Friday, September 13, 2019

New Issue: Review of International Studies

The latest issue of the Review of International Studies (Vol. 45, no. 4, October 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Nina Caspersen, Human rights in territorial peace agreements
  • Robert Lamb, Pragmatism, practices, and human rights
  • Maja Zehfuss, Military refusers and the invocation of conscience: Relational subjectivities and the legitimation of liberal war
  • Henry Redwood & Alister Wedderburn, A cat-and-Maus game: the politics of truth and reconciliation in post-conflict comics
  • Scott Hamilton, I am uncertain, but We are not: a new subjectivity of the Anthropocene
  • Lisa Maria Dellmuth, Jan Aart Scholte, & Jonas Tallberg, Institutional sources of legitimacy for international organisations: Beyond procedure versus performance
  • Jack Corbett, Yi-chong Xu, & Patrick Weller, Norm entrepreneurship and diffusion ‘from below’ in international organisations: How the competent performance of vulnerability generates benefits for small states
  • Thomas Müller, The variety of institutionalised inequalities: Stratificatory interlinkages in interwar international society
  • Alexander Cooley, Daniel Nexon, & Steven Ward, Revising order or challenging the balance of military power? An alternative typology of revisionist and status-quo states

New Issue: Jus Gentium: Journal of International Legal History

The latest issue of Jus Gentium: Journal of International Legal History (Vol. 4, no. 2, 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Articles
    • Anthony Carty, British and French Archives Relating to Ownership of the Paracel Islands: 1900-1975
    • Ryan Greenwood, The Just War in Florentine Political Discourse: c. 1200-1400
    • Thomas Schultz & Jason Mitchenson, The History of Comity
    • Vladimir Rjéoutski, Derek Offord, & Gesine Argent, French as a Diplomatic and Official Language in Imperial Russia
    • W. E. Butler & V. S. Ivanenko, Baron M. A. von Taube: Historian of International Law
    • Li Chen, The Making of China’s Foremost Diplomat and International Judge
    • Olga Butkevych, International Law as a Living Legal System: Eugene Ehrlich’s Conception in Modern Times
  • Notes and Comments
    • W. E. Butler, On the Fate of the Grabar Doctoral Dissertation and Degree
    • O. A. Gavrylenko & T. L. Syroed, Classical and Modern Traditions in Kharkiv University: International and European Law
    • William E. Butler & Michael Kwon, Manning’s Commentaries on the Law of Nations

Chesterman, Owada, & Saul: The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Asia and the Pacific

Simon Chesterman (National Univ. of Singapore - Law), Hisashi Owada (formerly, Judge, International Court of Justice), & Ben Saul (Univ. of Sydney - Law) have published The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Asia and the Pacific (Oxford Univ. Press 2019). Here's the abstract:

The growing economic and political significance of Asia has exposed a tension in the modern international order. Despite expanding power and influence, Asian states have played a minimal role in creating the norms and institutions of international law; today they are the least likely to be parties to international agreements or to be represented in international organizations.

That is changing. There is widespread scholarly and practitioner interest in international law at present in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as developments in the practice of states. The change has been driven by threats as well as opportunities. Transnational issues such as climate change and occasional flashpoints like the territorial disputes of the South China and the East China Seas pose challenges while economic integration and the proliferation of specialized branches of law and dispute settlement mechanisms have also encouraged greater domestic implementation of international norms across Asia. These evolutions join the long-standing interest in parts of Asia (notably South Asia) in post-colonial theory and the history of international law.

The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Asia and the Pacific brings together pre-eminent and emerging specialists to analyse the approach to and influence of key states of the region, as well as whether truly 'Asian' trends can be identified and what this might mean for international order.

Call for Submissions: EJIL Symposium on "Inequalities in International Law"

The European Journal of International Law has issued a call for submissions for a symposium on "Inequalities in International Law." The deadline for abstracts is November 1, 2019. Here's the call:

CALL FOR PAPERS: EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

Inequalities in International Law: The EJIL Symposium 2021

International law in the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other foundational treaties and conventions of the multilateral system entails a premise (and promise) of equal rights, the right to self-determination, and the fundamental equality of human beings. However, during the last 10 years and in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis inequality has once again moved to the centre of attention of a number of disciplines, most noteworthy perhaps economics, as well as politics.

