Lecture: Reisman on "Before Victims Become Victims: Preventing Genocide and Mass Murder"

On January 15, 2008, W. Michael Reisman (Yale Univ. - Law) will give the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center's Klatsky Seminar in Human Rights at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. The topic will be "Before Victims Become Victims: Preventing Genocide and Mass Murder." Here's a précis of the lecture:

One of the world's leading experts in international law, Professor Reisman will criticize the ex-post punishment approach that has been taken toward genocide and mass killing, instead of an ex ante effective policy of prevention. Examining contemporary case studies, including Darfur and Burma, he will discuss how international law and international institutions can be used to identify situations ripe for genocide and to intervene at an early stage before they devolve into mass atrocities.

Anderson: Modern Law of the Sea: Selected Essays

David Anderson (formerly, Judge, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea) has published Modern Law of the Sea: Selected Essays (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2007). Here's the abstract:

These collected essays examine different aspects of the modern law of the sea. They address many key provisions in the United Convention on the Law of the Sea, including its historical development, the substantive rules governing navigation, resources, the regime of the high seas, maritime jurisdiction, the protection of the marine environment and the delimitation of maritime boundaries, as well as the settlement of disputes. The essays also review the Implementation Agreement of 1994 concerning deep seabed mining and the Implementation Agreement of 1995 concerning Straddling and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks. The author presents purely personal views on many negotiations and cases in which he participated. The essays, written between 1988 and 2006, will be of interest to everyone involved in the law of the sea.

New Volume: Asian Yearbook of International Law

The latest volume of the Asian Yearbook of International Law (Vol. 12, 2005-2006) is out. Contents include:

• Mary George, Maritime terrorism and security challenges in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore
• Katak B. Malla, UN Security Council reform and global security
• Jaemin Lee, The United Nations Security Council and the International Court of Justice: Co-operation, co-existence, and co-involvement
• Naazima Kamardeen, The erosion of community rights to intellectual property: An Asian perspective
• Ramses Amer & Nguyen Hong Thao, Vietnam’s border disputes: Legal and conflict management dimensions

Johnston: The Historical Foundations of World Order: The Tower and the Arena

The late Douglas M. Johnston (Univ. of Victoria - Law) has posthumously published The Historical Foundations of World Order: The Tower and the Arena (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2007). Here's the abstract:

In The Historical Foundations of World Order: The Tower and the Arena, Douglas M. Johnston has drawn on a 45 year career as one of the world’s most prolific academics in the development of international law and public policy and 5 years of exhaustive research to produce a comprehensive and highly nuanced examination of the historical precursors, intellectual developments, and philosophical frameworks that have guided the progress of world order through recorded history and across the globe, from pre-classical antiquity to the present day. By illuminating the personalities and identifying the controversies behind the great advancements in international legal thought and weaving this into the context of more conventionally known history, Johnston presents a unique understanding of how peoples and nations have sought regularity, justice and order across the ages. This book will appeal to a wide spectrum of readers, from lawyers interested in the historical background of familiar concepts, to curriculum developers for law schools and history faculties, to general interest readers wanting a wider perspective on the history of civilization.

New Volume: Recueil des Cours

Volume 322 (2006) of the Recueil des Cours, Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2007) is out. Contents include:

• E. Loquin (l'Université de Bourgogne, Dijon), Les règles matérielles internationales
• Yoram Dinstein (Tel Aviv Univ.), The Interaction between Customary International Law and Treaties

New Volume: Israel Yearbook on Human Rights

The latest volume of the Israel Yearbook on Human Rights (Vol. 37, 2007) is out. Contents include:

• Yoram Dinstein, The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg
• Stewart Kaye, Threats From the Global Commons: Problems of Jurisdiction and Enforcement
• Michael N. Schmitt, The United States Supreme Court and Detainees In the War on Terror
• Robert P. Barnidge, Jr., Should National Security Trump Human Rights in the Fight Against Terrorism?
• Gloria Gaggioli & Robert Kolb, A Right to Life in Armed Conflicts? The Contribution of the European Court of Human Rights
• Alberto M. Aronovitz, May Private Claims be Advanced Through the European Court of Human Rights?
• Nicholas Rostow, Gaza, Iraq, Lebanon: Three Occupations under International Law
• Michael H. Hoffman, Can Military Manuals Improve the Law of War?
• Jean-Marie Henckaerts, The ICRC Customary International Humanitarian Law Study - A Rejoinder to Professor Dinstein
• Fania Domb, Judgments of the Supreme Court of Israel Relating to the Administered Territories

