Conference: The Challenge of Global Cybersecurity

On September 16-17, 2021, the University of Grenada will host a conference on "The Challenge of Global Cybersecurity." Program and registration are here.

Webinar: The current significance of the rules of reference in the law of the sea

On July 8, 2021, the ESIL Interest Group on the Law of the Sea will host the fifth session of its webinar series on “Current Issues in the Law of the Sea.” The topic is “The current significance of the rules of reference in the law of the sea.” The webinar will be delivered by Fred Soons (Univ. of Utrecht - Law). Registration is here.

Rossi: Interstitial Space and the High Himalayan Dispute between China and India

Christopher R. Rossi (UiT Arctic Univ. of Norway - Political Science) has posted Interstitial Space and the High Himalayan Dispute between China and India (Harvard International Law Journal, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

A border dispute between Indian and Chinese troops, the most dangerous in 45 years, has roiled relations in the High Himalayan valleys and plateaus separating India (Ladakh) and China (Aksia Chin). Against this barren landscape, ancient pathways connecting Central, South, and East Asia converge, making the area today a key nodal point of commercial and strategic interest to three nuclear powers, India, China, and Pakistan. This article interrogates the historical regard for this area as a no man’s land (terra nullius) and, prompted by the June 2020 clash in the High Himalayan Galwan Valley, emphasizes international law’s historical treatment of interstitial space as a means of framing and addressing competing narratives pertaining to the acquisition of territory. The poverty of international legal tools to dissect competing narratives, facilitated in large part by consequences associated with imperial international legal legacy, evidences the continuing and underappreciated importance of spatiality in international law. Competing interpretations of and appeals to historical effectivités to prove possessory title diminish recognition of international law’s geo-spatial limitations. This seemingly frozen Himalayan border dispute is in fact an intertwined territorial dispute. The management of this dispute depends more on a return to the constructed avenues of confidence building measures, which implicitly recognize dynamic consolidations of power already apparent, than on the replaying appeals to the international law of territorial acquisition, which never adequately filled the void of interstitial imperial space and projects of post-colonial state-building.

New Issue: Transnational Environmental Law

The latest issue of Transnational Environmental Law (Vol. 10, no. 2, July 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Editorial
• Thijs Etty, Veerle Heyvaert, Cinnamon Carlarne, Bruce Huber, Jacqueline Peel, & Josephine van Zeben, Energy Transition in a Transnational World
• Symposium: The Law of Energy Transition in Federal Systems
• Johannes Saurer & Jonas Monast, The Law of Energy Transition in Federal Systems
• Anne Kallies, The Australian Energy Transition as a Federalism Challenge: (Un)cooperative Energy Federalism?
• Tracy-Lynn Field, A Just Energy Transition and Functional Federalism: The Case of South Africa
• Johannes Reich, Federalism and Mitigating Climate Change: The Merits of Flexibility, Experimentalism, and Dissonance
• Johannes Saurer & Jonas Monast, Renewable Energy Federalism in Germany and the United States
• Felix Mormann, Of Markets and Subsidies: Counter-intuitive Trends for Clean Energy Policy in the European Union and the United States
• Michael Fehling, Energy Transition in the European Union and its Member States: Interpreting Federal Competence Allocation in the Light of the Paris Agreement
• Case Comment
• Ilina Cenevska, Environmental Protection Meets Security of Electricity Supply: Case C-411/17, Inter-Environnement Wallonie ASBL and Bond Beter Leefmilieu Vlaanderen ASBL v. Conseil des ministres, Court of Justice of the European Union

Gaeta & Jain: Individualisation of IHL Rules Through Criminal Responsibility for War Crimes and Some (Un)Intended Consequences

Paola Gaeta (Univ. of Florence) & Abhimanyu George Jain (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies) have posted Individualisation of IHL Rules Through Criminal Responsibility for War Crimes and Some (Un)Intended Consequences (in The Individualisation of War, Dapo Akande & Jennifer Walsh eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This paper engages with the relationship between IHL rules and their corresponding war crimes. After sketching the origins of the process of individualization of IHL rules through individual responsibility for war crimes, it will explain the acceleration of the process in recent decades. It will then explain which requirements have been identified to ground individualization of IHL rules through the notion of war crimes. The paper will finally draw out some of the tensions produced by this process, focussing upon some of its consequences for the relevant IHL norms.