We issue this Call for Papers to invite submissions reflecting on the ways that international law – its practice and scholarship – relates to inequality. We chose the plural – inequalities – as we do not intend, from the outset, to narrow the Symposium’s scope to particular forms or actualizations of inequality. Inequalities span access to, or enjoyment of, public resources, and/or state duties to ensure equalities of opportunity regardless of gender, religion, nationality, birth, political or other ideological convictions, status, among others. While the discussion on inequality and international law has been historically concerned with North/South disparities and the quest for equal distribution among states, recent decades have seen a rise in inequality within countries in affluent and weaker economies. Other characteristics of inequality today include the extreme concentration of income at the top and the shrinkage of the middle class in advanced economies. Inequalities persist also in the external relationships of states with other actors (state and non-state) in the international system – as enduring legacies of colonialism in economic development and in post-conflict peacebuilding; as ongoing asymmetries in the efforts to achieve accountability and international justice for victims of internationally wrongful acts; as well as through contested modes of governance over the world’s environment, global commons, and natural resources.

The interplay between international law and inequality and the special trends related to inequality today invite further research and reflection. Developments such as the rising inequality within countries, the possible decline in inter-country inequality alongside economic growth in emerging market and developing economies challenge our existing legal framing and approaches to the problem of inequality and call for further analysis of the relationship between these trends and international legal principles, doctrines and institutions.

Thus, we invite contributions that conceptualize and problematize the notion of inequality and that examine its doctrinal significance and its usefulness and appropriateness as an analytical concept or as a common concern in international law. We further call for papers that address questions regarding empirical, quantitative and qualitative assessments of inequality within and across societies and states and that assess international law and institutions as cause as well as remedy to inequality. We welcome doctrinal, historiographical, genealogical and sociological engagements with past and present regimes, initiatives, institutions, and instruments and their relationship with inequality as well as biographical engagements with scholars and practitioners who in their work paid particular attention to the question of inequality in international law.

Finally, we welcome engagements with our responsibility as international lawyers. How do we practise international law ethically in light of persisting material inequality, racism and sexism in the world, in our societies, governments and workplaces. What visions or utopias might guide and invigorate our practices? To what extent can we identify persistent inequalities that also suffuse the ‘invisible college’ of international lawyers, and what can be done within international law from both academic inquiry and norms of professional practice?

The call is not restricted to a particular subfield of international law. We would be happy to receive proposals from all fields of international law, including the following themes:

Human Rights: Papers may interrogate the capacity of (social and economic) rights to remedy inequality, or engage with the thesis that (particular conceptions of) human rights detract from social justice concerns.

International Economic Law: Papers may address the question whether international economic law should and how it might allow for global redistribution or contribute to a transformation of political economy that reduces material inequality instead of enhancing it. Further clarification is needed how international economic law (together with transnational and national law) furthers the accumulation of wealth and capital as well as the concentration of corporate power. Contributions may assess calls for a new NIEO or a new Bretton Woods and evaluate them in light of historical experience and in the context of present geopolitical developments. Contributions may also confront the changing face of international economic law – particularly its deepening intersections with human rights law, international environmental law, climate law, among others – and assess how the international economic system engages, perpetuates, or redresses both latent and patent inequalities faced by individuals, groups, peoples, small nations such as low-lying island states, among others.

Sustainable Development Goals: 10 years to go until, by 2030, the SDGs shall be achieved, it may be a good time for an evaluation of their impact so far – not only as concerns the realization of targets, in particular of SDG 10 “Reduced Inequalities” – but also the effects of this governance framework on international law doctrine and the practice of governmental and non-governmental institutions. Can the polycentric approach to SDG governance truly address inequalities, when SDGs are articulated in the grey areas between hard law and soft law?

Migration Law: Given that extreme poverty and global inequality in living conditions are major reasons for global migration, does migration law adequately take account of these causes? Current government policies of exclusion and deterrence not only raise questions as to their conformity with international law, but call into doubt foundational normative justifications of global and national political order. Are instruments such as the Global Compact on Migration and the New York Declaration sufficient to eventually harden into multilateral or regional treaties recognizing shared norms in addressing both protections for migrants as well as the pressures on and opportunities open for receiving populations?

Climate Law: From its inception climate change law has had and still has to come to terms with various inequalities – including inequalities as concerns individual states’ contributions to climate change as well as inequalities as to how communities will be affected by climate change. How does climate law address these inequalities; how should it address them in order not only to effectively contain climate change, but to do so in an equitable manner?

After ‘After Hegemony’: The emergence of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (the BRICS) as a new hub of power in international relations, destabilizing processes in Europe, most evident in Brexit, and the decline of the US as the world's hegemonic power have triggered new approaches to international law making in recent years. These new approaches include a shift away from multilateralism toward bilateralism, regionalism and other forms of global governance. These processes are related to inequality in their cause and effects: Can we tie the growing unrest over inequality among different political groups worldwide to the turn away from existing international legal institutions? How are these ideological sensibilities and new forms of mobilization related to new modalities of international regulation? How will these new modalities influence global inequality in the future?

