Call for Papers: International Security in Cyberspace

A call for papers has been issued for a conference on "International Security in Cyberspace," to be held November 30-December 1, 2023, at the Universidad de Granada. The call is here.

Labuda: Countering Imperialism in International Law: Examining the Special Tribunal for Aggression against Ukraine through a Post-Colonial Eastern European Lens

Patryk I. Labuda (Univ. of Zurich - Law) has posted Countering Imperialism in International Law: Examining the Special Tribunal for Aggression against Ukraine through a Post-Colonial Eastern European Lens (Yale Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

While Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has been met with condemnation, the proposed Special Tribunal for Aggression has received mixed reactions. Eastern European states support aggression prosecutions of the Russian leadership, Western powers are cautious, while parts of the non-Western world seem concerned about double standards in the enforcement of international criminal law. By adopting a post-colonial, Eastern European perspective, this article assesses the arguments for and against the establishment of a special tribunal. It foregrounds Ukraine’s history of foreign subjugation to illuminate the counter-hegemonic potential of aggression prosecutions and argues that Russia’s ‘de-Nazification’ rhetoric speaks in favor of a reckoning with Nuremberg’s distorted legacy and neo-imperial phantasies of a ‘Russkiy mir’. The article nuances critiques of selectivity that overlook Ukraine’s liminal place in the global order as a post-colonial state straddling boundaries between North and South, East and West, Europe and Asia. By emphasizing small and weak states’ advocacy for the criminalization of aggression before and after 2022, it suggests that the tribunal may provide inspiration for anti-imperial and counter-hegemonic struggles in other parts of the world, while decolonizing thinking about the Soviet Union’s benevolent role in the Second World War and the Cold War. Against the backdrop of ‘mental maps’ of Eastern Europe and the ‘semi-peripheral’ status of the ‘Global East’ in the global order, the article considers also why Ukraine has embraced international law as an emancipatory tool in its struggle against Russia, and how this relates to Eastern European states’ advocacy of an ‘international’ over a ‘hybrid’ tribunal. In conclusion, Eastern European states are encouraged to embrace the counter-hegemonic aspirations of other weaker states in the global order.

New Issue: Humanity

The latest issue of Humanity (Vol. 14, no. 1, Spring 2023) is out. Contents include:

• Meredith Terretta, Human Rights, Revolutionary Humanitarianism, and African Liberation In 1970: Unsettling Discontinuities in Human Rights History
• Rohit De, The Jurisprudence of Decolonization: The Postcolonial Career of D. N. Pritt and the Labor of Insurgent Lawyering
• Andrew Ivaska, Learning from Dar Es Salaam: Harvard’s “Project Tanganyika” And A Nodal Perspective on Decolonization’s Itineraries
• Joshua Mentanko, The Limits of Pharmaceutical Internationalism: Mexico, the Third World, and The Resource of Medicinal Plants in the 1970s
• Jessica Lynne Pearson, Decolonizing the Sky: Global Air Travel at the End of Empire
• Robert A. Karl, Sovereignty Beyond Decolonization: Post-Imperial British Policing and Colombian Criminal Justice, C. 1960–1975
• Charlotte Kiechel & Zaib un Nisa Aziz, Global History And Decolonization: A Moment Of Possibility, A Call For Integration
• Ntina Tzouvala, The “Unwilling or Unable” Doctrine and the Political Economy of the War on Terror
• Nicole Georges, Force-Feeding and “The Right to Maim”: Hunger Strikes at Guantánamo Bay