New Issue: Journal of World Investment & Trade

The latest issue of the Journal of World Investment & Trade (Vol. 22, no. 3, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Giorgio Sacerdoti, The Challenges of Countering Politicization of Trade Relations and Revitalizing the Multilateral Rule-Based System
• Selçukhan Ünekbaş, Scaling the Great Wall: The EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment and Market Access
• Yawen Zheng, China’s New Foreign Investment Law and Its Contribution Towards the Country’s Development Goals
• Mees Brenninkmeijer & Fabien Gélinas, The Problem of Execution Immunities and the ICSID Convention
• Marc-Antoine Couet, Round-Tripping in International Investment Law: A Teleological Assessment

Pollack: International Court-Curbing in Geneva: Lessons from the Paralysis of the WTO Appellate Body

Mark A. Pollack (Temple Univ. - Political Science & Law) has posted International Court-Curbing in Geneva: Lessons from the Paralysis of the WTO Appellate Body. Here's the abstract:

Following a decade of international court creation during the 1990s, the 21st century has witnessed a widespread backlash against many international courts from dissatisfied member governments. By and large, studies of international court backlash have taken an optimistic tack, noting that most international courts have survived episodes of backlash intact or – in the case of the paralyzed Appellate Body (AB) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) – are likely to do so after a temporary period of backlash-induced slumber. In this context, this paper analyzes the United States’ successful effort to paralyze the AB, to derive lessons from this striking case of backlash against one of the world’s most active and independent international courts. Undertaken in the context of a collective research project on “Reversing Delegation,” this account of the AB crisis is organized in five parts, examining in turn the empirical history of delegation, politicization, de-delegation, counter-mobilization, and the (interim) outcome of this episode during the Trump administration and the early months of the Biden Administration. First, I demonstrate that the creation of the AB was a classic instance of delegation of third-party dispute-settlement power, and that the AB quickly emerged as an active, and possibly activist, agent of international trade liberalization. Second, I explore the roots of US politicization of the AB, noting that dissatisfaction with AB jurisprudence preceded the Trump administration, although I argue that Trump’s politicization of the AB was more far-reaching, and more public, than that of his predecessors. Third, I examine the Trump administration’s stepped-up effort to use its veto power to paralyze the AB, an act of at least temporary de facto de-delegation. Fourth, I examine the pushback from the many other WTO members that sought to defend the AB: although these efforts have been widespread and consistent, I argue, they failed, over a period of years, to budge the US position. Fifth and finally, I analyze the outcome, thus far, of the US campaign, arguing that, by the standards of domestic curb-curbing activities, it has been remarkably successful, not only in temporarily paralyzing the AB but also in demonstrating that such efforts are allowed and even facilitated by WTO rules, planting the seeds for a potentially significant recontracting with the AB or its successor, and exerting a chilling effect on future AB judges following the end of the current crisis.

Ranganathan: The 'English School' of International Law: Soundings via the 1972 Jubilee Essays

Surabhi Ranganathan (Univ. of Cambridge - Law) has posted The 'English School' of International Law: Soundings via the 1972 Jubilee Essays. Here's the abstract:

As part of the Cambridge Law Journal’s centenary celebrations, this article reads two essays on the law of the sea from the journal’s 50th anniversary issue. The essays, by Cambridge professors Robert Jennings and Derek Bowett offer resources for the history of international law and its historiography. They shine a light on key debates on the law of the sea at a crucial moment of its development. A close reading of these essays also reveals starting points for new scrutiny of an ‘English tradition’ of international law, including its relation to empire and capitalism.

