elles se sont opérées selon deux tendances : l'une dans le sens d'une restriction de l'admission des réserves, l'autre dans le sens d'un contrôle rigoureux de la validité. Cette recherche permet d'approfondir des questions essentielles : l'influence de la logique de l'accord, la logique directrice des sources sur la pratique des réserves, le rôle de la valorisation normative des règles relatives à la protection des droits de l'homme dans la limitation du recours aux réserves et enfin, la contribution institutionnelle et juridictionnelle qui a pu rendre la pratique des réserves plus respectueuse des traités relatifs aux Droits de l'homme.

Risse & Wollner: On Trade Justice: A Philosophical Plea for a New Global Deal

Mathias Risse (Harvard Univ. - Kennedy School of Government) & Gabriel Wollner (Univ. of Bayreuth - Philosophy) have published On Trade Justice: A Philosophical Plea for a New Global Deal (Oxford Univ. Press 2019). Here's the abstract:
Trade has made the world. Still, trade remains an elusive and profoundly difficult area for philosophical thought. This novel account of trade justice makes ideas about exploitation central, giving pride of place to philosophical ideas about global justice but also contributing to moral disputes about practical questions. On Trade Justice is a philosophical plea for a new global deal, in continuation of, but also at appropriate distance to, post-war efforts to design a fair global-governance system in the spirit of the American New Deal of the 1930s. This book is written in the tradition of contemporary analytical philosophy but also puts its subject into a historical perspective to motivate its relevance. It covers the subject of trade justice from its theoretical foundations to a number of specific issues on which the authors' account throws light. The state as an actor in the domain of global justice is central to the discussion but it also explores the obligations of business extensively, recognizing the importance of the modern corporation for trade. Topics such as wages injustice, collusion with authoritarian regimes, relocation decisions, and obligations arising from interaction with suppliers and sub-contractors all enter prominently. Another central actor in the domain of trade is the World Trade Organization. The WTO needs to see itself as an agent of justice. This book explores how this organization should be reformed in light of the proposals it makes. In particular, the WTO needs to endorse a human-rights and development-oriented mandate. Overall, this book hopes to make a theoretical contribution to the creation of an exploitation-free world.

Call for Papers: L’espace extra-atmosphérique et la guerre

Dans le cadre de l’organisation du colloque annuel de la SFDI 2019, qui aura pour thème « L’espace extra-atmosphérique et le droit international » et se tiendra à l’Université Paris Toulouse 1 Capitole les 28-29 mai 2020, le Réseau des jeunes chercheurs de la SFDI organise cette année deux demi-journées, ouvertes aux jeunes chercheurs, pour venir échanger et débattre sous la présidence de deux enseignants de droit international sur des thèmes en lien avec le colloque annuel. L’une de ces demi-journées sera organisée à l’Université Paris Nanterre le 3 avril 2020 par Clémentine Bories et Marina Eudes. Elle aura pour thème : « L’espace extra-atmosphérique et la guerre ». L'annonce est ici.

Broude & Levy: Outcome Bias and Expertise in Investigations under International Humanitarian Law

Tomer Broude (Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem - Law) & Inbar Levy (Univ. of Melbourne - Law) have posted Outcome Bias and Expertise in Investigations under International Humanitarian Law (European Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
Many international law decisions are made by individuals, often possessed with expertise, legal or otherwise. We examine individual international humanitarian law (IHL) decision-making, on two-levels: military decisions made ex ante regarding real-time operational questions, under conditions of uncertainty and imperfect information; and subsequent ex post evaluations of the propriety of military decisions, in the context of military investigations regarding legal responsibility with respect to proportionality and reasonableness. IHL requires ex post investigators to consider only information available at the time decisions were made. Through an experimental vignette-study conducted with lay-persons, legal experts and people with field experience, we test whether they are susceptible to cognitive ‘outcome bias’, specifically the extent to which knowledge of operational outcomes, especially regarding incidental civilian harm, influences ex post normative evaluations. Our results demonstrate a general tendency towards outcome bias, somewhat tempered by expertise. Individuals with operational decision-making experience may be less prone to outcome bias than legal experts. We discuss possible implications for the design of military investigations relating to IHL.

Call for Papers: The Eighth International Four Societies Conference

The American Society of International Law, the Australia and New Zealand Society of International Law, the Canadian Council on International Law, and the Japanese Society of International Law have issued a call for papers for the Eighth International Four Societies Conference, which will take place June 16-17, 2020, at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. The theme is "Beyond National Jurisdiction." The call is here.

