On October 29-30, 2020, the American Society of International Law will hold its Midyear Meeting in a fully virtual format. Registration is now open. The program is here.
Saturday, September 5, 2020
Conference: 2020 ASIL Midyear Meeting
On October 29-30, 2020, the American Society of International Law will hold its Midyear Meeting in a fully virtual format. Registration is now open. The program is here.
Celermajer & Lefebvre: The Subject of Human Rights
The Subject of Human Rights is the first book to systematically address the "human" part of "human rights." Drawing on the finest thinking in political theory, cultural studies, history, law, anthropology, and literary studies, this volume examines how human rights—as discourse, law, and practice—shape how we understand humanity and human beings. It asks how the humanness that the human rights idea seeks to protect and promote is experienced.
The essays in this volume consider how human rights norms and practices affect the way we relate to ourselves, to other people, and to the nonhuman world. They investigate what kinds of institutions and actors are subjected to human rights and are charged with respecting their demands and realizing their aspirations. And they explore how human rights shape and even create the very subjects they seek to protect. Through critical reflection on these issues, The Subject of Human Rights suggests ways in which we might reimagine the relationship between human rights and subjectivity with a view to benefiting human rights and subjects alike.
Friday, September 4, 2020
Cormier: The Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over Nationals of Non-States Parties
This book provides a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the ICC's jurisdiction over nationals of non-States Parties. It is within the context of developments at the Court in recent years that this work addresses the overarching question: On what legal basis is the ICC authorised to exercise jurisdiction over nationals of non-States Parties? Engaging with ICC jurisprudence and building upon arguments developed in legal scholarship, this book explores the theory of delegated jurisdiction and critically examines the idea that the Court might alternatively be exercising jurisdiction inherent to the international community. It argues that delegation of territorial jurisdiction and implied consent by virtue of UN membership provide a legal basis to allow the ICC to exercise jurisdiction over nationals of non-States Parties in almost all situations envisaged by the Rome Statute.
New Issue: Review of International Studies
- Catherine Owen, Participatory authoritarianism: From bureaucratic transformation to civic participation in Russia and China
- Merisa S. Thompson, Alasdair Cochrane, & Justa Hopma, Democratising food: The case for a deliberative approach
- Yong Wook Lee, Performing civilisational narratives in East Asia: Asian values, multiple modernities, and the politics of economic development
- Sarah von Billerbeck, No action without talk? UN peacekeeping, discourse, and institutional self-legitimation
- Catherine Van Offelen & M. L. R. Smith, Agonising choices: Tragedy and International Relations – a tragic vision of humanitarian intervention in the Bosnian War
- Patrick Quinton-Brown, The South, the West, and the meanings of humanitarian intervention in history
- Alexander Beresford & Daniel Wand, Understanding bricolage in norm development: South Africa, the International Criminal Court, and the contested politics of transitional justice
- Tracy Adams & Zohar Kampf, ‘Solemn and just demands’: Seeking apologies in the international arena
Thursday, September 3, 2020
New Issue: Humanity
The latest issue of Humanity (Vol. 11, no. 2, Summer 2020) is out. Contents include:- Leslie Barnes, Live-Tweeting And Distant Suffering: Nicholas Kristof As Global Savior
- Kavita Ramakrishnan & Ludĕk Stavinoha, Beyond Humanitarian Logics: Volunteer-Refugee Encounters In Chios And Paris
- Dossier: Moral Economy
- Jeremy Adelman, Introduction: The Moral Economy, The Careers Of A Concept
- Francesca Trivellato, The Moral Economies Of Early Modern Europe
- Tim Rogan, R. H. Tawney
- Marion Fourcade, The Imperfect Promise Of The Gift
- Didier Fassin, Are The Two Approaches To Moral Economy Irreconcilable?