Aust: Modern Treaty Law and Practice

Anthony Aust (Univ. of London) has published the second edition of Modern Treaty Law and Practice (Cambridge Univ. Press 2007). Here's the abstract:

On the publication of its first edition, this textbook was welcomed as the definitive study of treaty law written from the viewpoint of an experienced practitioner. As with the first, this edition aims to provide the student and practitioner with a full understanding of the law and updates existing information and refines previous arguments. New to its scope of examination is the study of the use of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) in litigation, the treaty-making capacity of entities such as the Vatican, Taiwan and Palestine, and the effect of hostilities on treaties. Given their increasing importance, there is also a new chapter on international organisations, including an attempt to explain the sometimes baffling roles in treaty-making played by the European Community and European Union. Students and practitioners alike will find this an invaluable guide to this increasingly important subject.

König, et al.: International Law Today

Doris König (Bucerius Law School), Peter-Tobias Stoll (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen - Law), Volker Röben (Swansea Univ. - Law), & Nele Matz-Lück (Max-Planck Institut für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht) have published International Law Today: New Challenges and the Need for Reform? (Springer 2008). Here's the abstract:

This collection of essays is based upon presentations given at a symposium on the occasion of the 65th birthday of Professor Rüdiger Wolfrum in December 2006. The contributions cover a wide range of contemporary issues of international law such as state responsibility, crisis management, unity of law, deep sea genetic resources, liability for environmental damage in Antarctica, human rights and intellectual property, and the protection of minorities. They all strive to contribute to the current state of academic discussion on different aspects of international law and offer valuable approaches to the solution of the relevant problems.

Contents include:

• Tobias Stoll, Responsibility, Sovereignty and Cooperation - Reflections on the “Responsibility to Protect”
• Markus Benzing, Sovereignty and the Responsibility to Protect in International Criminal Law
• Volker Röben, Managing Risks to Global Stability: the UN Security Council’s New-found Role Post Iraq
• Michael Köbele, Comment on the Contribution by Volker Röben
• Nele Matz-Lück, Promoting the Unity of International Law: Standard-Setting by International Tribunals
• Holger Hestermeyer, Where Unity Is at Risk: When International Tribunals Proliferate
• Doris König, Genetic Resources of the Deep Sea - How Can They Be Preserved?
• Silja Vöneky, The Liability Annex to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty
• Karen Kaiser, The Strange Case of Human Rights and Intellectual Property: Is There a Way to Reconcile Dr. Jekyll with Mr. Hyde?
• Rainer Grote, The Struggle for Minority Rights and Human Rights: Current Trends and Challenges
• Nicola Wenzel, Minority Rights as Group-Protective Rights: A Challenge for the International Law of Human Rights

Rau: The Arbitrator and Mandatory Rules of Law

Alan Scott Rau (Univ. of Texas, Austin - Law) has posted The Arbitrator and Mandatory Rules of Law (American Review of International Arbitration, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

An endless literature exhorts us to ask whether international arbitrators have some sort of a duty or obligation to enforce rules of mandatory law. Such an abstract inquiry - untethered from the positive law implications of arbitral failure, or the pragmatic constraints that push individual behavior in one direction or another - seems obviously to elide just about all the interesting questions. Should, it is asked, arbitrators consider themselves as nothing more than the servant of the parties? Do their allegiances lie with the parties that appoint them, or the states that support them? Should they see their role as merely being concerned to keep a deal going without concern for the public interest - or should they perhaps identify themselves instead as statesmanlike jurists whose first dedication is to the law?

I examine in some detail a number of important concrete cases that have raised these questions, and try to understand them through the lens of two fairly straightforward priorities that ought to drive the engine - fidelity to the expectations of the contracting parties, and concern for the enforceability of the resulting award.

