New Issue: Review of International Organizations

The latest issue of the Review of International Organizations (Vol. 17, no. 4, October 2022) is out. Contents include:

• Mitchell Watkins, Undermining conditionality? The effect of Chinese development assistance on compliance with World Bank project agreements
• Margaret Ariotti, Simone Dietrich, & Joseph Wright, Foreign aid and judicial autonomy
• Raphael Cunha & Andreas Kern, Global banking and the spillovers from political shocks at the core of the world economy
• Sung Eun Kim & Sujin Cha, Do Voters Reward Politicians for Trade Liberalization? Evidence from South Korea
• Ayse Kaya & Byungwon Woo, China and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB): Chinese Influence Over Membership Shares?
• Thomas Sommerer, Theresa Squatrito, Jonas Tallberg & Magnus Lundgren, Decision-making in international organizations: institutional design and performance
• Nicole Janz, Noel Johnston, & Paasha Mahdavi, Expropriation and human rights: does the seizure of FDI signal wider repression?
• Bernd Schlipphak, Paul Meiners Osman, & Sabri Kiratli, Crisis affectedness, elite cues and IO public legitimacy

New Issue: Journal of World Trade

The latest issue of the Journal of World Trade (Vol. 56, no. 5, 2022) is out. Contents include:

• Arthur Appleton & Patrick Macrory, Heterodox Views: What Is Wrong With the WTO and How to Fix It
• Henrik Andersen, EU’s ‘Distorted Economy’ Antidumping Approach Towards China: Improvement of Legal Certainty or New Legal Distortions?: Some Overall Observations
• Beibei Zhang & Wei Shen, Another Hole in China’s ‘Great Wall of Money’? Conceptualizing the Involvement of Foreign Investments in the Chinese Non-performing Loans Market Under the US-China Trade Deal
• Marios Tokas, Playing the Game: The EU’s Proposed Regulation on Foreign Subsidies
• Henok Asmelash, The Turn to Safeguard Measures in the Solar Trade War
• Xiaoyan Wang & Xinzhe Song, Rethinking Coexistence Between Prior Trademarks and Later Geographical Indications
• Stéphane Paquin, Means of Influence, the Joint-Decision Trap and Multilevel Trade Negotiations: Ontario and Québec and the Renegotiation of NAFTA Compared

Maučec & Dothan: Judicial Dissent at the International Criminal Court: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis

Gregor Maučec (New Univ. - Faculty of Government and European Studies) & Shai Dothan (Univ. of Copenhagen - Law) have posted Judicial Dissent at the International Criminal Court: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis (Leiden Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This article explores the phenomenon of judicial dissents at the ICC. The main subject is the process of collective decision-making and judicial deliberations in cases where members of a particular ICC chamber cannot reach a consensus on factual, substantive or procedural issues and render a unanimous decision. The article examines why and when international criminal judges dissent according to the views expressed by ICC judges. Drawing heavily on field research in The Hague, the article presents a qualitative analysis of the ICC judges’ perceptions and experiences of using dissenting opinions at the Court. Empirical findings derived from interviewing ICC judges support the hypothesis that international criminal judges’ personality, that is, their character differences (such as self-discipline and other work habits), their previous career experience, and their field of expertise determine their likelihood of using judicial dissents. In case of disagreement within an ICC Chamber, judges with criminal law backgrounds who previously worked as professional judges are more likely to append their dissent to a majority ruling with which they do not agree than international judges, diplomats, and professors with public international law expertise who are more willing to discuss and negotiate in order for the Court to speak with one voice.