We are issuing here a Call for Papers. International lawyers from practice and academia as well as scholars from related disciplines are invited to send an abstract of 500 words. Abstracts should not only set out the prospective papers for inclusion in the symposium; they should also concisely formulate the questions addressed as well as the method and materials employed in the proposed research. We will accept proposals for research papers of 10-12K words as well as shorter Think Pieces of 5-7K words.

The deadline for the abstracts is 1 November 2019. Draft papers of those abstracts selected by a committee composed of members of the Editorial Boards of EJIL will be expected by 29 May 2020. We are considering a workshop in June 2020, at a location to be determined, to discuss the drafts. Funding towards the travel expenses of some participants may be available. Final drafts will be expected by 2 November 2020.

Abstracts, accompanied by a recent CV in pdf format, are to be sent to EJIL’s Managing Editor at anny.bremner {at} eui(.)eu by 1 November 2019.

New Volume: British Yearbook of International Law

The latest volume of the British Yearbook of International Law (Vol. 87, 2016) is out. Contents include:
  • In Memoriam
    • Iain Scobbie, Out of the Shadows: An Appreciation of Sir Elihu Lauterpacht’s Contribution to the Doctrine of International Law
  • Article
    • Martin Clark, A Conceptual History of Recognition in British International Legal Thought
  • Symposium on the Iraq Inquiry
    • Rosalyn Higgins, Introduction to the Symposium
    • Christian Henderson, Reading Between the Lines: The Iraq Inquiry, Doctrinal Debates, and the Legality of Military Action Against Iraq in 2003
    • Nico J. Schrijver, The Dutch Committee of Inquiry on the War in Iraq and the Basis in International Law for the Military Intervention
    • Michael Wood, The Iraq Inquiry: Some Personal Reflections
    • Matthew Windsor, The Special Responsibility of Government Lawyers and the Iraq Inquiry
    • Tanja Aalberts & Lianne J. M. Boer, Entering the Invisible College: Defeating Lawyers on Their Own Turf
    • Mark Phythian, Intelligence Failure as a Mutually Reinforcing Politico-Intelligence Dynamic: The Chilcot Report and the Nature of the Iraq WMD Intelligence Failure
    • Yolanda Gamarra, Parliamentary Control of the Deployment of Spanish Armed Forces Abroad in the Post-Iraq Era
    • Charlotte Peevers, Media Spectacles of Legal Accountability in the Reporting of an Official History

Call for Papers: International Law and Distribution: Sustainable Development, Security, and the Governance of Resources

In April 2019, the University of Edinburgh hosted "Edingow" – the inaugural conference marking a new collaboration between the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow in the field of international law. This call for papers is for Glasginburgh 2020 – the second conference in this series – to be held at the University of Glasgow on June 8-9, 2020. The theme is: "International Law and Distribution: Sustainable Development, Security, and the Governance of Resources." The call is here.

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Menkes: The Legality of US Investment Sanctions against Iran before the ICJ: A Watershed Moment for the Essential Security and Necessity Exceptions

Marcin J. Menkes (Warsaw School of Economics) has posted The Legality of US Investment Sanctions against Iran before the ICJ: A Watershed Moment for the Essential Security and Necessity Exceptions (Canadian Yearbook of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
International courts and tribunals so far have shown reluctance to delimit the normative scope of the essential security and necessity exceptions in international economic law. Legal scholars have also refrained from identifying the point of equilibrium between maintaining the core protections of international law and allowing for necessary flexibility in its application. This article argues that such stances are now untenable. The unilateral US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, and the reintroduction of sanctions, has challenged the multilateral order. Although the sanctions resemble earlier measures, violation of the deal and of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231(2015) has altered the normative context. The threat to the stability of the post-war multilateral order by a permanent member of the Security Council is unique. The author shows why Iran’s recourse to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in this context should become a landmark case for international economic law and how it traps the ICJ in a gilded cage.

Conference: Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations in the Age of Reemerging Nationalism - Are They Really Justified?

On November 21-22, 2019, the Faculty of Law of the University of Zurich will host a conference on "Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations in the Age of Reemerging Nationalism - Are They Really Justified?" The program is here. Here's the idea:
The academic debate on the extraterritorial application of human rights is intense and sophisticated. In the last few years, it has often been taken for granted that such extraterritorial obligations on the part of states exist and the research focus has turned to their scope and the modes of implementing them. At the same time, some of the duty-bearers at stake still question their legitimacy. With rising nationalist tendencies in all parts of the world, this is unlikely to change soon. Furthermore, philosophical attacks on the idea of human rights in general and their universality in particular have increased, backed prominently by revisionist historical work. If extraterritorial application of human rights shall be realized and implemented in practice, it seems necessary to return to addressing the foundational question of their justifiability as well as counter arguments that promote a territorial limitation of states’ human rights obligations. By combining legal and philosophical perspectives, this is the aim the workshop hopes to achieve.