- Emilio Kourì, On The Mexican Ejido
- Margaret R. Somers, The Moral Economy Of The Capitalist Crowd: Utopianism, The Reality Of Society, And The Market As A Morally Instituted Process In Karl Polanyi’s The Great Transformation
- Samuel Moyn, T. H. Marshall, The Moral Economy, And Social Rights
- Timothy Shenk, “I Am No Longer Answerable For Its Actions”: E. P. Thompson After Moral Economy
- Joel Isaac, Moral Economy In Its Place: The Contribution Of James C. Scott
Atchabahian: Transterritorialidade: Uma Teoria de Responsabilização de Empresas por Violações aos Direitos Humanos
Segurança. A humanidade sempre empregou seus instintos e esforços na busca de circunstâncias que a colocasse em segurança. A garantia de conforto foi igualmente o ideal que permitiu o avanço social. Neste momento, a sociedade se depara com a promessa de garantir para si maior conforto e segurança por meio da aquisição de bens. Prosperidade econômica, investimentos, consumo de mercadorias, garantia de conforto e comodidade. Fortuna aparente de uma sociedade que condicionou sua identidade e felicidade à aquisição de produtos, esquecendo-se de avaliar os esforços humanos empregados para a construção desse imaginário. O resultado dessa equação é verificado na mesma proporção em que as mercadorias são produzidas: violações aos direitos humanos e ao meio ambiente, em uma sociedade que sobrevive às mazelas da natureza e aos seus semelhantes, mas continua a acreditar em um aparente conforto trazido pela atividade corporativa. É neste cenário que se situa a presente obra: diante da conivência estatal para com as empresas e da estrutura do Direito Internacional que ainda prioriza os Estados como os principais sujeitos de sua disciplina, a teoria da Transterritorialidade busca responsabilizar empresas e proteger as vítimas destas violações.
Safety. Humanity has always used its instincts and efforts in the search for circumstances that would make it safe. The guarantee of comfort was also the ideal that allowed social progress. At this moment, society is faced with the promise of guaranteeing greater comfort and security for itself through the acquisition of goods. Economic prosperity, investments, consumption of goods, guarantee of comfort and convenience. Apparent fortune of a society that conditioned its identity and happiness to the acquisition of products, forgetting to evaluate the human efforts used to build this imaginary. The result of this equation is verified in the same proportion in which the goods are produced: violations of human rights and the environment, in a society that survives the ailments of nature and its neighbors but continues to believe in an apparent comfort brought by the corporate activity. It is in this scenario that this book is published: in view of the state collusion with companies and the structure of international law that still prioritizes States as the main subjects of its discipline, the theory of Transterritoriality seeks to hold corporations accountable and protect the victims of the abovementioned violations . Based on multidisciplinary literature, deriving from Sociology, International Relations, International Law, International Law of Human Rights, Sociology of Law and from International Constitutional Law, it was built a theory with the objective of confirming the applicability of the rules of Private International Law, Public International Law and International Human Rights Law by the States and the national judges in a heterarchical and transversal manner, resulting in a true dialogue between the national jurisdictions and International Courts in holding corporations accountable for human rights violations.
Symposium: The Law and Logics of Attribution: Constructing the Identity and Responsibility of States and Firms
On September 11 and 18, 2020, the American Society of International Law's International Legal Theory Interest Group and the University of Georgia School of Law's Dean Rusk International Law Center will hold an online symposium on "The Law and Logics of Attribution: Constructing the Identity and Responsibility of States and Firms." The program is here.
Call for Submissions: Cambridge International Law Journal
The Cambridge International Law Journal (CILJ) publishes two issues per year: one open-call issue published in June and one Annual Conference issue published in December.
The Editorial Board of the Cambridge International Law Journal is pleased to invite submissions for its tenth anniversary volume (issues to be published in June and December 2021.)
The Board welcomes long articles, short articles and case notes that engage with current themes in international law.
To celebrate the journal’s tenth anniversary, Issue 1 will include a special section that reflects on seminal changes and developments in international law over the last decade.
The Board is particularly interested in contributions on this theme, which will be published as part of the special section. Other contributions will be published as part of the general section of Issue 1.
Submissions are to be made by 11:59 pm (BST) on Sunday, 25 October 2020 via our online platform accessible here. For full submission instructions for authors, please visit www.elgaronline.com/cilj. Further information can be obtained from the Editors-in-Chief at editors@cilj.co.uk.
All submissions are subject to double-blind peer review by the Journal’s Editorial Board. In addition, long articles are sent to the Academic Review Board, which consists of distinguished international law scholars and practitioners. Submissions can be made at any time. Articles submitted by 25 October 2020 will be considered for Volume 10 Issue 1.
