Chaisse & Stefan: Advancing the Method and Practice of Transnational Law: Building Bridges Across Disciplines

Julien Chaisse (City Univ. of Hong Kong - Law) & Oana Stefan (King's College London - Law) have published Advancing the Method and Practice of Transnational Law: Building Bridges Across Disciplines (Hart Publishing 2023). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

This book adopts a transnational methodology to reflect on the legalisation of international economic relations. A Liber Amicorum for Professor Francis Snyder, it outlines the ways in which legal scholarship has taken his legacy further in relation to the concept of transnational law, the 'law in context' method, and the evolution of sustainability law. The lens is both theoretical and practical, delving into international investment law, financial/monetary law, free trade agreements, indigenous rights, and food law, and covering case studies from EU law, WTO law, American law, Chinese law, and Indonesian law.

The chapters explore how Snyder's ideas have advanced legal research and determined change in regulation, impacting trade relationships worldwide. Part I of the book gives an overview of the actors, the norms, and the processes of transnational economic law, discussing sites of governance, legal pluralism, and soft law. Part II takes stock of the 'law in context' research method, looking not only at the way in which it can be refined and used by academics, but also at the practical implications of such a method to improve regulatory settings and promote social and policy goals (including the emerging generation of FTAs, such as TPP, TTIP, and RCEP). Part III focuses on sustainability law, assessing Francis Snyder's contribution to systemic changes and reforms in China and the Asia Pacific region.

New Issue: Chicago Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Chicago Journal of International Law (Vol. 24, no. 1, Summer 2023) is out. Contents include:

• Evelyn Aswad, Propaganda for War & International Human Rights Standards
• Pegah Banihashemi, International Law and the Right to Global Internet Access: Exploring Internet Access as a Human Right Through the Lens of Iran’s Women-Life-Freedom Movement
• Luís Roberto Barrosoa & Luna van Brussel Barroso, Democracy, Social Media, and Freedom of Expression: Hate, Lies, and the Search for the Possible Truth
• Edward L. Carter, The Future of International Law Freedom of Journalism: A Transitional Justice Framework
• Emilio Peluso Neder Meyer & Fabrício Bertini Pasquot Polido, International Law, Constitutions, and Electoral Content Moderation: Overcoming Supranational Failures Through Domestic Solutions
• Dawn Carla Nunziato, The Digital Services Act and the Brussels Effect on Platform Content Moderation
• Ioanna Tourkochoriti, The Digital Services Act and the EU as the Global Regulator of the Internet
• Arthur Traldi, The Recent Free Expression Jurisprudence of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
• Kyu Ho Youm & Ahran Parkb, The Right to Be Forgotten: Google Spain as a Benchmark for Free Speech versus Privacy?

New Issue: Journal of World Investment & Trade

The latest issue of the Journal of World Investment & Trade (Vol. 24, nos. 4-5, 2023) is out. Contents include:

• Special Issue: Reform and Retrenchment in International Investment Law
• James Thuo Gathii & Harrison Otieno Mbori, Reform and Retrenchment in International Investment Law: Introduction to a Special Issue
• J. Benton Heath, The Anti-Reformist Stance in Investment Law
• Dominic Npoanlari Dagbanja, Constitutional Acquisition and Regulation of Property, Investment Treaties and Expropriation in Africa
• Harrison Otieno Mbori, Benign and Radical Africanization in International Investment Law and Investor-State Dispute Settlement in Africa
• Sannoy Das, Fine Balance: Empire, Neoliberalism, and the Fair and Equitable Treatment Standard in International Investment Law
• Ksenia Polonskaya, Indigenous Peoples in International Investment Law: Time for a New Dispute Resolution Procedure
• Caroline Lichuma, International Investment Law Reforms and the Draft Business and Human Rights Treaty: The More Things Change, the More They Remain the Same?
• Nitish Monebhurrun, Incorporating the Social License to Operate into International Investment Law: Taking Stock from the Brazilian Experience
• Lorenzo Cotula, International Investment Law and Climate Change: Reframing the ISDS Reform Agenda
• Ibironke T. Odumosu-Ayanu, Local Communities, Indigenous Peoples, and Reform/Redefinition of International Investment Law