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

New Issue: World Politics

The latest issue of World Politics (Vol. 71, no. 4, October 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Research Articles
    • Milena Ang & Monika Nalepa, Can Transitional Justice Improve the Quality of Representation in New Democracies?
    • Egor Lazarev, Laws in Conflict: Legacies of War, Gender, and Legal Pluralism in Chechnya
    • Timothy Frye, Ora John Reuter, & David Szakonyi, Vote Brokers, Clientelist Appeals, and Voter Turnout: Evidence from Russia and Venezuela
    • Sarah Zukerman Daly, Voting for Victors: Why Violent Actors Win Postwar Elections
    • Jan P. Vogler, Imperial Rule, the Imposition of Bureaucratic Institutions, and their Long-Term Legacies

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Call for Papers: Power Sharing or Power Shifts? Examining the role of public-private interactions in global governance

The School of Governance at the Technical University of Munich has issued a call for papers for an emerging scholars' workshop on "Power Sharing or Power Shifts? Examining the role of public-private interactions in global governance," to be held on November 28-29, 2019. The call is here.

Call for Applications: PhDs in International and Public Law, Ethics and Economics for Sustainable Development

The Universities of Milan, Rijeka and Maastricht are seeking six outstanding and committed students to carry out a three-year multidisciplinary research project, based at more than one participating university. The three universities are launching LEES, a new doctoral programme in International and Public Law, Ethics and Economics for Sustainable Development. With courses, seminars and scientific research activities entirely in English, it addresses the complexities involved in sustainable development, and uses an innovative multidisciplinary approach that combines the contributions of law, ethics, and economics. Application deadline, October 14, 2019. Details are here.

Conference: States, Corporations and Commons - Dissonance and Accord

On September 11, 2019, the American Society of International Law's Interest Group of International Environmental Law will hold a conference on "States, Corporations and Commons - Dissonance and Accord" at the Faculty of Law of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The program is here.

Call for Papers: Reassessing the Truth: The Role of Scientific and Technological Progress, the Business Sector, the Sustainable Economic and Community Development in the Energy Transition

A call for papers has been issued for a conference on "Reassessing the Truth: The Role of Scientific and Technological Progress, the Business Sector, the Sustainable Economic and Community Development in the Energy Transition," to take place November 5-6, 2019, at West Virginia University. The call is here.

Kjeldgaard-Pedersen: The International Court of Justice and the Individual

Astrid Kjeldgaard-Pedersen (Univ. of Copenhagen - Law) has posted The International Court of Justice and the Individual (in Research Handbook on the International Court of Justice, Achilles Skordas ed., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
This chapter studies the relationship between the ICJ and ‘the individual’ in a broad sense, including both human beings and private companies. It argues that there is a gap between, on one hand, the most famous dicta by the ICJ and its predecessor, the PCIJ, about the concept of international legal personality, and, on the other hand, the Court’s interpretation and application of treaty provisions that govern individuals directly. Indeed, the Court seems to have consistently invoked a more progressive view of the international legal personality of non-State entities, including individuals and private companies, than it is given – and has taken – credit for. As the chapter illustrates, how-ever, the Court’s favourable approach to ‘individual rights’ under international law has not prompt-ed it to be particularly accommodating towards ‘human rights’. Although there has unquestionably been a development in the way in which the ICJ takes account of human rights, its practice above all indicates that does not strive to be a court of human rights, but emphatically a court of international law.

New Issue: Revue de Droit International et de Droit Comparé

The latest issue of the Revue de Droit International et de Droit Comparé (Vol. 96, no. 3, 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • S. Toe, L’exclusion d’un associé en droit OHADA des sociétés commerciales
  • V. Bakréo, Les motifs en droit des contrats : étude des droits québécois, français et camerounais
  • J. Liu, La représentation par le représentant légal en droit des sociétés chinois
  • B. Belbara, La protection de la famille depuis la loi camerounaise n° 2016/007 du 12 juillet 2016 portant Code pénal : constance et croissance d’une philosophie
  • H. Alrashidi, La distinction entre la clause d’exclusion et la clause de déchéance dans le contrat d’assurance selon le droit koweïtien