It can never, for example, be the case that in any arbitral proceeding party autonomy can be trumped - not, at least, in any interesting sense. (I am necessarily leaving to one side, then, cases where it is sought to use the arbitration mechanism as a tool to facilitate the parties' involvement behavior universally thought to be abhorrent).

Against this backdrop of his role as the parties' agent, our arbitrator is also likely to self-consciously define himself as a positivist who understands rules of law not as the residue of some system or structure to be decoded, but instead as the command of a sovereign. And so he is not encouraged to consider any matters divorced from the consequences of his behavior A vacated or unrecognized award is after all a fiasco, a sign of fecklessness or irresponsibility that hardly enhances market credibility: Precisely who, he will ask, is likely to be looking over his shoulder?

The apparent tension between the two parts of this paper - between the arbitrator's solicitude with respect to the ex ante expectations of the parties, and his attentiveness with respect to the ultimate fate of his award - can readily be overstated. With some common sense and ingenuity, it can be minimized even further.

Cummins: Digest of United States Practice in International Law, 2006

Sally J. Cummins (Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Dep't of State) has published Digest of United States Practice in International Law, 2006 (Oxford Univ. Press 2007). Here's the abstract:

This annual compilation of documents and commentary highlighting significant developments in public and private international law, and is an invaluable resource for practitioners and scholars in the field. Each annual edition compiles excerpts from documents such as treaties, diplomatic notes and correspondence, legal opinion letters, judicial decisons, Senate committee reports and press releases. All of the documents which are excerpted in the Digest are selected by members of the Legal Adviser's Office of the U.S. Department of State, based on their judgments about the significance of the issues, their potential relevance to future situations, and their likely interest to practitioners and scholars. In almost every case, the commentary to each excerpt is accompanied by a citation to the full text.

New Issue: Global Governance

The latest issue of Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Institutions (Vol. 14, no. 1, January-March 2008) is out. Contents include:

• Giovanni Bassu, Law Overruled: Strengthening the Rule of Law in Postconflict States
• Simon Chesterman, Globalization Rules: Accountability, Power, and the Prospects for Global Administrative Law
• Klaus Dingwerth, North-South Parity in Global Governance: The Affirmative Procedures of the Forest Stewardship Council
• Thomas N. Hale, Transparency, Accountability, and Global Governance
• Simon Rushton, The UN Secretary-General and Norm Entrepreneurship: Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Democracy Promotion
• Daniel C. Esty, Review Essay: Climate Change and Global Environmental Governance

Baughen: International Trade and the Protection of the Environment

Simon Baughen (Univ. of Bristol - Law) has published International Trade and the Protection of the Environment (Routledge 2007). Here's the abstract:

Analyzing globalization and the increasing tension it has caused between the goals of free trade and environmental protection, International Trade and the Protection of the Environment provides a comprehensive and detailed legal analysis, both at the national and international level of what looks set to become the new legal order of the twenty-first century.

This book asks the questions does the treatment of ‘measures tantamount to expropriation’ have the capacity to lead to a ‘regulatory chill’ on environmental protection and what are the possibilities for claims before the UK courts that are based on alleged violations of international law?

Symposium: The Future of International Criminal Justice - Evolving Accountability from Nuremburg to the International Criminal Court

The latest issue of the Penn State International Law Review (Vol. 25, no. 4, Spring 2007) contains the proceedings of a symposium on "The Future of International Criminal Justice - Evolving Accountability from Nuremburg to the International Criminal Court." Contents include:

• Symposium: The Future of International Criminal Justice - Evolving Accountability from Nuremburg to the International Criminal Court
• Louis F. Del Duca, Introduction
• Richard Goldstone, Historical Evolution - From Nuremberg to the International Criminal Court
• Herbert Okun, The Role of International Criminal Justice in Peace Negotiations
• Dermot M. Groome, Re-Evaluating the Theoretical Basis and Methodology of International Criminal Trials
• David Crane, Hybrid Tribunals - Internationalized National Prosecutions
• Clint Williamson, The Role of the United States in International Criminal Justice
• Mary Robinson, Keynote Address - Rule of Law and International Human Rights in Challenging Times