New Issue: GlobaLex

The latest issue of GlobaLex (July/August 2022) includes the following:

• Paul O. Ogendi, A Review of the Progressive Development of International Human Rights Framework on Capital Punishment
• Andrew Grossman, A Research Guide to Cases and Materials on Terrorism

Call for Papers: Annual Workshop on the Vienna School of Jurisprudence and the Pure Theory of Law

A call for papers has been issued for the Annual Workshop on the Vienna School of Jurisprudence and the Pure Theory of Law, to be held April 3–4, 2023, near Freiburg. The call is here.

van Aaken: Interests, Strategies and Veto Players – The Political Economy of Interpreting Customary International Law

Anne van Aaken (Univ. of Hamburg) has posted an ESIL Reflection on Interests, Strategies and Veto Players – The Political Economy of Interpreting Customary International Law.

Besson: Theories of International Responsibility Law

Samantha Besson (Collège de France) has published Theories of International Responsibility Law (Cambridge Univ. Press 2022). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

There is no issue more central to a legal order than responsibility, and yet the dearth of contemporary theorizing on international responsibility law is worrying for the state of international law. The volume brings philosophers of the law of responsibility into dialogue with international responsibility law specialists. Its tripartite structure corresponds to the three main theoretical challenges in the contemporary practice of international responsibility law: the public and private nature of the international responsibility of public institutions; its collective and individual dimensions; and the place of fault therein. In each part, two international lawyers and two philosophers of responsibility law address the most pressing questions in the theory of international responsibility law. The volume closes with a comparative 'world tour' of the responsibility of public institutions in four different legal cultures and regions, identifying stepping-stones and stumbling blocks on the path towards a common law of international responsibility.

Conference: Colonialism and the EU Legal Order

On September 29-30, 2022, the Centre for European and Comparative Legal Studies at the University of Copenhagen will host a conference on "Colonialism and the EU Legal Order" The program is here.

Rankin: De facto International Prosecutors in a Global Era: With My Own Eyes

Melinda Rankin (Univ. of Queensland) has published De facto International Prosecutors in a Global Era: With My Own Eyes (Cambridge Univ. Press 2022). Here's the abstract:

In the past decades, great strides have been made to ensure that crimes against humanity and state-sponsored organized violence are not committed with impunity. Alongside states, large international organizations such as the United Nations and forums such as the International Criminal Court, 'de facto international prosecutors' have emerged to address these crimes. Acting as investigators and evidence-gathers to identify individuals and officials engaged in serious human rights violations, these 'private' non-state actors, and state legal 'officials' in a foreign court, pursue criminal accountability for those most responsible for core international crimes. They do so when local options to investigate fail and an international criminal tribunal remains unavailable. This study outlines three case studies of witnesses and victims who pursue those most responsible, including former heads of state. It examines their practices and strategies, and shows how witnesses and victims of core crimes emerge as key leaders in the accountability process.

Call for Papers: The Aesthetics of International Law

The Central European University Department of Legal Studies and the ESIL Interest Group on Social Sciences and International Law have issued a call for papers for a conference on "The Aesthetics of International Law," to take place May 12-13, 2023, in Vienna. The call is here.

New Additions to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law

The Codification Division of the UN Office of Legal Affairs recently added the following materials to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law: a lecture in English entitled Due Diligence in International Law by Samantha Besson and a lecture in English entitled The Meaning of War in International Law by Andrew Clapham.

The Audiovisual Library of International Law is also available as a podcast on SoundCloud and can also be accessed through the relevant preinstalled applications on Apple or Google devices, or through the podcast application of your preference by searching “Audiovisual Library of International Law.”

Coco: The Defence of Mistake of Law in International Criminal Law: A Study on Ignorance and Blame

Antonio Coco (Univ. of Essex - Law) has published The Defence of Mistake of Law in International Criminal Law: A Study on Ignorance and Blame (Oxford Univ. Press 2022). Here's the abstract:

The adage 'ignorance of the law is no excuse' is significantly inaccurate. Ignorance and mistake of law do, under certain circumstances, exclude responsibility both in national and international criminal law. This monograph updates the existing reviews of law and practice on the topic, aiming to go a step further: it takes the analysis of mistake of law as a starting point for systematic observations about international criminal law in general.