New Issue: International Review of the Red Cross

The latest issue of the International Review of the Red Cross (Vol. 100, nos. 907-909, April 2018) is out. The theme is: "150 years of humanitarian reflection." Contents include:
  • Vincent Bernard, The International Review of the Red Cross: Witness to the humanitarian revolution
  • Three short essays in honour of the 150th anniversary of the International Review of the Red Cross
  • A brief history of the International Review of the Red Cross
  • The editors-in-chief of the Review, 1869–2019
  • David P. Forsythe, The ICRC as seen through the pages of the Review, 1869–1913: Personal observations
  • Daniel Palmieri, To inform or govern? 150 years of the International Review of the Red Cross, 1869–2019
  • Annette Becker, From the Bulletin International des Sociétés de la Croix Rouge to the International Review of the Red Cross: The Great War as a revelator
  • Ben Holmes, The International Review of the Red Cross and the protection of civilians, c. 1919–1939
  • Ismaël Raboud, Matthieu Niederhauser, & Charlotte Mohr, Reflections on the development of the Movement and international humanitarian law through the lens of the ICRC Library's Heritage Collection
  • Jeffrey Biller, Cyber operations and the Second Geneva Convention
  • Étienne Chénier-Laflèche, The prevention of torture in Rio de Janeiro: A study on the role of public defenders
  • Sharon Weill, French foreign fighters: The engagement of administrative and criminal justice in France
  • Alon Margalit, Still a blind spot: The protection of LGBT persons during armed conflict and other situations of violence
  • Sabrina Henry, Exploring the “continuous combat function” concept in armed conflicts: Time for an extended application?
  • Natalie Klein-Kelly, More humanitarian accountability, less humanitarian access? Alternative ideas on accountability for protection activities in conflict settings
  • Helene Højfeldt Jakobsen, Returning foreign fighters: The case of Denmark
  • Françoise Bouchet-Saulnier & Jonathan Whittall, An environment conducive to mistakes? Lessons learnt from the attack on the Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan
  • Valérie McKnight Hashemi, A balancing act: The revised rules of access to the ICRC Archives reflect multiple stakes and challenges

Conference: 15th Annual Conference of the European Society of International Law

The European Society of International Law will hold its 15th Annual Conference on September 12-14, 2019, in Athens. The theme is: "Sovereignty: A Concept in Flux? | Souveraineté: Un concept en mouvement?" The conference program is here. Information on the pre-conference meetings of ESIL Interest Groups is here.

Call for Papers: ESIL 2020 Research Forum (Reminder)

The European Society of International Law has issued a call for papers for its 2020 Research Forum, which will take place April 23-24, 2020, at the Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza, Università degli Studi di Catania. The theme is: "Solidarity: The Quest for Founding Utopias of International Law." The call is here. The deadline is September 30, 2019.

Abi-Saab, Keith, Marceau, & Marquet: Evolutionary Interpretation and International Law

Georges Abi-Saab, Kenneth Keith, Gabrielle Marceau, & Clément Marquet have published Evolutionary Interpretation and International Law (Hart Publishing 2019). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:
This unique book brings together leading experts from diverse areas of public international law to offer a comprehensive overview of the approaches to evolutionary interpretation in different international legal regimes. It begins by asking what interpretation is, offering the views of expert authors on the question, its components and definitions. It then comments on situations that have called for evolutionary interpretation in different international legal regimes, including general international law, environmental law, human rights law, EU law, investment law, international trade law, and how domestic courts have, on occasions, interpreted treaties and other international legal instruments in an evolutionary manner.

New Volume: Recueil des Cours

Volume 399 of the Recueil des Cours, Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law is out. Contents include:
  • Volume 399
    • Atsuko Kanehara, Reassessment of the Acts of the State in the Law of State Responsibility – A Proposal of an Integrative Theoretical Framework of the Law of State Responsibility to Effectively Cope with the Internationally Harmful Acts of Non-State Actors
    • Hannah L. Buxbaum, Public Regulation and Private Enforcement in a Global Economy: Strategies for Managing Conflict

Monday, September 9, 2019

New Issue: Air & Space Law

The latest issue of Air & Space Law (Vol. 44, nos. 4/5, 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Cyril-Igor Grigorieff & Dimitri De Bournonville, The 1952 Rome Convention on Surface Damage and Its Application in the Case of Aircraft Noise Emission: The Example of Belgium
  • Antigoni Lykotrafiti, A Comprehensive Study of Air Transport Liberalization Through the Lens of Strategic Airline Alliances
  • Daniela María Rojas García, Out-of-State Solutions for Outer Space Disputes: Delocalizing the Troubles of the Province of Mankind
  • Stamatis Varsamos, Single till v. Dual till and the Paradox of Airport Competition
  • Dimitra Stefoudi, The Relevance and Applicability of Cybersecurity Laws with Regard to Data Storage on Board Satellites and on the Ground
  • Charlotte Thijssen & Lisa Williams, Could Confirmation from the UK Court of Appeal Allowing Airlines to Compensate Passengers Directly Help Stamp Out Ambulance-Chasing over Passenger Rights Claims in the EU?

