New Issue: Nordic Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Nordic Journal of International Law (Vol. 93, no. 2, 2024) is out. Contents include:

• Mark Klamberg, Magnus Lundgren, Karin Sundström, & Per Ahlin, Tempering the Security Council’s Expanded Perception of Threats to the Peace
• Christian Schaller, Russia’s Mapping of Critical Infrastructure in the North and Baltic Seas – International Law as an Impediment to Countering the Threat of Strategic Sabotage?
• Monika Polzin, The Global Illiberal Dawn: Toward a Definition of ‘Authoritarian International Law Norms’

Call for Papers: Legal entanglements between state and capital in a warming world

A call for papers has been issued for the 2024 Australian Progressive Legal Studies Workshop, to take place November 28–29, 2024, in nipaluna/Hobart. The theme is: "Legal entanglements between state and capital in a warming world." The call is here.

New Issue: La Comunità Internazionale

The latest issue of La Comunità Internazionale (Vol. 79, no. 2, 2024) is out. Contents include:

• Articoli e Saggi
• Salvatore Zappalà, Reazioni all’esercizio del potere di veto: recenti tendenze nei rapporti tra Consiglio di sicurezza e Assemblea generale delle Nazioni Unite
• Víctor Luis Gutiérrez Castillo, An Analytical Approach to the Provisional Application of Treaties in the Light of the Guidelines of the International Law Commission
• Stelio Campanale, La delimitazione degli spazi marini nel Mediterraneo orientale: il diritto del mare in un contesto politico complesso
• Luigi Sammartino, Le controsanzioni nel diritto internazionale tra autorità normativa e percezione di legittimità
• Osservatorio Diritti Umani
• Francesco Seatzu, Liberté religieuse et non-discrimination fondée sur l’orientation sexuelle: comme concilier l’inconciliable
• Pierluca Baldassarre Pasqualicchio, La disconnessione digitale quale diritto fondamentale dell’individuo
• Osservatorio Europeo
• Francesco Emanuele Grisostolo, Un “bilancio” di tre anni di applicazione del regolamento di condizionalità per la protezione del bilancio dell’Unione da violazioni dello Stato di diritto

Call for Papers: Roundtable in International Business Law

The Dennis J. Block Center for the Study of International Business Law at Brooklyn Law School has issued a call for papers for a Roundtable in International Business Law, to take place September 27, 2024. The call is here.

Kadlecová: Cyber Sovereignty: The Future of Governance in Cyberspace

Lucie Kadlecová (Charles Univ. - Faculty of Social Sciences) has published Cyber Sovereignty: The Future of Governance in Cyberspace (Stanford Univ. Press 2024). Here's the abstract:

Governments across the globe find themselves in an exploratory phase as they probe the limits of their sovereignty in the cyber domain. Cyberspace is a singular environment that is forcing states to adjust their behavior to fit a new arena beyond the four traditional domains (air, sea, space, and land) to which the classic understanding of state sovereignty applies. According to Lucie Kadlecová, governments must implement a more adaptive approach to keep up with rapid developments and innovations in cyberspace in order to truly retain their sovereignty. This requires understanding the concept of sovereignty in a more creative and flexible manner.

Kadlecová argues that the existence of sovereignty in cyberspace is the latest remarkable stage in the evolution of this concept. Through a close study of the most advanced transatlantic cases of state sovereignty in cyberspace—the Netherlands, the US, Estonia, and Turkey—Cyber Sovereignty reveals how states have pursued new methods and tactics to fuel the distribution of authority and control in the cyber field, imaginatively combining modern technologies with legal frameworks. In times of booming competition over cyber governance between democracies and authoritarian regimes worldwide, cyber sovereignty is a major topic of interest, and concern, for the international community.

Call for Papers: South Asia International Economic Law Network Fourth Biennial Conference

A call for papers has been issued for the South Asia International Economic Law Network's Fourth Biennial Conference, to take place December 16-18, 2024, in Colombo. The theme is: "Local Approaches to International Economic Law." The call is here.

Workshop: Double Standards and International Law

On July 15-16, 2024, the Berlin Potsdam Research Group “The International Rule of Law – Rise or Decline?” and Harvard Law School’s Program on International Law and Armed Conflict will host a workshop on “Double Standards and International Law,” at Freie Universität Berlin. The program is here.

Contesse: Chagos and The Intelligence of a Future Day

Jorge Contesse (Rutgers Univ. - Law) has posted Chagos and The Intelligence of a Future Day (Temple International & Comparative Law Journal, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

In The Last Colony, Philippe Sands brings complex issues of international relations, politics, and diplomacy close to readers, turning arid matters of legal procedure into a gripping story of human resilience, colonialism, and the pursuit of justice. At a time when trust in international law is shaky, when the norms and principles of international peace and security are seemingly impotent to constrain aggression, reminding us of a “lawless world,” The Last Colony is a book of hope. In this essay, I focus on three topics. First, I explore the role of the International Court of Justice as a forum for human rights adjudication. Second, I discuss the changing nature of advisory jurisdiction as a mechanism to rule on disputes, and not merely to advise on legal questions. Finally, I inquire about the potential change of the international legal order, as a space where small states may bring larger states, even former empires, to account for their actions. These three questions bring to the surface what I see as the major theme in The Last Colony, namely, the ways in which international lawyers participate in a conversation that seeks to remedy unjust treatment. This conversation can take decades to take form but moves forward in pursuit of the law’s goal to serve those who are wronged. In the words of Charles Evans Hughes, which served as inspiration to Judge Philip Jessup’s dissent in the ICJ’s South West Africa case—a central part of Sands’ book—this conversation places trust in “the intelligence of a future day.”

Jeutner: The Function of Legal Ritual in the Peace Palace

Valentin Jeutner (Lund Univ. - Law) has posted The Function of Legal Ritual in the Peace Palace (Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

The article argues that oral proceedings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) can be understood as a particular type of legal ritual. Following an introduction, Section 2 provides an account of the oral proceedings before the ICJ. With reference to Catherine Bell’s six characteristics of ritual-like practices, Section 3 shows that the ICJ’s oral proceedings are formal and traditional, relatively static and rule-governed, employ sacral symbolism, and resemble a performance. Section 4 considers the function and meaning of the legal ritual of oral proceedings before the ICJ. It argues that the ICJ’s legal ritual creates a sense of community among the international legal order’s different stakeholders and establishes the legitimacy of this community and the values it represents. The article concludes by noting that the ICJ’s legal ritual is one of the court’s most important means of enforcing the terms of the international legal order.

New Issue: London Review of International Law

The latest issue of the London Review of International Law (Vol. 12, no. 1, March 2024) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• José Duke Bagulaya, The psychiatrisation of international law in James Lorimer’s The Institutes
• Ahmed Memon, ‘English in taste, Indian in blood’: caste hegemony in the making of British international legal thought
• Walter Rech, Legal expertise and military strategy: Christine de Pizan on the laws of war
• William Hamilton Byrne, Is critique part of the practice of international law?
• Sean Molloy, The Universal Periodic Review and peace agreement implementation: conceptualising connections, challenges, and ways forward
• Section Three
• Barry Hill, Black Fire Burning With A Dark Gemlike Brilliance; White Rose (contd)