Futamura: War Crimes Tribunals and Transitional Justice: The Tokyo Trial and the Nuremburg Legacy

Madoka Futamura has published War Crimes Tribunals and Transitional Justice: The Tokyo Trial and the Nuremburg Legacy (Routledge 2007). Here's the abstract:

Advocates of the ‘Nuremberg legacy’ emphasize the positive impact of the individualization of responsibility and the establishment of an historical record through judicial procedures for ‘war crimes’. This legacy has been cited in the context of the establishment and operation of the UN ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals in the 1990s, as well as for the International Criminal Court.

The problem with this legacy, however, is that it is based solely on the experience of West Germany. Furthermore, the effect of the procedure on post-conflict society has not been empirically examined. This book does this by analyzing the Tokyo Trial, the other International Military Tribunal established after the Second World War, and its impact on post-war Japan. Madoka Futamura examines the short- and long-term impact of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (the Tokyo Trial), on post-war Japan, in order to improve the understanding of and strategy for ongoing international war crimes tribunals.

New Issue: Journal du Droit International

The latest issue of the Journal du Droit International ("Clunet") (Vol. 134, no. 4, Octobre-Novembre-Décembre 2007) is out. Contents include:

• Doctrine
• Cécile Legros, Les conflits de normes juridictionnelles en matière de transports internationaux de marchandises (suite)
• Walid Ben Hamida, Clause de la nation la plus favorisée et mécanismes de règlement des différends: que dit l’histoire?
• Variétés
• Emmanuel Gaillard, Souveraineté et autonomie: réflexions sur les représentations de l’arbitrage international
• Didier Laméthe, Les langues de l’arbitrage international: liberté raisonnée de choix ou contraintes réglementes?

New Issue: Arbitration: The International Journal of Arbitration, Mediation and Dispute Management

The latest issue of Arbitration: The International Journal of Arbitration, Mediation and Dispute Management (Vol. 73, no. 3, August 2007) is out. Contents include:

• David Altaras, Arbitration in England and Wales and the European Convention on Human Rights: should arbitrators be frightened?
• Houston Putnam Lowry, A participant’s view of United Nations Commission on International Trade Law’s Working Party II (Arbitration) Proceedings in January 2006
• Alexander Belohlavek, Arbitration in the Czech Republic
• Thomas Wardyński, The status of arbitration and arbitration law in Poland
• Crenguta Leaua, Arbitration in Romania
• Gerald Zeiler, Treaty v. contract: which panel?
• Alexander Muranov & Demitriy Davydenko, Summary of the law and practice of enforcement of foreign judgments in Russia
• William Wood, Mediation: the next ten years
• Richard Anderson & John Aycock, The introduction of payment and adjudication provisions into the construction laws of the Isle of Man

New Issue: ICC International Court of Arbitration Bulletin

The latest issue of the ICC International Court of Arbitration Bulletin (Vol. 18, no. 1, 2007) is out. Contents include:

• Laurence Kiffer, Amiable composition and ICC Arbitration
• Extracts from ICC arbitral awards relating to amiable composition

New Volume: Finnish Yearbook of International Law

The latest volume of the Finnish Yearbook of International Law (Vol. 16, 2005) is out. Contents include:

• Symposium: The National Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
• Foreword
• Mattias Goldmann, Implementing the Rome Statute in Europe: From Sovereign Distinction to Convergence in International Criminal Law
• Implementation of the Rome Statute in Albania
• Magdalena Forowicz, Implementation of the Rome Statute in Belgium
• Rain Liivoja, René Värk, & Merri Kastemäe, Implementation of the Rome Statute in Estonia
• Jussi Ohisalo, Implementation of the Rome Statute in Finland
• Martin Hess, Nandor Knust, & Christine Schuon, Implementation of the Rome Statute in Germany
• Paola Sacchi & Silvia Borelli, Implementation of the Rome Statute in Italy
• Sergey Vasiliev & Anna Ogodorova, Implementation of the Rome Statute in Russia
• Simon P. Olleson & Matthew R. Brubacher, Implementation of the Rome Statute in the United Kingdom
• Tobias Bräutigam, Comparative Law and the U.S. Supreme Court: Roper v. Simmons and the Quest for Theory
• Linda Johanna Friman, War and Peace in Outer Space: A Review of the Legality of the Weaponization of Outer Space in the Light of the Prohibition on Non-Peaceful Purposes
• Jan Klabbers, Reflections on Soft International Law in a Privatized World
• James O’Connor, U.S. Neoconservatism and the Rule of Radical Occasionalism - Carl Schmitt’s War on Terror?
• Aurel Sari, The Danish Cartoon Row: Re-Drawing the Limits of the Right to Freedom of Expression?