Conference: Atrocity Prevention: The Role of International Law and Justice

On September 20, 2019, Case Western Reserve University School of Law will host a conference on "Atrocity Prevention: The Role of International Law and Justice." The program is here.

Conference: Thirty-Third Investment Treaty Forum Public Conference

The British Institute of International and Comparative Law will host the Thirty-Third Investment Treaty Forum Public Conference on October 18, 2019. The theme is: "Valuation of Damages in International Investment Law." The program is here.

Call for Submissions: Military Law and the Law of War Review

The Military Law and the Law of War Review / Revue de Droit Militaire et de Droit de la Guerre has issued a call for submissions for its upcoming issue. Here's the call:

The Military Law and the Law of War Review

Call for Papers

The Military Law and the Law of War Review / Revue de Droit Militaire et de Droit de la Guerre is a journal specialised in matters of interest for both civilian and military legal advisors as well as legal scholars and academics. Published since 1962, it is among the oldest publications at the international level in the areas of military/security law and the law of war. For decades, the Review has been an important forum of discussion for scholars and practitioners from all over the world.

The Review is published under the auspices of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War. It features original and challenging articles, case notes, commentaries of the latest legal developments, as well as book reviews.

For its coming issue, the Review’s editorial board welcomes submissions from scholars and practitioners that come within the broader scope of the Review (including military law, law of armed conflict, law on the use of force, as well as international criminal law and human rights law (inasmuch as related to situations of armed conflict)). The deadline for submission is 5 November 2019.

Submissions should be sent by e-mail to mllwr@ismllw.org and will be subject to double-blind peer review. Articles should normally not be longer than 15.000 words (footnotes included), although longer pieces may exceptionally be considered. Inquiries as to whether a possible submission comes within the scope of the Review can be sent to the abovementioned e-mail address.

Selected papers will be published online on the Review’s website in advance access (in a non-downloadable and non-printable form) as well as on Hein Online following editing and type-setting. The print version of the issue will appear in 2020.

Conference: State Sovereignty, Climate Policy and Dispute Resolution in Environmental Law

On September 10, 2019, the American Society of International Law's Interest Group of International Environmental Law will hold a conference on "State Sovereignty, Climate Policy and Dispute Resolution in Environmental Law," at FON University, in Skopje. The program is here.

Berge & St John: Asymmetric Diffusion: World Bank 'Best Practice' and the Spread of Arbitration in National Investment Laws

Tarald Laudal Berge (Univ. of Oslo - Political Science) & Taylor St John (Univ. of St Andrews - International Relations) have posted Asymmetric Diffusion: World Bank 'Best Practice' and the Spread of Arbitration in National Investment Laws. Here's the abstract:
Globally, 74 countries have domestic investment laws that mention investor-state arbitration and 42 of these laws provide consent to this form of arbitration. That is, they give foreign investors the right to bypass national courts and bring claims directly to arbitration. What explains this variation, and why do any governments include investor-state arbitration in their domestic legislation? To explain this variation, we argue that analytic institutions within international organizations framed arbitration references as ‘international best practice’ and technical assistance carried this framing to governments. Specifically, we argue that governments who receive technical assistance from the World Bank’s Foreign Investment Advisory Service are more likely to include arbitration in their laws. In our analysis, we apply a mixed-methods research design. We first use event history analysis and find that receiving World Bank technical assistance is an exceptionally strong predictor of domestic investment laws with arbitration. Then we illustrate our argument with a case study of the Kyrgyz Republic’s 2003 law. We conclude that templates are usually not copied and pasted directly into domestic investment laws; instead, they are translated, debated, and modified. Yet the drafting of domestic investment laws is, in many countries, a process permeated by international actors.

New Issue: International Studies Review

The latest issue of International Studies Review (Vol. 21, no. 3, September 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Tobias Ide, The Impact of Environmental Cooperation on Peacemaking: Definitions, Mechanisms, and Empirical Evidence
  • Katarzyna Kaczmarska, Reification in IR: The Process and Consequences of Reifying the Idea of International Society
  • Maria Mälksoo, The Transitional Justice and Foreign Policy Nexus: The Inefficient Causation of State Ontological Security-Seeking
  • Rosemary Foot & Evelyn Goh, The International Relations of East Asia: A New Research Prospectus
  • Joseph M Grieco, The Schools of Thought Problem in International Relations
  • Quan Li, The Second Great Debate Revisited: Exploring the Impact of the Qualitative-Quantitative Divide in International Relations
  • Ryan M Katz-Rosene, The Treatment of Global Environmental Change in the Study of International Political Economy: An Analysis of the Field's Most Influential Survey Texts
  • Marcus Schulzke, Drone Proliferation and the Challenge of Regulating Dual-Use Technologies
  • Susan T Jackson, A Turning IR Landscape in a Shifting Media Ecology: The State of IR Literature on New Media