First, the volume defines the contours of the defence of mistake of law in general theory of criminal law, distinguishing it from cognate defences and highlighting, most notably, its connection with superior orders. Secondly, it gives an overview of the possible approaches to the defence, offering examples from national law as terms of reference for the subsequent analysis of international criminal law. Thirdly, it surveys the relevant law and practice of international criminal tribunals, with a focus on the International Criminal Court, and it contemplates offences for which a defence of mistake of law may potentially succeed. Finally, the author tries to interpret what the rules on mistake of law applicable before international criminal tribunals imply about the purpose of punishing individuals and to the legitimacy of such punishment.

Whilst the discourse on international criminal law is more and more concerned with global politics, The Defence of Mistake of Law in International Criminal Law brings back the focus on the appropriateness of imposing a guilty verdict on the individual defendant, a human being constituting the basic unit of each society.

Bischof: Das Pariser Klimaschutzabkommen: Zur Effektivität völkerrechtlicher Klimaschutzverträge

Thorsten Bischof has published Das Pariser Klimaschutzabkommen: Zur Effektivität völkerrechtlicher Klimaschutzverträge (Mohr Siebeck 2022). Here's the abstract:

Mit dem Pariser Klimaschutzabkommen schlossen die Staaten im Jahr 2016 einen neuen völkerrechtlichen Vertrag, um einer der größten Herausforderungen des 21. Jahrhunderts Einhalt zu gebieten: dem Klimawandel. Ausgehend von den naturwissenschaftlichen Hintergründen und der bisherigen Entwicklung des internationalen Klimaschutzregimes legt Thorsten Bischof eine umfassende rechtliche Untersuchung des Pariser Abkommens vor. Anschließend geht er der Frage nach, ob und unter welchen Bedingungen es auf Grundlage eines völkerrechtlichen Vertrages allgemein und des Pariser Abkommens im Speziellen tatsächlich gelingen kann, dem Klimawandel rechtzeitig Einhalt zu gebieten. Dabei vereint der Autor rechtswissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse mit solchen der internationalen Beziehungen, um das Potenzial des Pariser Abkommens zu bewerten.

Conley, de Waal, Murdoch, & Jordash: Accountability for Mass Starvation: Testing the Limits of the Law

Bridget Conley (World Peace Foundation), Alex de Waal (World Peace Foundation), Catriona Murdoch (Global Rights Compliance), & Wayne Jordash (Global Rights Compliance) have published Accountability for Mass Starvation: Testing the Limits of the Law (Oxford Univ. Press 2022). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

Famine is an age-old scourge that almost disappeared in our lifetime. Between 2000 and 2011 there were no famines and deaths in humanitarian emergencies were much reduced. The humanitarian agenda was ascendant. Then, in 2017, the United Nations identified four situations that threatened famine or breached that threshold in north-eastern Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen. Today, this list is longer. Each of these famines is the result of military actions and exclusionary, authoritarian politics conducted without regard to the wellbeing or even the survival of people.

Violations of international law including blockading ports, attacks on health facilities, violence against humanitarian workers, and obstruction of relief aid are carried out with renewed impunity. Yet there is an array of legal offenses, ranging from war crimes and crimes against humanity to genocide, available to a prosecutor to hold individuals to account for the deliberate starvation of civilians. However, there has been a dearth of investigations and accountability for those violating international law.

The reasons for this neglect and the gaps between the black-letter law and practice are explored in this timely volume. It provides a comprehensive overview of the key themes and cases required to catalyze a new approach to understanding the law as it relates to starvation. It also illustrates the complications of historical and ongoing situations where starvation is used as a weapon of war, and provides expert analysis on defining starvation, early warning systems, gender and mass starvation, the use of sanctions, journalistic reporting, and memorialization of famine.