New Issue: International Journal of Refugee Law

The latest issue of the International Journal of Refugee Law (Vol. 32, no. 4, December 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Daniel Thym, The End of Human Rights Dynamism? Judgments of the ECtHR on ‘Hot Returns’ and Humanitarian Visas as a Focal Point of Contemporary European Asylum Law and Policy
• Chantal Bostock & Jason Cabarrús, Short Shrift to International Non-Refoulement Obligations? Australia’s Approach to Criminal Deportation
• Erna Bodström, Asylum Decisions as Performances: Intertextuality in Internal Credibility Assessment
• Tone Maia Liodden, Who Is a Refugee? Uncertainty and Discretion in Asylum Decisions
• Covid-19: A Watching Brief
• Daniel Ghezelbash & Nikolas Feith Tan, The End of the Right to Seek Asylum? COVID-19 and the Future of Refugee Protection
• Roshni Shanker & Prabhat Raghavan, The Invisible Crisis: Refugees and COVID-19 in India
• Sabrineh Ardalan, The Trump Administration, COVID-19, and the Continuing Assault on the Rights of Asylum Seekers and Refugees
• Jennifer Bond, Giulio Di Blasi, & Ania Kwadrans, Community Sponsorship of Refugees and COVID-19’s Challenges

Call for Papers: Contemporary Issues in Outer Space Law

The Te Piringa Faculty of Law at the University of Waikato has issued a call for papers for a virtual conference on "Contemporary Issues in Outer Space Law," to be held September 3, 2021. The call is here.

New Issue: Revista Iberoamericana de Derecho Internacional y de la Integración

The latest issue of the Revista Iberoamericana de Derecho Internacional y de la Integración (no. 14, June 2021) is out. The table of contents is here.

Bailliet: The Construction of the Customary Law of Peace: Latin America and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Cecilia M. Bailliet (Univ. of Oslo - Law) has published The Construction of the Customary Law of Peace: Latin America and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Edward Elgar Publishing 2021). Here's the abstract:

This thought-provoking book explores the emerging construction of a customary law of peace in Latin America and the developing jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. It traces the evolution of peace as both an end and a means: from a negative form, i.e. the absence of violence, to a positive form that encompasses equality, non-discrimination and social justice, including gendered perspectives on peace.

Cecilia M. Bailliet offers an overview of the normative and institutional development of peace in Latin America, before examining the heterogeneous iterations of peace within Latin American constitutions and the pluralistic views of current and former judges in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The book argues that these national variants should be in accordance with the American Convention on Human Rights and related instruments as a minimum framework, and should be interpreted in pursuit of the pro homine principle, in which the most favourable law is applied to benefit individuals regardless of its origin or status. It also presents an overview of the historic protest marches of 2019 and the phenomenon of oppressive peace tactics by the State.

New Issue: International Journal of Human Rights

The latest issue of the International Journal of Human Rights (Vol. 25, no. 6, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Juan Carlos Ochoa-Sánchez, Review by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and domestic reparation programmes: towards a more nuanced approach
• Reilly Anne Dempsey Willis, Becoming indigenous or being overcome? Strategic indigenous rights litigation in the Sudan
• Lise Smit, Gabrielle Holly, Robert McCorquodale & Stuart Neely, Human rights due diligence in global supply chains: evidence of corporate practices to inform a legal standard
• Daniel Pascoe & Sangmin Bae, Idiosyncratic voting in the UNGA death penalty moratorium resolutions
• V.A. Kryazhkov & R.S. Garipov, ILO 169 convention as a vector for the aboriginal legislation development in Russia
• Clare Frances Moran, Strengthening the principle of non-refoulement
• Yuko Osakada, An examination of arguments over the Ainu Policy Promotion Act of Japan based on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
• Clare Farmer & Richard Evans, Do Police need guns? The nexus between routinely armed police and safety

