New Issue: Leiden Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Leiden Journal of International Law (Vol. 37, no. 3, September 2024) is out. Contents include:

• International Legal Theory
• Laura Mai, Navigating transformations: Climate change and international law
• Keri van Douwen, Seventeen men at Lake Success: In search of the International Law Commission
• Matthias Goldmann, The ambiguity of colonial international law: Three approaches to the Namibian Genocide
• Andreas Kotsakis, Beyond the machinery metaphors: Towards a theory of international organizations as machines
• Juho Aalto, BinaryTech in motion: The sexgender in the European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence
• Thomas Schultz, International law in the minds: On the ideational basis of the making, the changing, and the unmaking of international law
• International Law and Practice
• Sean Molloy, The Committee on the Rights of the Child and Article 12: Applying the Lundy model to treaty body recommendations
• Alison Duxbury, Rewriting the law of international organizations: Whither the Asia Pacific?
• International Criminal Courts and Tribunals
• Kate McInnes, Seeking victim-centred accountability for violence against persons with disabilities at the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry for Ukraine
• Christos Papachristopoulos, On the punitive nature of ICC reparations orders

New Issue: World Trade Review

The latest issue of the World Trade Review (Vol. 23, no. 3, July 2024) is out. Contents include:

• Symposium: Dispute Settlement Inside and Outside of the WTO
• Chad P. Bown & Petros C. Mavroidis, Things Have Changed: Dispute Settlement Inside and Outside of the WTO in 2022
• Mona Pinchis-Paulsen, Kamal Saggi, & Petros C. Mavroidis, The National Security Exception at the WTO: Should It Just Be a Matter of When Members Can Avail of It? What About How?
• Stratos Pahis, Appeals after the Appellate Body
• Neeraj Rajan Sabitha, Adjudicating Sustainability Standards under FTAs: Labouring the Point Home
• Chad P. Bown & Kathleen Claussen, The Rapid Response Labor Mechanism of the US–Mexico–Canada Agreement
• Original Articles
• Yoshiko Naiki, Smart Cities and International Trade Law
• Ana Peres, Transience of (In)Formality: The Role of the Joint Initiatives in Reforming the WTO Negotiations
• Sunayana Sasmal, Dongzhe Zhang, Emily Lydgate, & L. Alan Winters, Exempting Least Developed Countries from Border Carbon Adjustments: Simple Economically but Complex Legally

Call for Papers: Multilateralism and the making of international law: Marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction

A call for papers has been issued for a seminar, supported by the Modern Law Review, on "Multilateralism and the making of international law: Marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction," which will take place December 4, 2024, at the University of Essex. The call is here.

Call for Submissions: Revue québécoise de droit international

The Revue québécoise de droit international has issued a call for submissions. Articles may be submitted in English, French, and Spanish.

Webinar: The Role of Transitional Justice in the Context of Counter-Terrorism: Opportunities and Challenges

On October 29, 2024, the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism will host a webinar on “The Role of Transitional Justice in the Context of Counter-Terrorism: Opportunities and Challenges.” Details are here.

Panel Discussion: Secondary Sanctions and the International Legal Order

On November 5, 2024, the T.M.C. Asser Instituut, in collaboration with the Ghent Rolin-Jaequemyns International Law Institute, Utrecht Centre for Regulation and Enforcement in Europe, the Multidisciplinary International Network on Sanctions, and the Utrecht University Platform on Peace, Security and Human Rights, will host a panel discussion on “Secondary Sanctions and the International Legal Order.” Details are here.

Hoffmann: Between Politics and Justice: International Criminal Law in Hungary

Tamás Hoffmann (Corvinus Univ. of Budapest) has posted Between Politics and Justice: International Criminal Law in Hungary (International Criminal Law Review, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This article gives an overview of the application of international criminal law norms in the Hungarian legal system in the post-World War II. era. It introduces history's first domestic criminal trial against a former head of state for the crime of aggression in front of the Hungarian People's Tribunals; the origins of the widespread adoption of universal jurisdiction by socialist countries; how international law was used to prosecute crimes against humanity committed in the communist era and later instrumentalized to serve as an anti-communist tool; and how and why the first ever trial based on universal jurisdiction in Eastern Europe was conducted in Budapest.

Call for Submissions: Cyber Law Toolkit

A call for submissions has been issued for the 2025 update of the Cyber Law Toolkit, an online resource on international law and cyber operations. The call is here.

Webinar: From Barriers to Abuse: Border Hardening and Torture Allegations

On October 2, 2024, the American Society of International Law Interest Groups on International Law and Social Science and Human Rights and the European Society of International Law Interest Group on Social Science and International Law will host a talk by Beth Simmons (University of Pennsylvania) and Gino Pauselli (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne) on "From Barriers to Abuse: Border Hardening and Torture Allegations." The discussants will be Adam Chilton (Univ. of Chicago) and Ezgi Yildiz (California State Univ., Long Beach). Details are here.