New Issue: International Journal of Human Rights

The latest issue of the International Journal of Human Rights (Vol. 27, no. 8, 2023) is out. Contents include:

• Kasey McCall-Smith, Entrenching children's participation through UNCRC Incorporation in Scotland
• James L. Nuzzo, ‘Male circumcision’ and ‘female genital mutilation’: why parents choose the procedures and the case for gender bias in medical nomenclature
• Jorge Salinas Mengual, Should a register be kept of conscientious objectors to euthanasia in Spain?
• Maria A. Sanchez, Admitting (to) the past: transitional justice in the European and Inter-American courts of human rights
• Rebecka Villanueva Ulfgard, López Obrador’s hyper-presidentialism: populism and autocratic legalism defying the Supreme Court and the National Electoral Institute
• Wanli Wang, From liberal to conservative? The role of Hong Kong Court of final appeal in safeguarding fundamental rights under China's One Country Two Systems policy

Pijpers: Influence Operations in Cyberspace and the Applicability of International Law

Peter B.M.J. Pijpers (Netherlands Defence Academy) has published Influence Operations in Cyberspace and the Applicability of International Law (Edward Elgar Publishing 2023). Here's the abstract:

This enlightening book examines the use of online influence operations by foreign actors, and the extent to which these violate international law. It looks at key recent examples such as the 2016 UK EU Referendum, the 2016 American Presidential Election, and the 2017 French Presidential Election.

Applying existing international law to the new cyberspace domain fuels the discourse on how states interpret international law, which increases legal ambiguity. This book contributes to this discourse by analysing the core elements of interventions and sovereignty, including territorial integrity and political independence, and the extent to which these elements were violated in the three central case studies. It concludes by reflecting on the future of influence operations in cyberspace and providing instruments and tools to better define when and how international law has been violated.

Baistrocchi: Global Tax Hubs

Eduardo A. Baistrocchi (London School of Economics - Law) has posted Global Tax Hubs (Florida Tax Review, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Global tax hubs are the black boxes of the international tax regime (ITR). The driving forces of their strategic interaction with other building blocks of the ITR remain undertheorized. This paper offers the first theory of tax hubs as a two-sided global marketplace. It argues that tax hubs are the matchmakers of the ITR. Indeed, international investors, tax hubs and endpoint jurisdictions play different yet interrelated roles within the same ecosystem, i.e., the two-sided platform. The theory is positive rather than normative. It aims to explain how the creeping marketization of the ITR, as part of international law, has been frequently instrumented worldwide over the last century. The paper provides a stress test to the theory’s explanatory power and its limitations. The conceptual framework of this piece rests on antitrust law and economic concepts.

New Issue: Questions of International Law

The latest issue of Questions of International Law / Questioni di Diritto Internazionale (no. 101, 2023) is out. Contents include:

• Is democracy a challenge to inter-legality?
• Introduced by Antonello Tancredi
• Gianluigi Palombella, The quest for equilibrium: Democracy, International Law and Metamodernism
• Jan Klabbers, Inter-legality and the challenge of democracy

New Issue: Journal of International Criminal Justice

The latest issue of the Journal of International Criminal Justice (Vol. 21, no. 2, May 2023) is out. Contents include:

• Current Events
• Denys Azarov, Dmytro Koval, Gaiane Nuridzhanian, & Volodymyr Venher, Understanding Russia’s Actions in Ukraine as the Crime of Genocide
• Articles
• Neil Boister, Conscription to Fight a War of Aggression under International Criminal Law
• Jeremy Pizzi, Profiteers of Misery: Aggression, the Leadership Clause, and Private Military and Security Companies
• Cases Before International Courts and Tribunals
• Jamie Fellows & Mark David Chong, ‘He Offered a Prayer for the Flier He Had Just Killed’: Superior Orders at the US Army Trials in Manila, 1945–1947
• Diletta Marchesi, Criminalizing Acts of Rebel Governance as War Crimes: An Assessment Focused on the War Crime of Sentencing or Execution without Due Process
• Ciara Laverty, What is Sexual about Sexual Violence? Narratives from International Criminal Law
• National Prosecution of International Crimes: Legislation and Cases
• Gerhard Kemp & Windell Nortje, Prosecuting the Crime against Humanity of Apartheid: The Historic First Indictment in South Africa and the Application of Customary International Law