New Issue: Human Rights Review

The latest issue of the Human Rights Review (Vol. 22, no. 2, June 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Bimal Adhikari, UN Human Rights Shaming and Foreign Aid Allocation
• Petra Gümplová, Normative View of Natural Resources—Global Redistribution or Human Rights–Based Approach?
• Kathryn Muyskens, Intervening on Behalf of the Human Right to Health: Who, When, and How?
• Kjersti Lohne, Observing Justice at Guantánamo Bay: Human Rights NGOs and Trial Monitoring at the US Military Commissions
• Ben Luongo, Critical Realism, Human Rights, and Emotion: How an Emotive Ontology Can Resolve the Tensions Between Universalism and Relativism

New Issue: Questions of International Law

The latest issue of Questions of International Law / Questioni di Diritto Internazionale (no. 82, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Litigating jurisdiction before the ECtHR: Between patterns of change and acts of resistance
• Introduced by Alice Riccardi, Alice Ollino and Diego Mauri
• Lea Raible, Extraterritoriality between a rock and hard place
• Conall Mallory, A second coming of extraterritorial jurisdiction at the European Court of Human Rights?
• Mariagiulia Giuffrè, Extraterritorial jurisdiction: A dialogue between international human rights bodies

Webinar: Women and the International Law Commission

On June 30, 2021, the Minerva LAW Network will hold a panel discussion on "Women and the International Law Commission." Details are here.

Pavoni: Sustainable Development as a Cornerstone of Cities' Engagement with International Law

Riccardo Pavoni (Univ. of Siena - Law) has posted Sustainable Development as a Cornerstone of Cities' Engagement with International Law (Italian Yearbook of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Sustainable development may safely be regarded as a cornerstone of cities’ engagement with international law, an engagement which is certainly bound to increase in the time of COVID-19. This article revisits the historical trajectory of cities’ and local governments’ participation in sustainable development processes. It particularly focuses on the contemporary involvement of cities and their transnational networks in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and associated Sustainable Development Goals. Subsidiarity and public participation are fully discussed as conceptual underpinnings of cities’ growing role in the pursuit of sustainability. The article concludes that, as long as cities continue to demonstrate leadership and innovation in advancing cutting-edge solutions to problems of sustainability as a result of mechanisms that secure the meaningful participation of the communities of people concerned, their place in the global partnership for sustainable development will inevitably become ever more prominent.

New Issue: International Interactions

The latest issue of International Interactions (Vol. 47, no. 3, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Quynh Nguyen, Gabriele Spilker & Thomas Bernauer, The (still) mysterious case of agricultural protectionism
• Dawid Walentek, Joris Broere, Matteo Cinelli, Mark M. Dekker & Jonas M. B. Haslbeck, Success of economic sanctions threats: coercion, information and commitment
• Dov H. Levin, Will you still love me tomorrow? Partisan electoral interventions, foreign policy compliance, and voting in the UN
• Jonathan A. Chu, Jiyoung Ko & Adam Liu, Commanding Support: Values and Interests in the Rhetoric of Alliance Politics
• Richard J. Saunders, Only Friends Can Betray You: International Rivalry and Domestic Politics
• Aysegul Aydin & Cem Emrence, Counterinsurgency as an institution: Evidence from Turkey
• Daniel Finke, Regime type and co-sponsorship in the UN General Assembly

Louis & Maertens: Why International Organizations Hate Politics: Depoliticizing the World

Marieke Louis (Sciences Po Grenoble) & Lucile Maertens (Univ. of Lausanne) have published Why International Organizations Hate Politics: Depoliticizing the World (Routledge 2021). Here's the abstract:

Building on the concept of depoliticization, this book provides a first systematic analysis of International Organizations (IO) apolitical claims. It shows that depoliticization sustains IO everyday activities while allowing them to remain engaged in politics, even when they pretend not to.