Ackermann: The Effects of Armed Conflict on Investment Treaties

Tobias Ackermann has published The Effects of Armed Conflict on Investment Treaties (Cambridge Univ. Press 2022). Here's the abstract:

This book analyses the multi-faceted impact armed conflict has on investment treaties. Refuting the common association of the outbreak of hostilities with the termination or suspension of treaties, it not only makes a case for the continuity of investment treaties. The book argues that the impact of armed conflict on such agreements goes far beyond these questions: Changed factual circumstances and public interests as well as international humanitarian law heavily influence the application and interpretation of investment protection standards. The book argues that investment treaties can and must channel these effects to remain effective during armed conflict and strike a fair balance between investor and public interests. It shows ways in which contextual and systemic interpretation, respect for reasonable state action, and careful treaty design can ensure that investment treaties continue to fulfil their purpose of strengthening compliance with legal rules also in times of armed conflict.

Shereshevsky & Hughes: State-Academic Lawmaking

Yahli Shereshevsky (Univ. of Haifa - Law) & David Hughes (Canadian Forces College) have posted State-Academic Lawmaking (Harvard International Law Journal, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

What role do law review articles play in the development of international law? How do states advance a preferred international legal position when the formal methods of creating or amending the law are unavailable? As global stagnation and great power competition increasingly preclude access to the formal methods of international lawmaking, those states that seek to drive international agendas are pursuing novel methods to shape international law. This article identifies one such method, what we term state-academic lawmaking. State-academic lawmaking describes an observable, generative, method by which purportedly independent academic articles, authored by an esteemed legal expert(s), and published in a leading student-edited or peer-reviewed law journal, are advanced as an informal means of creating international law.

By producing purportedly independent academic articles, state-academic lawmaking couples the state’s formal lawmaking authority with the value of scholarly neutrality and expertise that is assumed of work that is independently published in a law review, but which also makes an explicit lawmaking claim. In this article, we present a series of case studies that document a form of informal lawmaking that has increasingly been used by the United States, China, and other influential states. The case studies that document this burgeoning lawmaking phenomenon describe how these powerful, but diverse, states use legal scholarship to pursue legal agendas in the most contested fields of international law – the use of force, international humanitarian law, and the law of the sea.

Through the lens of state-academic lawmaking, we offer a critical and socio-legal account of the micro-processes that drive informal lawmaking. These observations inform important insights into broader questions about international law that challenge existing understandings of how the law develops, that evidence a shift from vertical to horizontal lawmaking, that presents a novel conception of the relationship between international law and power, that bears implications for how states from the Global South can amplify their voices within the lawmaking processes from which they have traditionally been excluded, and that complicates understanding about how states on either side of the so-called authoritarian-democratic divide engage with international law.

New Issue: Stanford Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Stanford Journal of International Law (Vol. 58, no. 2, Summer 2022) is out. Contents include:

• Marianna Bicchieri, Women’s Land-Related Human Rights in Mozambique: The Gap Between Commitments de Jure and Local Practice
• Anne Wright Fiero & Elena Beier, New Global Developments in Data Protection and Privacy Regulations: Comparative Analysis of European Union, United States, and Russian Legislation

Klabbers: Virtue in Global Governance: Judgment and Discretion

Jan Klabbers (Univ. of Helsinki - Law) has published Virtue in Global Governance: Judgment and Discretion (Cambridge Univ. Press 2022). Here's the abstract:

Since rules - legal, ethical or otherwise - cannot determine their own application, they require persons of flesh and blood to interpret and apply them in concrete cases. Presidents and prime ministers, judges, prosecutors, mediators, leaders of international organizations, and even religious leaders and public intellectuals make decisions on how best to understand rules and how best to apply them. It stands to reason that their character traits influence the sort of decisions they take. This book provides the first systematic framework for discussing global governance in terms of the virtues, and illustrates it with a number of detailed examples of concrete decision-making in specific situations. Virtue in Global Governance combines insights from law, ethics, and global governance studies in developing a unique approach to global governance and international law.