New Issue: International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics

The latest issue of International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics (Vol. 24, nos. 2-3, September 2024) is out. Contents include:

• Kyle S. Herman, Doomed to fail? A call to reform global climate governance and greenhouse gas inventories
• Heiner von Luepke, Karsten Neuhoff, & Catherine Marchewitz, Bridges over troubled waters: Climate clubs, alliances, and partnerships as safeguards for effective international cooperation?
• K. B. Mantlana, M. Ndiitwani, & S. Ndhlev, A perspective on the significance of reporting climate change adaptation information to the united nations framework convention on climate change e
• Ina Tessnow-von Wysocki & Alice B. M. Vadrot, Pathways of scientific input into intergovernmental negotiations: a new agreement on marine biodiversity
• Sachin Kumar Sharma, Paavni Mathur, Ahamed Ashiq Shajahan, Lakshmi Swathi Ganti, & Alisha Goswami, WTO negotiations and repurposing agriculture subsidies for a sustainable future
• Margot Hurlbert & Joyeeta Gupta, The split ladder of policy problems, participation, and politicization: constitutional water change in Ecuador and Chile
• Elif Oral, The environmental rule of law and the protection of human rights defenders: law, society, technology, and markets
• Tom Barry, Arctic wetlands, an evaluation of progress towards implementation of the Ramsar convention on wetlands: 1978–2022
• Pradip Kumar Sarker, Lukas Giessen, Max Göhrs, Sohui Jeon, Minette Nago, Fredy David Polo-Villanueva, & Sarah Lilian Burns, The forest policy outputs of regional regimes: a qualitative comparative analysis on the effects of formalization, hegemony and issue-focus around the globe
• Flavia Fabiano, Yixian Sun: Certifying China: the rise and limits of transnational sustainability governance in emerging economies

New Issue: London Review of International Law

The latest issue of the London Review of International Law (Vol. 12, no. 2, July 2024) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Henrietta Zeffert, ‘Nowhere home’
• Juliana Santos de Carvalho, Doing legality as doing drag: the Yogyakarta Principles and the productive power of performing international law-making
• Céline Hocquet, Tracking the civilising mission’s continuities in externalised migration controls: a critical analysis of EU cooperation with third countries
• Section Three
• Tor Krever, Marina Veličković, Frédéric Mégret, Karen Engle, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Robert Knox, Shahd Hammouri, John Quigley, Nora Jaber, Sophie Rigney, Sara Kendall, Clare da Silva, Christine Schwöbel-Patel, Nahed Samour, Michelle Burgis-Kasthala, Ruti G Teitel, Outi Korhonen, Bill Bowring, Lori A Allen, David Chandler, Vasuki Nesiah, Ilan Pappé, Michael Fakhri, Zinaida Miller, Mark A Drumbl, Hani Sayed, Ntina Tzouvala, Daniel Joyce, Costas Douzinas, Souheir Edelbi, Florian Hoffmann, Zeina Jallad, Arnulf Becker Lorca, Alaa Hajyahia, Reshard L Kolabhai, Teresa Almeida Cravo, Madelaine Chiam, Francisco-José Quintana, Laura Betancur-Restrepo, Fabia Fernandes Carvalho, Lys Kulamadayil, Darryl Li, John Reynolds, Abdelghany Sayed, Luis Eslava, Jessica Whyte, Martin Clark, Richard Clements, Christopher Gevers, Ihab Shalbak, Justina Uriburu, Umut Özsu, Gleider Hernández, & Immi Tallgren, On international law and Gaza: critical reflections

Casey-Maslen: Hybrid Warfare under International Law

Stuart Casey-Maslen (Univ. of Pretoria - Centre for Human Rights) has published Hybrid Warfare under International Law (Hart Pubishing 2024). Here's the abstract:

This book addresses the regulation of hybrid warfare under relevant branches of international law, beginning with the law on inter-state use of force (jus ad bellum).

Firstly, the book assesses the extent to which forms of hybrid warfare comply with or violate international humanitarian law/the law of armed conflict. It then looks at law enforcement action in response to hybrid warfare, both on land and on the high seas, and addresses hybrid warfare from the perspective of international counterterrorism law. It goes on to tackle the constraints applied to hybrid warfare under international human rights law, and looks at how hybrid warfare could be constrained under disarmament law. The final two chapters look at accountability for the conduct of hybrid warfare, concluding with the question: can we move towards a less fragmented set of international legal rules that will govern hybrid warfare in the future?

Conference: The London Conference on International Law 2024

The London Conference on International Law 2024 will take place on October 17-18. Details are here.

Sadat & Huesman: How the Ukraine Situation is Testing the International Criminal Court

Leila N. Sadat (Washington Univ. in St. Louis - Law) & Jack Hueseman have posted How the Ukraine Situation is Testing the International Criminal Court. Here's the abstract:

Following its eight-year occupation of Crimea, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The ensuing war has resulted in a cascade of atrocities committed by Russian armed forces, including widespread and indiscriminate shelling of Ukraine’s cities, attacks on Ukrainian civilians, and the targeting of civilian infrastructure including Ukraine’s electrical grid. This essay addresses the challenges to the pursuit of justice for Ukraine, in particular at the International Criminal Court (ICC). It likens the conduct of the war in Ukraine with the siege and bombardment of Sarajevo in the 1990s, which involved similar kinds of attacks and resulted in successful prosecutions of high-ranking officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The Chapter examines the ICTY prosecutions in the context of the current ICC arrest warrants directed against Russian nationals and explores the legal differences between the ICC and the ICTY that might prove both instructive and challenging to the ICC. The Chapter evaluates other challenges faced by the ICC, including its jurisdiction over Russian nationals, its lack of jurisdiction over the crime of aggression, the ICC’s relative weakness compared with Russia’s global superpower status, and the problem of double standards introduced by the ICC and States in responding to situation in the State of Palestine following the October 7 attacks. It concludes by recognizing that the Ukraine situation represents a watershed moment for international criminal law, offering the ICC the possibility of redemption in the minds of many, particularly European and Western nations, but threatening the support of others in the Global South if the Court does not pursue justice without fear and favor in Ukraine and elsewhere.

New Issue: Archiv des Völkerrechts

The latest issue of Archiv des Völkerrechts (Vol. 62, no. 1, 2024) is out. Contents include:

• Abhandlungen
• Sué González Hauck, Systemerhaltung durch Systematisierung: Lehrbücher, Allgemeine Kurse und Kodifikation im Völkerrecht als politische Projekte
• Sigrid Boysen, Allgemeine Rechtsgrundsätze und die Identität des Völkerrechts
• Isabel Lischewski, Zwischen Funktion, Interaktion und Exklusion - Die Rolle des Verfahrensrechts im Rahmen völkerrechtlicher Verträge
• Hannah Birkenkötter, Das Recht internationaler Organisationen als Rechtsquelle - aber für welche Akteure?
• Jens T. Theilen, Jus cogens als Performativität des Nichts: Eine Kritik der Hierarchisierung im Völkerrecht

New Issue: International Legal Materials

The latest issue of International Legal Materials (Vol. 63, no. 3, June 2024) is out. Contents include:

• Question of the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf Between Nicaragua and Colombia Beyond 200 Nautical Miles from the Nicaraguan Coast (Nicar. v. Colom.) (I.C.J.), with introductory note by Christine Pichel
• Situation in the Republic of the Philippines (Int'l Crim. Ct. App. Chamber), with introductory note by Paul Bradfield
• The African Guiding Principles on the Rights of Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers (Afr. Comm'n H.P.R.), with introductory note by Luwam Dirar, Ian M. Kysel, & Fatma Raach

Hakimi: Exorcising Hobbes's Ghost: A Future for Constitutional and International Law

Monica Hakimi (Columbia Univ. - Law) has posted Exorcising Hobbes's Ghost: A Future for Constitutional and International Law (Michigan Law Review, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Daryl Levinson seeks to exorcise Thomas Hobbes's ghost from U.S. constitutional law. Over three centuries ago, Hobbes defined law as the command of the sovereign, thus denying that law could ever be directed at the sovereign. Levinson argues that the development of international and constitutional law since then proves that Hobbes's conception of law is erroneous. And yet, Levinson says, this conception continues to infect how many analysts approach the craft. His self-described project in Law for Leviathan: Constitutional Law, International Law, and the State is "to bring together international and constitutional law to develop a unified theory of law for states" that is free from Hobbes's errors.

I am fully on board with Levinson's project. I argue in this Essay, however, that Levinson does not cut deeply enough. He himself employs a conception of law that is fundamentally Hobbesian in nature--and marred by many of the same errors. I then offer a conceptual corrective to break completely from Hobbes with three clarifying effects. First, my corrective illuminates how law works unlike Hobbes imagined. Second, it presents a metric for identifying when law is working well or poorly (and for whom). Third, it brings into sharper focus the urgency of finally exorcising Hobbes's ghost. U.S. constitutional and international law are both now being radically transformed, creating a once-in-a generation opportunity to reconstitute their basic foundations. As long as Hobbes's ghost retains its stranglehold on our collective legal and political imagination, we risk not only squandering the opportunity to improve our lot but also stumbling confusedly into a world that is considerably more oppressive than the one that we are leaving behind.

New Issue: Netherlands International Law Review

The latest issue of the Netherlands International Law Review (Vol. 71, no. 2, September 2024) is out. Contents include:

• Machiko Kanetake, Denise Prévost, & Jan Wouters, The Russia-Ukraine War and (Dis)Continuity in International Law
• Andrea Maria Pelliconi, Self-Defence As Remedial Self-Determination: Continuity in Russian Narratives to Justify Imperialism and the Use of Force
• Ioanna Pervou, Forcible Protection of Nationals Abroad: The Doctrine’s Hegemonic Use
• Giulio Bartolini, The Ukrainian–Russian Armed Conflict and the Law of Neutrality: Continuity, Discontinuity, or Irrelevance?
• Marie Terlinden, The Quest for Proportionality in the Changing Landscape of the Unilateral Sanctions of the European Union
• Hojjat Salimi Turkamani, The Loss and Damage Fund: A Solution to Interpretive Conflicts of Responsibility for Climate Change?
• Emma van den Boogaard, Environmental Intervention: An Activist Idea or a Legal Tool? An Analysis of the Possibilities of Environmental Protection in Light of the Principle of Non-Intervention