Delving into the inner dynamics of global governance, this book develops an analytical framework on why IOs "hate" politics by bringing together practices and logics of depoliticization in a wide variety of historical, geographic and organizational contexts. With multiple case studies in the fields of labor rights and economic regulation, environmental protection, development and humanitarian aid, peacekeeping, among others this book shows that depoliticization is enacted in a series of overlapping, sometimes mundane, practices resulting from the complex interaction between professional habits, organizational cultures and individual tactics. By approaching the consequences of these practices in terms of logics, the book addresses the instrumental dimension of depoliticization without assuming that IO actors necessarily intend to depoliticize their action or global problems.

For IO scholars and students, this book sheds new light on IO politics by clarifying one often taken-for-granted dimension of their everyday activities, precisely that of depoliticization.

New Issue: World Trade Review

The latest issue of the World Trade Review (Vol. 20, no. 3, July 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Gregory Shaffer, Trade Law in a Data-Driven Economy: The Need for Modesty and Resilience
• Heng Wang, The Belt and Road Initiative Agreements: Characteristics, Rationale, and Challenges
• Christos Kourtelis, The Agadir Agreement: The Capability Traps of Isomorphic Mimicry
• Yong-Shik Lee, Regulatory Autonomy under the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement: Implications of Korea–Import Bans, and Testing and Certification Requirements for Radionuclides
• Victor Crochet & Marcus Gustafsson, Lawful Remedy or Illegal Response? Resolving the Issue of Foreign Subsidization under WTO Law

Beaudouin: Droit international des villes

Anouche Beaudouin (Université Côte d’Azur - Law) has published Droit international des villes (Mare et Martin 2021). Here's the abstract:

Quel les sont les manifestations juridiques internationales de l’urbanisation du monde ? L’ouvrage a pour but de proposer des points de repère dans ce vaste paysage et de créer des catégories (d’acteurs, d’instruments juridiques, de relations, de normes...) permettant d’intégrer et de comprendre au mieux ces dimensions juridiques qui, prises ensemble, constituent un véritable droit international des villes. De la construction des villes à leur gouvernance, en passant par leurs relations internationales et les services publics qu’elles assument, de nombreux instruments internationaux façonnent en effet le milieu physique et politique à la fois le plus universel et le plus proche de nos vies. Droit international des villes est le premier ouvrage qui propose un cadre permettant d’appréhender, penser, et enseigner cette matière nouvelle.

Conference: Society of International Economic Law Seventh Biennial Conference

On July 7-9, 2021, the Society of International Economic Law will hold its seventh biennial conference virtually, in collaboration with Bocconi University. Program and registration are here.

Webinar: Flag State Jurisdiction, Incidental Jurisdiction, and the Protection of Merchant Vessels: Revisiting the Enrica Lexie Award

On June 30, 2021, the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law at Swansea University will host a webinar, supported by the European Society of International Law, on “Flag State Jurisdiction, Incidental Jurisdiction, and the Protection of Merchant Vessels: Revisiting the Enrica Lexie Award.” Details are here.

New Issue: Review of International Organizations

The latest issue of the Review of International Organizations (Vol. 16, no. 3, July 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Philip Keefer & Christopher Kilby, Introduction to the special issue: In memoriam Stephen Knack
• Allison Carnegie & Lindsay R. Dolan, The effects of rejecting aid on recipients’ reputations: Evidence from natural disaster responses
• Brandon de la Cuesta, Lucy Martin, & Daniel L. Nielson, Foreign aid, oil revenues, and political accountability: Evidence from six experiments in Ghana and Uganda
• Jamelia Harris, Foreign aid, human capital accumulation and the potential implications for growth
• Jonas Gamso, Jikuo Lu, & Farhod Yuldashev, Does foreign aid volatility increase international migration?
• Valentin Lang, The economics of the democratic deficit: The effect of IMF programs on inequality
• Mirko Heinzel & Andrea Liese, Managing performance and winning trust. how world bank staff shapes recipient performance
• Silvia Marchesi & Tania Masi, Delegation of implementation in project aid
• Axel Dreher, Jenny Simon, & Justin Valasek, Optimal decision rules in multilateral aid funds