New Issue: American Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the American Journal of International Law (Vol. 117, no. 3, July 2023) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Jean Galbraith, Latifa AlMarri, Lisha Bhati, Rheem Brooks, Zachary Green, Margo Hu, & Noor Irshaidat, Poverty Penalties as Human Rights Problems
• Eileen Denza & Lauge Poulsen, Settling Russia's Imperial and Baltic Debts
• Editorial Comments
• Leila Nadya Sadat, In Memoriam: The Late Benjamin B. Ferencz
• Matiangai Sirleaf, Rendering Whiteness Visible
• International Decisions
• Julien Chaisse & Kehinde Folake Olaoye, United States—Origin Marking Requirement, WT/DS597/R
• Faith O. Majekolagbe, Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada v. Entertainment Software Association
• Contemporary Practice of the United States Relating to International Law
• President Biden Issues Conventional Arms Transfer Policy That Emphasizes Human Rights Considerations
• President Biden Issues Policy on Promoting Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence
• The United States Arrests and Charges Eleven in Connection with the Assassination of Haiti's President
• The United States Promotes Individual Criminal Accountability for Aggression and Atrocity Crimes Committed by Russians in Ukraine
• The United States Accuses Russia of Not Complying with New START Treaty and Russia Suspends Its Participation
• The Biden Administration Takes Actions to Restructure Migration to the U.S.-Mexico Border
• Recent Books on International Law
• Olabisi D. Akinkugbe, Race & International Investment Law: On the Possibility of Reform and Non-retrenchment
• Tommaso Soave, reviewing International Law's Invisible Frames: Social Cognition and Knowledge Production in International Legal Processes, edited by Andrea Bianchi and Moshe Hirsch
• Larissa van den Herik, reviewing Preparing for War: The Making of the Geneva Conventions, by Boyd van Dijk

Evans & Ioannides: The International Court of Justice and the Law of the Sea Dispute Settlement System

Malcolm Evans (Univ. of Oxford - Regent's Park College) & Nicholas A. Ioannides (Univ. of Cyprus - Law) have posted The International Court of Justice and the Law of the Sea Dispute Settlement System (in Research Handbook on the International Court of Justice, Achilles Skordas & Lisa Mardikian eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This chapter explores aspects of the contribution of the ICJ to the law of the sea dispute settlement system. It is not possible to do so without setting out, albeit briefly, the nature of the contribution which the ICJ has made to the substantive development of the law of the sea more generally since this, it is suggested, still colours its somewhat proprietorial approach towards it. The bulk of the chapter is, however, devoted to considering the interaction between the ICJ, ITLOS and arbitration through a variety of lenses, both procedural and substantive. There are many other points of intersection between the ITLOS and the ICJ in addition to the substantive provisions of the LOSC, and the ITLOS has relied on the ICJ’s jurisprudence with respect to a broad variety of questions, including the definition of a dispute, exhaustion of local remedies, reparation, use of force, the relation between domestic and international law and much else besides. There will, therefore, be many borrowings and potential tensions. However, there is a need for a subject focus, and that chosen is contemporary challenges posed by the increased interest in delimitation beyond 200 nm and unilateral activities in undelimited maritime areas which have in recent times been considered by the ICJ, by ITLOS and by Arbitral Tribunals, the overall focus being on the role, function and contribution of the ICJ to the overall efficacy of dispute settlement within the law of the sea.

Conference: Alternative Dispute Resolution in International and EU Law - Recent Trends

On November 16, 2023, the University of Ferrara will host the 5th Biennial Conference of the Italian Branch of the International Law Association. The theme is: "Alternative Dispute Resolution in International and EU Law - Recent Trends." Program and registration are here.

Evans & Lewis: Islands, Law and Context: The Treatment of Islands in International Law

Malcolm D. Evans (Univ. of Oxford) & Reece Lewis (Cardiff Univ. - Law) have published Islands, Law and Context: The Treatment of Islands in International Law (Edward Elgar Publishing 2023). This is a volume in the Elgar International Law series. Here's the abstract:

This ground-breaking book challenges legal orthodoxy, presenting an original approach to the treatment of islands in international law. It offers a new perspective on how to define islands in international law, questioning how they differ from other maritime features. It focuses on the contextual factors that bear upon the legal treatment of islands, recognising that, in practice, islands have varied and unequal impacts and arguing that greater focus on context is needed to understand legal outcomes, particularly those concerning maritime boundary delimitation. Addressing the impact of rising sea levels on the interests and rights of islands and the increasing construction of artificial islands, the authors make the case for a major change in approach to the topic.