New Volume: Recueil des Cours

Volume 398 of the Recueil des Cours, Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law is out. Contents include:
  • Volume 398
    • T. Treves, The Expansion of International Law, General Course on Public International Law

Call for Papers: ASIL Anti-Corruption Law Interest Group Works-in-Progress Conference (Reminder)

The Anti-Corruption Law Interest Group of the American Society of International Law has issued a call for papers for its first works-in-progress conference. The conference is cosponsored with the Faculty of Law at Ono Academic College and is organized in close cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The conference will take place in Kiryat Ono, Israel, on December 16, 2019. The call is here. The deadline is September 13, 2019.

Ruiz Fabri & Paine: The Procedural Cross-Fertilization Pull

Helene Ruiz Fabri (Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law) & Joshua Paine (Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law) have posted The Procedural Cross-Fertilization Pull. Here's the abstract:
This paper argues that there is a distinct ‘pull’ towards cross-fertilization on procedural questions, meaning cross-fertilization between international courts and tribunals may be more likely for procedural issues than for questions of substantive law. As well as describing in a representative manner the substantial amount of cross-fertilization between international adjudicatory bodies that is occurring in relation to procedural issues, we attempt to provide a framework that helps explain this phenomenon. Our core suggestion is that procedural cross-fertilization is an ongoing process and is not just about borrowing by adjudicators, but involves contributions by a range of other actors, including the disputing parties, counsel, administering institutions and secretariats, professional bodies (eg the International Bar Association), and states as drafters of constitutive instruments and operators of control mechanisms. We suggest that three main considerations facilitate procedural cross-fertilization and even make it somewhat likely: the broad degree of discretion afforded to adjudicators on procedural issues; adjudicators’ duty to decide numerous procedural issues that arise throughout the proceedings; and sociological considerations concerning the circulation of a small number of personnel across multiple fora. We then analyse two wide-ranging considerations that counter-balance adjudicators’ broad discretion. On the one hand, various control mechanisms can be, and are, used by states to push adjudicators to remain faithful to their mandates, thus limiting the space for procedural cross-fertilization. On the other, procedural cross-fertilization feeds, and is fed by, an emerging model of international due process that is affecting all areas of international adjudication and that, by consolidating, becomes a constraining frame. This model of international due process has many components and we analyse its influence on two cross-cutting issues: expectations around the independence and impartiality of adjudicators and expectations around the transparency of adjudicatory processes.

New Additions to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law

The Codification Division of the UN Office of Legal Affairs recently added three lectures to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law. They were given by Kristina Daugirdas on “How and Why International Law Binds International Organizations,” Gattās Abugattās on “El proceso de celebración de tratados en la Convención de Viena de 1969 sobre el Derecho de los Tratados,” and Elvira Méndez Chang on “Solución de controversias internacionales.”

Conference: Les îles et le droit international

On September 30, 2019, a conference on "Les îles et le droit international" will take place in Paris. The program is here. Here's the idea:

De l’île de Palmas à l’archipel des Chagos, l’île constitue un objet familier du droit international. Si sa définition a longtemps mobilisé juristes et géographes jusqu’à l’adoption de la Convention de Montego Bay en 1982, force est de constater que la production scientifique sur le sujet peine à se renouveler et avance en ordre dispersé avec une place prépondérante du droit de la mer. Pourtant, les îles cristallisent aujourd’hui un nombre croissant de problématiques intéressant plusieurs branches du droit international. Elles sont ainsi tour à tour des espaces de convoitises, des espaces à exploiter, et face aux menaces environnementales ou à la globalisation culturelle, des espaces à protéger.

Dans la jurisprudence internationale, les îles sont d’abord source de conflits. En effet, la multiplication des différends territoriaux est une des conséquences liées à la volonté continue des Etats de s’approprier de nouveaux territoires. L’île, en tant que territoire excentré, représente une occasion exceptionnelle pour les Etats d’étendre leur espace maritime autour d’enjeux stratégiques majeurs. Sur ce point, les progrès technologiques ont notamment permis de transformer artificiellement des îlots rocheux en espace insulaire, créant de nouveaux territoires avec la volonté d’échapper aux limitations conventionnelles s’appliquant aux îles artificielles et aux rochers non habitables. En la matière, la nature, elle-même, n’est pas en reste avec l’apparition de nouvelles îles volcaniques, sismiques ou sédimentaires.