Paulussen & Scheinin: Human Dignity and Human Security in Times of Terrorism

Christophe Paulussen (T.M.C. Asser Instituut) & Martin Scheinin (European Univ. Institute) have published Human Dignity and Human Security in Times of Terrorism (Asser Press 2019). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:
In this book, it is explained that despite a current drop in the number of deaths, terrorism should still be considered a serious and widespread problem. However, the responses to this phenomenon are often more problematic from a long-term perspective. With the human rights framework under serious pressure, this edited volume offers a timely, important and critical in-depth analysis of human dignity and human security challenges in the lead-up, and in the responses, to current forms of terrorism. It aims to map how human dignity and human security can be secured and how law can constitute a source of trust at a time when Europe and the rest of the world continue to be plagued by terrorism.

Call for Papers: Ninth Annual Junior Faculty Forum for International Law

A call for papers has been issued for the Ninth Annual Junior Faculty Forum for International Law, convened by Dino Kritsiotis (Univ. of Nottingham - Law), Sarah M.H. Nouwen (Univ. of Cambridge/European Univ. Institute), and J.H.H. Weiler (New York Univ. - Law), together with guest conveners Han Liyu and Zhu Jingwen (both of Renmin Law School). The Ninth Forum will be held at the Renmin University of China in Beijing on June 29-30, 2020. The deadline for applications is February 7, 2020. The call is here. As with previous years, selected presentations from the Forum will be invited to appear in the European Journal of International Law.

Geslin & Tourme Jouannet: Le droit international de la reconnaissance, un instrument de décolonisation et de refondation du droit international ?

Albane Geslin (Sciences Po Aix) & Emmanuelle Tourme Jouannet (Sciences Po) have published Le droit international de la reconnaissance, un instrument de décolonisation et de refondation du droit international ? (UMR Droits International, Comparé et Européen 2019). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:
Lorsqu’en 2011 est publié Qu’est-ce qu’une société internationale juste ? Le droit international entre développement et reconnaissance, d’Emmanuelle Tourme Jouannet, puis que paraît, l’année suivante son article « Le droit international de la reconnaissance », surgit dans le champ de la recherche française – et plus largement francophone – en droit international un nouveau paradigme, celui de la « reconnaissance ». Les réactions suscitées par ces publications furent vives. Il y eu quelques mécompréhensions du concept même de reconnaissance, et diverses critiques se firent entendre. C’est à l’occasion du premier workshop international du groupe de recherche Justice/Injustice Globale, les 8 et 9 septembre 2016, que fut abordée la question de savoir si le droit international de la reconnaissance pouvait être un instrument de décolonisation et de refondation du droit international.

Call for Submissions: Time, Transition, and Justice (International Criminal Law Review)

The International Criminal Law Review has issued a call for submissions for a special issue on "Time, Transition, and Justice." The call is here.

New Issue: London Review of International Law

The latest issue of the London Review of International Law (Vol. 7, no. 2, July 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Articles
    • Deval Desai, Christopher Gevers, & Adil Hasan Khan, Sifting through the ‘successful failures’ and ‘failed successes’ of international law: introducing two essays on law and failure
    • Vasuki Nesiah, Freedom at sea
    • Adam Sitze, The crime of apartheid: genealogy of a successful failure
    • Jamee K Moudud, A critical legal history of French banking and industrialisation: an alternative to the law and development framework
    • Valeria Vázquez Guevara, Crafting the lawful truth: Chile’s 1990 Truth Commission, international human rights and the museum of memory
  • Sectionthree
    • Jessie Hohmann & Daniel Joyce, Material pasts and futures: international law’s objects

Lecture: Besson on "Due diligence and the extraterritorial application of human rights"

On January 17, 2020, Samantha Besson (Collège de France) will give a lecture on "Due diligence and the extraterritorial application of human rights" at the T.M.C. Asser Instituut. Here's the idea:
Various (universal and regional) parts of the practice of the international human rights law are currently showing signs of a loosening of the notion of “jurisdiction” as a ground for the application of human rights. The justification for this development seems primarily to lie in easing the conditions under which human rights duties can arise for States in extraterritorial circumstances where they exercize no effective (personal or spatial) control over the right-holders. This is particularly relevant when extraterritorial human rights violations are caused by multinational corporations incorporated under the law of the given State (or somehow controlled by it) or when they occur through environmental harm whose causes lie somehow under the control of that State. This conference will start by unpacking the various strands of this developing practice to identify and assess what the proposed criteria of jurisdiction could be in those cases (besides causation), before examining how the proposed duties and their grounds actually relate to the standard of due diligence in general and specific international law. A more general reflection on the role of due diligence in international law and the state of international human rights law will ensue.