Ishii: Japanese Legal Challenges in Rescuing Nationals Abroad

Yurika Ishii (National Defense Academy of Japan) has posted Japanese Legal Challenges in Rescuing Nationals Abroad (International Law Studies, 2023). Here's the abstract:

This article explains Japanese legal challenges in rescuing its nationals abroad and analyzes the mechanisms that limit Japanese Self-Defense Force responses to potential crises. The scope of analysis encompasses Japan’s national security laws, defense policies, and engagement in bilateral and multilateral cooperation. It provides noncombatant evacuation operation case studies to explore collaboration between the rescuing State, the host State, and third parties.

The article outlines Japanese laws and policies regarding the Self-Defense Force’s mandate to rescue Japanese nationals abroad. It focuses on details of current legislation that provide authority and limitations for the operation. It will also track the historical developments regarding this policy in Japan. It focuses on key players in the East Asian region in this context—Japan and the United States—to discuss the legal and operational challenges and the way forward to build international cooperation mechanisms. The article also discusses hypothetical scenarios involving crises in the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait.

Forji Amin: International Law and the History of Resource Extraction in Africa

George Forji Amin (Univ. of Bolton - Law) has published International Law and the History of Resource Extraction in Africa (Routledge 2023). Here's the abstract:

This book investigates the historical economic and legal regimes that legitimated the resource extraction and exploitation of Africa between the 15th and 19th centuries and led to the continent’s trajectory of underdevelopment in the world system.

The book interrogates the economic and legal structures that supported European intervention in Africa. It explores the trade and private property rights which were to shape the economic future of the continent, most notably the trade in human beings as legitimate private property by European powers. The book then looks at the techniques used to submerge African sovereignty under European sovereignty during the scramble for territorial control in the 19th century, concluding with the validation of occupation in international law following the 1884-85 Berlin Conference. The book argues that the doctrines of trade and property rights sanctioned by international law led to a trend of African dispossession that set the continent on a path to underdevelopment, with long-reaching consequences.

Lecture: Orakhelashvili on "From 'dualism' towards isolationism? Or why the Government keeps losing cases"

On November 21, 2023, Alexander Orakhelashvili (Univ. of Birmingham - Law) will deliver his inaugural lecture. The topic is: "From 'dualism' towards isolationism? Or why the Government keeps losing cases." Details are here.

Aust & Nijman: The Urbanisation of International Law – A Post-Cold War History

Helmut Aust (Freie Universität Berlin - Law) & Janne Elisabeth Nijman (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies; Univ. of Amsterdam - Law) have posted The Urbanisation of International Law – A Post-Cold War History (in Cambridge History of International Law, Volume XII: International Law since the Cold War, Eyal Benvenisti & Dino Kritsiotis eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This is a chapter written for the Post-Cold War volume of the Cambridge History of International Law Series. Interest in cities as part of international law’s historiography is a sign of the times, we argue. It is a next step in the ‘turn to the city’ that unfolded in international legal scholarship in the post-Cold War era. While generally invisible in traditional international legal scholarship, the city has moved into the periphery of the discipline’s historiography and is now recognised as a relevant entry point of international legal histories, for example, to claim the relation between imperialism and international law or to approach international law as a global development project.

We will show how the emergence of the ‘turn to the city’ in international law is met by a ‘turn to international institutions and law’ by cities. These processes are mutually constitutive, non-linear, and rather complex. They unfold in both international life and international law scholarship and they are very much post-Cold War phenomena. As such, they warrant contextualisation and discussion in this volume. Building on work by Curtis and Ikenberry, we argue that the global city is the historically specific urban form produced by the specific political configuration of the post-Cold War liberal world order, and also note that the rapidly changing geo-political and geo-economic situation we are witnessing at the time of writing in late 2022 may affect the future of (global) cities profoundly.