Les îles sont aussi des espaces privilégiés de développement économique. A ce titre, elles sont principalement convoitées pour les ressources naturelles de leurs sols et sous-sol, pour la possibilité d’élargissement potentiel des zones de pêche et pour l’installation de régimes fiscaux et douaniers favorisant les investissements étrangers. En outre, au même titre qu’un bien immeuble, les îles peuvent être louées ou cédées en tout ou partie, gracieusement ou non ce qui n’est pas sans soulever de difficultés lorsque l’île en question est habitée.

A l’inverse, si certaines îles concentrent capitaux ou ressources naturelles, une partie conséquente des espaces insulaires souffrent au contraire de leur caractère ultrapériphérique. C’est le cas par exemple des « Petits Etats Insulaires du Pacifique Sud », selon la dénomination onusienne, dont la petite taille, la dispersion géographique, et l’isolement économique soulèvent des questions relevant du droit international du développement.

Enfin, les îles sont des espaces menacés d’abord par le réchauffement climatique comme le rappelle le préambule de la Convention-cadre des Nations-Unies sur le Changement climatique adoptée en 1992, puis plus généralement, par l’exploitation d’un écosystème insulaire à la fois précieux et vulnérable. En outre, les questions liées à l’engloutissement des îles telles que l’apparition de réfugiés climatiques ou la réduction de l’espace territorial et maritime des Etats insulaires, sont autant d’inconnues dont le droit international doit se saisir sans délai. Dans le même ordre d’idée, la mondialisation menace des cultures insulaires jusque-là épargnées en raison de leur isolement. Outre la mise en place d’un régime international de protection, la préservation de ces identités peut nécessiter l’établissement de régimes juridiques dérogatoires et de modes de gouvernance à l’autonomie renforcée.

New Issue: International Affairs

The latest issue of International Affairs (Vol. 95, no. 5, September 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Maritime Security: The Uncharted Politics of the Global Sea
    • Christian Bueger, Timothy Edmunds, & Barry J. Ryan, Maritime security: the uncharted politics of the global sea
    • Aviad Rubin & Ehud Eiran, Regional maritime security in the eastern Mediterranean: expectations and reality
    • Douglas Guilfoyle, The rule of law and maritime security: understanding lawfare in the South China Sea
    • Elizabeth R. DeSombre, The security implications of fisheries
    • Katja Lindskov Jacobsen & Jessica Larsen, Piracy studies coming of age: a window on the making of maritime intervention actors
    • Barry J. Ryan, The disciplined sea: a history of maritime security and zonation
    • Laura Considine, Contests of legitimacy and value: the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the logic of prohibition
    • Clare Wenham, The oversecuritization of global health: changing the terms of debate
    • Amy S. Patterson & Elizabeth Gill, Up in smoke? Global tobacco control advocacy and local mobilization in Africa
    • Maha Kamel & Hongying Wang, Petro-RMB? The oil trade and the internationalization of the renminbi

New Issue: Ethics & International Affairs

The latest issue of Ethics & International Affairs (Vol. 33, no. 3, Fall 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Essay
    • Claudia Fuentes-Julio & Raslan Ibrahim, A Human Rights Approach to Conflict Resolution
  • Roundtable: Economic Sanctions and their Consequences
    • Joy Gordon, Introduction
    • Dursun Peksen, Political Effectiveness, Negative Externalities, and the Ethics of Economic Sanctions
    • Idriss Jazairy, Unilateral Economic Sanctions, International Law, and Human Rights
    • Joy Gordon, The Not So Targeted Instrument of Asset Freezes
  • Features
    • Janina Dill, Distinction, Necessity, and Proportionality: Afghan Civilians’ Attitudes toward Wartime Harm
    • Neil C. Renic, Battlefield Mercy: Unpacking the Nature and Significance of Supererogation in War
  • Review Essay
    • William Smith, The Ethics of (Un)Civil Resistance

New Issue: Journal of International Arbitration

The latest issue of the Journal of International Arbitration (Vol. 36, no. 5, 2019) is out. Contents include:
  • Maxi Scherer, Artificial Intelligence and Legal Decision-Making: The Wide Open?
  • Peter Georg Picht & Gaspare Tazio Loderer, Arbitration in SEP/FRAND Disputes: Overview and Core Issues
  • Angshuman Hazarika & Pieter Van Vaerenbergh, ‘One Rule to Rule Them All’: Rules for Article 25 DSU Arbitration
  • Robert Bradshaw, How to Obtain Evidence from Third Parties: A Comparative View
  • Karolina Mania, American and European Perspectives on Arbitration Agreements in Online Consumer Contracts

Call for Papers: ‘The Hope of Ages is in the Process of Realization’ Establishing a World Court, 1920-1922

A call for papers has been issued for a workshop on "‘The Hope of Ages is in the Process of Realization’ Establishing a World Court, 1920-1922," which will be held June 11-12, 2020, in Nijmegen. The call is here.