Perrone: The International Trade Order

Nicolás M. Perrone (Universidad de Valparaíso - Law) has posted The International Trade Order (in The Oxford Handbook of International Law and Development, Luis Eslava, Ruth M Buchanan, & Sundhya Pahuja eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

The importance of trade for international law and development discussions is hardly surprising; international trade is consistently represented as an effective strategy for development. However, assuming that trade and law can contribute to the Global South’s development requires accepting that they can — and may well have — contribute to the opposite: underdevelopment. This chapter argues that the most important laws for the capitalist industrialization of Western countries were not those of private property, contracts, or free trade but those related to colonial long-distance trade. A central claim is that the international trade regime that emerged from Western industrialization misses a vocabulary to modify or change the international division of labour. In other words, countries may or may not succeed in developing economically, but international trade law does little to help them — when it is not an obstacle.

Conference: Towards a multi-dimensional enhancement of a sustainable business environment in Asia

On July 8, 2023, the Japan Chapter of the Asian Society of International Law will hold its 14th Annual Conference at Yokohama National University. The theme is: "Towards a multi-dimensional enhancement of a sustainable business environment in Asia." Details are here.

Labuda: International Criminal Tribunals and Domestic Accountability: In the Court's Shadow

Patryk I. Labuda (Univ. of Zurich) has published International Criminal Tribunals and Domestic Accountability: In the Court's Shadow (Oxford Univ. Press 2023). Here's the abstract:

In the 1990s, the promise of justice for atrocity crimes was associated with the revival of international criminal tribunals (ICTs). More recently, however, there has been a renewed emphasis on domestic accountability for international crimes across the globe. In identifying a 'complementarity turn', a paradigm shift toward domestic accountability in the field of international criminal justice, this book investigates how the shadow of international criminal tribunals influences the treatment of serious crimes at the national level.

Drawing on research and interviews in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sierra Leone, this book develops a tripartite framework to analyse how states and tribunals work with, despite, or against one another in the fight against impunity. While international prosecutors and judges use the principle of complementarity to foster cooperation and decrease tension with government actors, Patryk I. Labuda argues that too much deference by ICTs toward states reduces the likelihood of accountability and may enable national elites to consolidate authoritarian power.

By interrogating how international accountability stakeholders relate to their domestic counterparts, International Criminal Tribunals and Domestic Accountability advocates improvements to ICTs' institutional design and more dynamic interactions with states to strengthen the enforcement of international criminal law.