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
New Issue: Global Environmental Politics
- Special Issue: New Technologies and Global Environmental Politics
- Simon Nicholson & Jesse L. Reynolds, Taking Technology Seriously: Introduction to the Special Issue on New Technologies and Global Environmental Politics
- Leslie Paul Thiele, Nature 4.0: Assisted Evolution, De-extinction, and Ecological Restoration Technologies
- Jesse L. Reynolds, Governing New Biotechnologies for Biodiversity Conservation: Gene Drives, International Law, and Emerging Politics
- Jennifer Clapp & Sarah-Louise Ruder, Precision Technologies for Agriculture: Digital Farming, Gene-Edited Crops, and the Politics of Sustainability
- Edward A. Parson & Holly J. Buck, Large-Scale Carbon Dioxide Removal: The Problem of Phasedown
- Joshua B. Horton & Barbara Koremenos, Steering and Influence in Transnational Climate Governance: Nonstate Engagement in Solar Geoengineering Research
Shereshevsky: Are All Soldiers Created Equal? – On the Equal Application of the Law to Enhanced Soldiers
Yahli Shereshevsky (Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem - Law) has posted Are All Soldiers Created Equal? – On the Equal Application of the Law to Enhanced Soldiers (Virginia Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
Enhanced soldiers will soon become an integral part of armed conflicts. The deployment of soldiers with superior battlefield abilities raises important legal questions that are only now emerging as we begin to understand the implications of such technological advancements. One of the most pressing issues regarding enhanced soldiers is whether the existing legal framework, designed to regulate and safeguard the needs of conventional soldiers, can — and should — be applied differently when the subjects have qualitatively different capabilities than previously understood or considered. In this comprehensive analysis of the ability to treat enhanced soldiers differently, various international law issues are considered, such as the use of weapons in armed conflict, the treatment of detainees, and the prohibition against torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. This paper argues that, in most cases, enhanced soldiers should not be treated differently than unenhanced soldiers, even if their capabilities are significantly advanced when compared to conventional soldiers. More broadly, the case of enhanced soldiers brings new insights to the notions of formal and substantive equality in international law. This paper offers a one-directional approach to the subjective application of international law, especially in the context of the prohibition against torture. Under this approach, subjective factors may not be used to treat individuals and groups with better capabilities more harshly but can be used to improve the protection of vulnerable individuals and groups. Applying a one-directional approach is an important tool to prevent the abuse of legal rules by states and other international actors while enabling the protection of those who need it the most. This is a critical point in time where legal scholarship has a unique opportunity to shape the legal regulation of a transformative technological change as it occurs.
New Issue: Michigan Journal of International Law
The latest issue of the Michigan Journal of International Law (Vol. 41, no. 3, 2020) is out. Contents include:- Ndjodi Ndeunyema, Unmuddying the Waters: Evaluating the Legal Basis of the Human Right to Water under Treaty Law, Customary International Law, and the General Principles of Law
- Donna Minha, The Possibility of Prosecuting Corporations for Climate Crimes before the International Criminal Court: All Roads Lead to the Rome Statute?
Saturday, August 29, 2020
New Issue: International Organization
Fraser: Social Institutions and International Human Rights Law Implementation: Every Organ of Society
Having articulated numerous human rights norms and standards in international treaties, the pressing challenge today is their realisation in States' parties around the world. Domestic implementation has proven a difficult task for national authorities as well as international supervisory bodies. This book examines the traditional State-centric and legalistic approach to implementation, critiquing its limited efficacy in practice and failure to connect with local cultures. The book therefore explores the permissibility of other measures of implementation, and advocates more culturally sensitive approaches involving social institutions. Through an interdisciplinary case study of Islam in Indonesia, the book demonstrates the power of social institutions like religion to promote rights compliant positions and behaviours. Like the preamble of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the book reiterates the role not just of the State but indeed 'every organ of society' in realising rights.
Danchin, Farrall, Rana, & Saunders: The Pandemic Paradox in International Law
Peter Danchin (Univ. of Maryland - Law), Jeremy Farrall (Australian National Univ. - Law), Shruti Rana (Indiana Univ., Bloomington - Global and International Studies), & Imogen Saunders (Australian National Univ. - Law) have posted The Pandemic Paradox in International Law (American Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
This article examines a series of paradoxes that have rendered the international legal order’s mechanisms for collective action powerless precisely when they are most needed to fight COVID-19. The “patriotism paradox” is that disengagement from the international legal order weakens rather than strengthens state sovereignty. The “border paradox” is that securing domestic populations by excluding non-citizens, in the absence of accompanying regulatory mechanisms to secure adherence to internal health measures, accelerates viral spread among citizens. The “equality paradox” is that while pandemics pose an equal threat to all people, their impacts compound existing inequalities.
Matić: Just Words: The Effectiveness of Civil Justice in European Human Rights Jurisprudence
This book examines the role of the European Court of Human Rights in promoting standards of effective civil justice in Europe. It defines judicial effectiveness as composed of three main components, namely the length, cost and predictability of proceedings. Following a comprehensive review of the relevant case law, the book argues that the legal standards established by the Court in these areas are rather modest, and that the legal reasoning behind them is predominantly formalist. Rather than developing an understanding of the relevant policy choices that determine the institutional framework of civil justice, the Court bases its decisions on abstract concepts like 'reasonable time', 'access to court' and 'legal certainty'. By sidelining the key institutional issues such as resource allocation and incentives, the Court has produced a largely theoretical case law that actually has little value for persons who wish to enforce their rights in courts.