Frederking: The United States and the Security Council: Collective Security Since the Cold War

Brian Frederking (McKendree College - Political Science) has published The United States and the Security Council: Collective Security Since the Cold War (Routledge 2007). Here's the abstract:

This book describes the rules governing international security decision-making and examines the different understandings of collective security in the post-Cold War world.

The post-Cold War world has largely been a struggle over which rules govern global security. Discussions and decisions following the events of 9/11 have highlighted differences and disputes in the United Nations Security Council. Where Russia, China, and France prefer ‘procedural’ collective security, in which all enforcement attempts must be explicitly authorized by the Security Council, the US and Britain prefer ‘substantive’ collective security, in which particular countries can sometimes take it upon themselves to enforce the rules of the global community.

Using a constructivist theory of global security to analyze a series of case studies on Iraq (1990-91); Somalia, Rwanda, and Haiti; Bosnia and Kosovo; Afghanistan and Iraq (2003), the author demonstrates how competing interpretations of collective security recur. Challenging the claim that 9/11 fundamentally changed world politics, Brian Frederking argues that the events exacerbated already existing tensions between the veto powers of the UN Security Council.

Carreau & Juillard: Droit international économique

Dominique Carreau (Université Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne)) & Patrick Juillard (Université Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne)) have published the third edition of Droit international économique (Dalloz 2007). Here's the abstract:

L'internationalisation des économies nationales ne cesse de s'accroître depuis les dernières décennies. Elle n'a cependant pas encore rattrapé le niveau qui fut le sien au XIXe siècle. Le XIXe siècle, en effet, demeure l'âge d'or d'un libéralisme qui trouve son aboutissement dans une division internationale du travail fondée sur la loi de l'avantage comparé. L'actuelle interpénétration des économies, qu'on dénomme, en forçant le trait, " mondialisation ", a été favorisée par la mise en place d'un encadrement conventionnel qu'ont voulu les Etats après la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Cet encadrement, paradoxalement, poursuivait un objectif de libéralisation : les derniers obstacles à la réalisation de cet objectif ont disparu avec le discrédit du modèle de planification centralisée. La création d'un système commercial de portée universelle devenait possible, et le 1er janvier 1995, l'OMC se substituait au GATT. La libéralisation des échanges de biens et de services ne pouvait pas ne pas s'accompagner de la libéralisation des investissements. Cette dernière se manifeste par la prolifération des accords bilatéraux de promotion et de protection, dont le nombre s'élève actuellement à près de 3000. C'est de l'ensemble de ces phénomènes que cet ouvrage s'efforce de rendre un compte aussi exact que possible. Aussi s'attache-t-il à présenter, dans chacun des éléments qui le composent, ce que l'on peut désormais appeler le système économique international. Une place importante est accordée au commerce des biens et services - tant il est vrai que l'échange demeure le moteur de l'économie internationale. Mais l'établissement des personnes et l'investissement des capitaux ne peuvent en être dissociés. Enfin, les mécanismes de financement, public ou privé, du système constituent le facteur commun à tous ces développements. Ce précis s'adresse donc tant aux étudiants de 2e et 3e cycles auxquels la matière est enseignée dans le cadre de leurs cursus respectifs, qu'aux praticiens du droit des affaires internationales.