Dagbanja: The Investment Treaty Regime and Public Interest Regulation in Africa

Dominic Npoanlari Dagbanja (Univ. of Western Australia - Law) has published The Investment Treaty Regime and Public Interest Regulation in Africa (Oxford Univ. Press 2022). Here's the abstract:

A large amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) has been poured into Africa in recent decades and these investments can come with adverse effects on the environment, human rights, and development. At the same time, investment treaties, entered into by African states and aimed at promoting and protecting FDI, seriously limit those states' ability to regulate such activities in the interests of affected communities.

Whilst these tensions have generated global debate, little attention has been paid to the legal status of many of these investment treaties, and whether - given their constitutional and customary international law obligations to act in the public interest - African states truly have the capacity to conclude treaties which contain standards of investment protection expressly preventing or unduly abridging the exercise of their regulatory authority.

Focusing on this question, The Investment Treaty Regime and Public Interest Regulation in Africa presents The Imperatives Theory: a legal, normative, and principled framework for rethinking the legal status, making, and reform of investment treaties and investment dispute settlement in Africa, with relevant and significant implications for the global investment treaty regime.

Bogdanova: Unilateral Sanctions in International Law and the Enforcement of Human Rights: The Impact of the Principle of Common Concern of Humankind

Iryna Bogdanova has published Unilateral Sanctions in International Law and the Enforcement of Human Rights: The Impact of the Principle of Common Concern of Humankind (Brill | Nijhoff 2022). Here's the abstract:

Are unilateral economic sanctions legal under public international law? How do they relate to the existing international legal principles and norms? Can unilateral economic sanctions imposed to redress grave human rights violations be subjected to the same legal contestations as other unilateral sanctions? What potential contribution can the recently formulated doctrine of Common Concern of Humankind make by introducing substantive and procedural prerequisites to legitimise unilateral human rights sanctions? Unilateral Sanctions in International Law and the Enforcement of Human Rights by Iryna Bogdanova addresses these complex questions while taking account of the burgeoning state practice of employing unilateral economic sanctions.

New Issue: Global Trade and Customs Journal

The latest issue of Global Trade and Customs Journal (Vol. 17, no. 9, 2022) is out. Contents include:

• P. Sean Morris, Guest Editorial: Economic Sanctions as the Fifth Front
• Keith A. Preble, ‘If You Can’t Beat ’em, Join ’em’: An Argument for US Support of and Participation in INSTEX
• Patrick C. R. Terry, Secondary Sanctions: Why the US Approach Is Unlawful and the EU’s Response Is Ineffective
• Nathanael Tilhahun, Resisting (US) Sanctions: A Comparison of Special Purpose Vehicles, Blocking Statutes and Countermeasures
• Nikita Sinitsin & Elena Murashko, Is a Special Purpose Vehicle a Way to Circumvent Western Economic Sanctions Imposed on Russia or Only Pitfalls Lie Ahead?
• Jon Truby, Legality of Using Blockchain to Support INSTEX and Other Special Purpose Vehicles to Enable Humanitarian Trade with Sanctioned States
• P. Sean Morris, SWIFT Clouds Between International Legal Storms? Bank Melli, the CJEU and Secondary Sanctions

Mayer: International Law Obligations on Climate Change Mitigation

Benoit Mayer (Chinese Univ. of Hong Kong - Law) has published International Law Obligations on Climate Change Mitigation (Oxford Univ. Press 2022). Here's the abstract:

Recent years have witnessed exciting developments in international negotiations, litigation, and scholarship about climate change, but doctrinal research in the field remains in its infancy. In particular, little is known about how fast states are required to limit and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

The first part of the book identifies the relevant obligations through an analysis of treaties, custom, and other sources of international law. Beyond express quantified commitments contained for instance in nationally determined contributions, the book sheds light on the existence of general obligations of due diligence. While these general obligations are difficult to interpret, they are often more demanding.