Call for Papers: International Investment Law & State Capitalism

The Athens Public International Law Center of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Law has issued a call for papers for a colloquium on "International Investment Law & State Capitalism," which will take place October 15-16, 2020, in Athens. The call is here.

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Heller: ‘Genuine’ Unilateral Humanitarian Intervention — Another Ticking Time-Bomb Scenario

Kevin Jon Heller (Univ. of Amsterdam - Law) has posted ‘Genuine’ Unilateral Humanitarian Intervention — Another Ticking Time-Bomb Scenario. Here's the abstract:

The activation of the crime of aggression at the ICC has renewed interest in one of the oldest and most fraught questions of the jus ad bellum: whether a state is entitled to unilaterally use force on the territory of another state for humanitarian purposes. Scholars who support unilateral humanitarian intervention (UHI) generally make two interrelated claims. The first is positivist: that unilateral intervention is lawful if it is genuinely intended to end mass atrocity. The second is normative: that genuinely humanitarian unilateral intervention should be lawful, because in the right circumstances it can serve as an effective mechanism for protecting civilians from harm.

In this article, I criticise both claims. I begin by arguing that, from a positivist perspective, even genuinely humanitarian unilateral intervention violates the prohibition of the use of force and qualifies as a criminal act of aggression. I then argue that the historical record undermines the normative attractiveness of UHI, because it is extremely difficult to find an actual example of a unilateral intervention motivated primarily by humanitarian concerns, especially one that improved the humanitarian situation in the territorial state. Finally, I conclude by arguing that the basic effect of insisting on the legality of UHI is to weaken one of the few clear prohibitions in international law for no discernible benefit, making the desire to decriminalize such intervention a well-meaning equivalent to the notorious ticking time-bomb scenario.

New Issue: Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy

The latest issue of the Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy (Vol. 22, no. 3, 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Melissa Lewis, Deciphering the Complex Relationship between AEWA's and the Bonn Convention’s Respective Exemptions to the Prohibition of Taking
  • Amanda Whitfort, Wildlife Crime and Animal Victims: Improving Access to Environmental Justice in Hong Kong
  • Arie Trouwborst & Floor M. Fleurke, Killing Wolves Legally: Exploring the Scope for Lethal Wolf Management under European Nature Conservation Law
  • Sebastien Korwin, Louisa Denier, Susan Lieberman & Rosalind Reeve, Verification of Legal Acquisition under the CITES Convention: The Need for Guidance on the Scope of Legality

New Issue: Climate Law

The latest issue of Climate Law (Vol. 9, no. 4, 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Kevin B. Jones, Benjamin B. Civiletti & Angela J. Sicker, Carbon Pricing in US Electricity Markets: Expediting the Low-Carbon Transition While Mitigating the Growing Conflict between Renewable-Energy Goals and Regional Electricity Markets
  • Thomas Leclerc, A Sectoral Application of the Polluter Pays Principle: Lessons Learned from the Aviation Sector

Bidouzo: Les Organisations internationales et la résolution des conflits post-bipolaires en Afrique

Thierry Sèdjro Bidouzo has published Les Organisations internationales et la résolution des conflits post-bipolaires en Afrique (UMR Droits International, Comparé et Européen 2019). Here's the abstract:
Le droit international, dans son rôle de « vigie » ou de « vigile » de la sécurité internationale, est parfois éprouvé par la délicate équation du défi de la paix en Afrique. En effet, depuis que ce continent est devenu « [acteur] de son histoire », – avec le nouveau décor international occasionné par la fin de la période bipolaire –, paradoxalement, il est également devenu un terrain fertile en conflits. En dépit des mutations ou des « dynamiques du droit international », opérées par les Organisations internationales dans la pratique du maintien de la paix, la dynamique évolutive des conflits et leur nature irrégulière, posent bien de difficultés. Et c’est le noeud de ces rapports ambigus entre les Organisations internationales et les conflits en Afrique qu’il convient de tenter de défaire, en en appréhendant tour à tour, leur implication, puis leur contribution à la résolution desdits conflits. De cette double appréhension, émerge le besoin, dans les stratégies de résolution des conflits, d’une prise en compte aussi bien de la violence visible que de la violence invisible ; celle-ci suppose une réelle connaissance des vrais déterminants conflictuels. D’où la nécessité d’un droit régional africain de maintien de la paix car, la paix objective doit être accompagnée de la paix subjective.