The chapter first examines and explains the ascent of cities in both international law practice and scholarship. Subsequently, we discuss some implications for international law and institutions as well as for international legal scholarship, and for international legal historiography in particular.

It shows how the interest in the city has caused a certain ‘urban consciousness’ in international law and governance, and how the normative developments testify to a broadening of the categories of international law and to an entanglement of the various normative webs from the local to the global. Looking back at the period since the end of the Cold War, we can hence speak of an urbanisation of international law – a development which has not radically transformed the international legal system, but has enriched it with another level at which important developments in practice as well as in the accompanying scholarship can be observed.

International Organizations Law Review 20th Anniversary Conference

The International Organizations Law Review will hold its twentieth anniversary conference on November 17, 2023, at the University of Vienna. The topic is: "The Love for International Organizations." Details are here.

Call for Proposals: The Hague Academy: A Centenary of Scholarship

The European Journal of International Law has issued a call for proposals on the topic "The Hague Academy: A Centenary of Scholarship." The call is here.

Conference: Western Sahara in the International Legal Order

The Second Conference of the Western Sahara Research Group will take place October 16, 2023, at the University of Bologna. The theme is: "Western Sahara in the International Legal Order." The program is here here.

Conference: War and Peace in International Law – The Fate of Human Rights

On September 29-30, 2023, the Department of International Law at the Faculty of Public Governance and International Studies at Ludovika – University of Public Service will host a conference on "War and Peace in International Law – The Fate of Human Rights," in Budapest. Details are here.

Conference: Chemical and Biological Weapons: The Interconnectivity of Norms

On October 23-24, 2023, the Faculty of Law of the Justus-Liebig University Gieβen will host a conference on "Chemical and Biological Weapons: The Interconnectivity of Norms." Details are here.

Oksamytna: Advocacy and Change in International Organizations: Communication, Protection, and Reconstruction in UN Peacekeeping

Kseniya Oksamytna (City, Univ. of London - International Politics) has published Advocacy and Change in International Organizations: Communication, Protection, and Reconstruction in UN Peacekeeping (Oxford Univ. Press 2023). Here's the abstract:

How do international organizations change? Many organizations expand into new areas or abandon programmes of work. Advocacy and Change in International Organizations argues that they do so not only at the collective direction of member states. Advocacy is a crucial but overlooked source of change in international organizations. Different actors can advocate for change: national diplomats, international bureaucrats, external experts, or civil society activists. They can use one of three advocacy strategies: social pressure, persuasion, and 'authority talk'. The success of each strategy depends on the presence of favourable conditions related to characteristics of advocates, targets, issues, and context. Institutionalization of new issues in international organizations as a multi-stage process, often accompanied by contestation.

This book demonstrates how the advocacy-focused framework explains the origins of three workstreams of contemporary UN peacekeeping operations: communication, protection, and reconstruction. The issue of strategic communications was promoted by UN officials through the strategy of persuasion. Protection of civilians emerged due to a partially successful social influence campaign by a coalition of elected Security Council members and a subsequent (and successful) persuasion efforts by Canada. Quick impact projects entered peacekeepers' practice as the result of 'authority talk' by an expert panel. The three issues illustrate the diversity of pathways to change in international organizations, representing the top-down, bottom-up, and outside-in pathways. Moreover, they have achieved different degrees of institutionalization in UN's policies, structures, and frameworks: protection of civilians is the most institutionalized, as evidenced by measures to hold peacekeepers accountable for non-implementation, while quick impact projects are the least institutionalized.

Galbraith: Derivative Foreign Relations Law

Jean Galbraith (Univ. of Pennsylvania - Law) has posted Derivative Foreign Relations Law (George Washington Law Review, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

We treat U.S. foreign relations law as a discrete body of law—and it is. But it is not independent. To the contrary, it relies on the same institutional actors that govern more generally: the President, Congress, the federal judiciary, administrative agencies, and sub-national governments. And far from being static, these institutions change radically over time in how they are constituted, in what internal rules they apply, and in what legal outputs they produce. The Trump Administration is a recent and painful example whose legacy continues to loom large, including on the Supreme Court. This symposium contribution considers what these broader institutional changes mean for foreign relations law.