Jankauskas & Eckhard: The Politics of Evaluation in International Organizations

Vytautas Jankauskas (Zeppelin Univ.) & Steffen Eckhard (Zeppelin Univ.) have published The Politics of Evaluation in International Organizations (Oxford Univ. Press 2023). Here's the abstract:

Evaluation has become a key tool in assessing the performance of international organizations, in fostering learning, and in demonstrating accountability. Within the United Nations (UN) system, thousands of evaluators and consultants produce hundreds of evaluation reports worth millions of dollars every year. But does evaluation really deliver on its promise of objective evidence and functional use?

By unravelling the internal machinery of evaluation systems in international organizations, this book challenges the conventional understanding of evaluation as a value-free activity. Vytautas Jankauskas and Steffen Eckhard show how a seemingly neutral technocratic tool can serve as an instrument for power in global governance; they demonstrate and explain how deeply politics are entrenched in the interests of evaluation stakeholders, in the control and design of IO evaluation systems, and to a lesser extent also in the content of evaluation reports. The analysis draws on 120 research interviews with evaluators, member state representatives, and IO secretariat officials as well as on textual analysis of over 200 evaluation reports. The investigation covers 21 UN system organizations, including detailed case studies of the ILO, IMF, UNDP, UN WOMEN, IOM, UNHCR, FAO, WHO, and UNESCO.

Shedding light on the (in-)effectiveness of evidence-based policymaking, the authors propose possible ways of better reconciling the observed evaluation politics with the need to gather reliable evidence that is used to improve the functioning of the United Nations. The answer to evaluation politics is not to abandon evaluation or isolate it from the stakeholders but to acknowledge surrounding political interests and design evaluation systems accordingly.

Wheeler: Fairness and the Goals of International Criminal Trials: Finding a Balance

Caleb H Wheeler (Cardiff Univ. - Law) has published Fairness and the Goals of International Criminal Trials: Finding a Balance (Routledge 2023). Here's the abstract:

This book presents a ground-breaking, interdisciplinary study into the various goals assigned to international criminal trials. It starts from the proposition that no hierarchy exists amongst the different goals meaning that trials should strive to achieve all of them in equal measure. This is made difficult by the fact that not all of these goals are compatible and the fulfilment of one may lead to others going unmet. Therefore, a balance must be found if the goals of trial are to be achieved at all. The book posits that fairness should serve as the guiding principle when weighing the different trial goals against one another. It is argued that without fairness international and internationalised criminal courts and tribunals lack legitimacy and without legitimacy they lack effectiveness. The book concludes that international criminal trials must adopt procedures that emphasise fairness to all of the parties and trial participants if they wish to accomplish any of the goals set for them. Each chapter is devoted to identifying and explaining a different trial goal, providing analysis of how that particular goal functions in conjunction with the other goals, and discussing the ways in which a fairness-oriented trial model will help achieve those goals. The book provides a dynamic understanding of the different trial goals and the importance of fairness in the trial process by drawing on research from a variety of different legal disciplines while also incorporating scholarship rooted in criminology, political theory, international relations, and psychology.

Wierda: The Local Impact of the International Criminal Court: From Law to Justice

Marieke Wierda has published The Local Impact of the International Criminal Court: From Law to Justice (Cambridge Univ. Press 2023). Here's the abstract:

The International Criminal Court seeks to end impunity for the world's worst crimes, to contribute to their prevention. But what is its impact to date? This book takes an in-depth look at four countries under scrutiny of the ICC: Afghanistan, Colombia, Libya, and Uganda. It puts forward an analytical framework to assess the impact of the ICC on four levels: on the domestic legal systems (systemic effect); on peace negotiations and agreements (transformative effect); on victims (reparative effect); and on the perceptions of affected populations (demonstration effect). It concludes that the ICC is having a normative impact on domestic legal systems and peace agreements, but it has brought little reparative justice for victims, and it does not necessarily correspond with how affected populations view justice priorities. The book concludes that justice for the world's worst crimes has no 'universal formula' that can easily be captured in law by one institution.

Call for Submissions: Arab Yearbook of Public and Private International Law

The Arab Yearbook of Public and Private International Law has issued a call for submissions for its inaugural volume. The call is here.