The second part explores how these general obligations can be applied objectively, for instance by a court, in concrete cases. Instead of an improbable judicial assessment of a state's requisite level of mitigation action, the book shows the possibility of assessing a state's conduct based on the measures that general mitigation obligations entail. These measures relate to corollary duties of cooperation, vigilance, and consistency.

This book presents a first comprehensive doctrinal study of states' obligations on climate change mitigation. It shows that such obligations arise not only from climate treaties, but also from customary international law, unilateral declarations, and, possibly, human rights treaties. It also explores the interactions between these multiple obligations.

Ascencio-Herrera & Nordquist: The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Part XI Regime and the International Seabed Authority: A Twenty-Five Year Journey

Alfonso Ascencio-Herrera & Myron H. Nordquist have published The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Part XI Regime and the International Seabed Authority: A Twenty-Five Year Journey (Brill | Nijhoff 2022). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Part XI Regime and the International Seabed Authority: A Twenty-Five Year Journey, adopts a unique multidisciplinary approach by focusing on the legal, scientific, and economic perspectives of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the Convention. Central to its theme is raising awareness of the important role of the International Seabed Authority and how much it has achieved over the last 25 years in creating a regime for deep seabed mining. Through the rich and wide range of contributions, readers will be able to draw interesting new insight into the Authority’s evolutionary work as well as its legal framework.

Klein & Parlett: Judging the Law of the Sea

Natalie Klein (Univ. of New South Wales - Law) & Kate Parlett (Twenty Essex) have published Judging the Law of the Sea (Oxford Univ. Press 2022). Here's the abstract:

The dispute settlement regime in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has been in operation for well over twenty years with a steadily increasing number of important cases. This significant body of case law has meaningfully contributed to the development of the so-called 'constitution of the oceans'. Judging the Law of the Sea focusses on how Judges interpret and apply UNCLOS and it explores how these cases are shaping the law of the sea.

The role of the Judge is central to this book's analysis. The authors consider the role of UNCLOS Judges by engaging in an intensive study of the their decisions to date and assessing how those decisions have influenced and will continue to influence the law of the sea in the future. As the case law under UNCLOS is less extensive than some other areas of compulsory jurisdiction like trade and investment, the phenomenon of dispute settlement under UNCLOS is under-studied by comparison. Cases have not only refined the parameters for the exercise of compulsory jurisdiction under the Convention, but also contributed to the interpretation and application of substantive rights and obligations in the law of the sea. In relation to jurisdiction, there is important guidance on what disputes are likely to be subjected to binding third-party dispute resolution, which is a critical consideration for a treaty attracting almost 170 parties.

Judging the Law of the Sea brings together an analysis of all the case law to the present day while acknowledging the complex factors that are inherent to the judicial decision-making process. It also engages with the diverse facets that continue to influence the process: who the Judges are, what they do, and what their roles might or should be. To capture the complex decision matrix, the authors explore the possible application of stakeholder identification theory to explain who and what counts in the decision-making process.

New Issue: Transnational Legal Theory

The latest issue of Transnational Legal Theory (Vol. 13, no. 1, 2022) is out. Contents include:

• Special Issue: Transnational Legal Feminism
• Farnush Ghadery & Sital Kalantry, Introduction – transnational legal feminism
• W.L. Cheah, The potential and limits of peoples’ tribunals as legal actors: revisiting the Tokyo Women’s Tribunal
• Farnush Ghadery, ‘Beyond international human rights law – music and song in contextualised struggles for gender equality’
• Sital Kalantry & Shireen Moti, Transnational legal feminist approaches to the honour crimes provision in the Istanbul Convention
• Josipa Šarić, The #MeToo movement’s manifestation in Croatia: engaging with the meaningfulness of transnational feminist solidarity
• Siobhan L. Yorgun, Western hosts and Southern ghosts: the west-as-host construct in refugee law scholarship and its gendered implications for women in polygynous relationships
• Miriam Bak McKenna & Maj Grasten, Legal borderlands in the global economy of care