Wouters & De Meester: The World Trade Organization: A Legal and Institutional Analysis

Jan Wouters (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven - Institute for International Law) & Bart De Meester (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven - Institute for International Law) have published The World Trade Organization: A Legal and Institutional Analysis (Intersentia 2007). Here's the abstract:

The World Trade Organization, set up in 1995, has become a centrepiece of global economic governance in a fragmented international legal and institutional system. The WTO oversees an extensive body of international trade rules. But it has also become a widely contested organization, as its trade rules affect a great variety of rules and policies on environmental protection, public health, technical standards, cultural diversity, financial stability and professional qualifications. Whether it likes it or not, the WTO is put at the centre of global economic governance and no internationally oriented legal practitioner, government official, academic or student can afford to neglect this swiftly developing body of law. This book introduces the institutional and substantive legal aspects of the WTO. It thereby addresses both the vertical interactions of WTO law with domestic legal systems and the horizontal interactions between WTO rules and other areas of international regulation. Starting from the history and theory of international trade law, the book discusses the content and application of the basic principles in the different WTO agreements. Furthermore, it also clarifies the decision-making processes and dispute settlement system of the WTO.

Symposium: Envisioning a More Democratic Global System

The current issue of the Widener Law Review (Vol. 13, no. 2, 2007) includes the proceedings of a symposium on "Envisioning a More Democratic Global System," which took place at the Widener University School of Law in April 2006. Contents include:

• Andrew Strauss, Considering Global Democracy
• Richard Falk, What Comes After Westphalia: The Democratic Challenge
• Heraldo Muñoz, Democracy in the Americas
• Gregory H. Fox, Internationalizing National Politics: Lessons for International Organizations
• Daniele Archibugi, Can Democracy Be Exported?
• Kimon Valaskakis, The Perils of “Dumb” Democracy
• Robert C. Johansen, The E-Parliament: Global Governance to Serve the Human Interest
• Andrew Strauss, On the First Branch of Global Governance
• Chandra Muzaffar, Hegemony, Terrorism, and War—Is Democracy the Antidote?
• Thomas Franck, One Man One Vote or One Man One Goat: Reflections on Democracy in the Global Arena
• Heikki Patomäki, Rethinking Global Parliament: Beyond the Indeterminacy of International Law
• David Kennedy, Assessing the Proposal for a Global Parliament:A Skeptics View
• Upendra Baxi, Towards a General Assembly of Peoples:Notes for Conversation
• Zaid Ibrahim, America and the Future of Global Democracy

Genocide Accountability Act of 2007

On Friday, President Bush signed into law the Genocide Accountability Act of 2007 (text here). As the White House press release notes, the statute "expands criminal liability for participation in acts of genocide committed outside of the United States to persons not covered by current [U.S.] criminal law." Prior to passage of the Act, the ability of the United States to prosecute persons accused of genocide was limited to U.S. nationals or persons who committed genocide on U.S. territory. Now it includes, among other categories of persons, an "alleged offender [who] is brought into, or found in, the United States, even if that conduct occurred outside the United States." Kevin Jon Heller provides commentary at Opinio Juris.

New Issue: World Arbitration and Mediation Review

The latest issue of the World Arbitration and Mediation Review (Vol. 1, no. 5, 2007) is out. Contents include:

• International Arbitration
• Anna Conley, A Comparative Law Analysis of U.S. Judicial Assistance
• Anne-Marie Loong, Steps Toward an International Arbitration Culture? A Dissenting View from the People's Republic of China
• Jennifer Anglim Kreder, A Nazi-Looted Art Tribunal

Wendel: State Responsibility for Interferences with the Freedom of Navigation in Public International Law

Philipp Wendel has published State Responsibility for Interferences with the Freedom of Navigation in Public International Law (Springer 2007). Here's the abstract:

A multitude of conventions covering the law of the sea contain provisions on compensation for wrongful interferences with navigation. Even though interferences by warships and coast guard vessels appear to be more frequent due to a perceived increased risk of international crimes at sea, the compensation provisions have hardly been applied.

This book analyzes all relevant compensation provisions and compares them to the general law of state responsibility. The author discusses such issues as the responsibility of international organizations, liability for lawful conduct, and several and joint liability in public international law.