Wolff: Der Einzelne in der offenen Staatlichkeit
Schützen die Grundrechte des Grundgesetzes Individuen auch vor belastenden Wirkungen, die von Kooperationen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland mit anderen Staaten ausgehen? Daniel Wolff beantwortet diese Frage mit einem differenzierten Ja und entwickelt eine allgemeine Grundrechtsdogmatik für die zwischenstaatliche Zusammenarbeit, die den dogmatischen status quo fundamental in Frage stellt.
Attard: The Duty of the Shipmaster to Render Assistance at Sea under International Law
In The Shipmaster's Duty to Render Assistance at Sea under International Law, Felicity G. Attard examines the web of applicable international rules regulating one of the most fundamental obligations at sea. The study explores the shipmaster's duty to render assistance at sea under treaty law, customary international law, and other international instruments. It focuses on an assessment of the duty in light of contemporary challenges posed by the phenomenon of irregular migration by sea, a problem which has intensified in recent years. Whilst Article 98 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea provides the basis for the regime regulating the duty, the study addresses other relevant rules adopted by the International Maritime Organization and the International Labour Organization. Due to the humanitarian ramifications of the rendering of assistance at sea, the book considers further obligations imposed under human rights law and refugee law. The study presents a comprehensive analysis of shipmaster's responsibilities in rescue operations, and their role in the fulfilment of States' international obligations in the rendering of assistance.
Williams & Sterio: Research Handbook on Post-Conflict State Building
As a conflict ends and the parties begin working towards a durable peace, practitioners and peacebuilders are faced with the possibilities and challenges of building new or reformed political, security, judicial, social, and economic structures. This Handbook analyzes these elements of post-conflict state building through the lens of international law, which provides a framework through which the authors contextualize and examine the many facets of state building in relation to the legal norms, processes, and procedures that guide such efforts across the globe. The volume aims to provide not only an introduction to and explanation of prominent topics in state building, but also a perceptive analysis that augments ongoing conversations among researchers, lawyers, and advocates engaged in the field.
Domínguez-Redondo: In Defense of Politicization of Human Rights: The UN Special Procedures
In Defense of Politicization of Human Rights: The UN Special Procedures constitutes the first comprehensive study of the United Nations Special Procedures, covering their history, methods of work, institutional status, relationship with other politically driven organs, and processes affecting their development. Special Procedures have existed since 1967, nearly as long as United Nations Treaty Bodies, but have received only fragmented analysis, normally focused on a few thematic mandates, until the creation of the Human Rights Council in 2006.
In seeking to debunk commonly held views about the role of politics in human rights at international level, In Defense of Politicization of Human Rights constitutes the first comprehensive study of the United Nations Special Procedures as a system covering their history, methods of work, institutional status, relationship with other politically driven organs, and processes affecting their development. The perspective chosen to analyze the human rights mechanisms most vulnerable to political decisions determining their creation, renewal and operationalization, casts a new light on the extent to which these remain the cornerstone of global accountability in protecting the inherent dignity and worth of individuals as well as groups.
International human rights mechanisms' efficiency is normally linked to the work of independent experts keen to push the boundaries of accountability against recalcitrant States determined to defend their sovereignty. As a corollary, progress in this field is associated to the creation and maintenance of political free spaces. Another common presumption is a belief in a differentiated 'North' versus 'South' approach to the promotion and protection of human rights, that find common ground within the prevalent human rights discourses repeated by governmental and non-governmental actors. Through the lenses of the United Nations Special Procedures, In Defense of Politicization of Human Rights challenges these and other presumptions informing doctrinal studies, policies and strategies to advance international human rights. Because of the Special Procedures' growing salience and impact in the world of international human rights, this book is likely to become required reading for any student or practitioner of international human rights.
New Issue: International Legal Materials
- Case 004/2 Involving AO An: Considerations on Appeals Against Closing Orders (Extraordinary Chambers Cts. Cambodia), with introductory note by David J. Scheffer
- The Situation in the People's Republic of Bangladesh/Republic of the Union of Myanmar Decision to Authorize Investigation (I.C.C.) and the Gambia V. Myanmar Order for Provisional Measures (I.C.J.), with introductory note by Alessandra Spadaro
- Case C-233/18 Zubair Haqbin v. Federaal Agentschap Voor de Opvang van Asielzoekers (C.J.E.U.), with introductory note by Justine N. Stefanelli
- Advisory Opinion of the Caribbean Court of Justice in Response to a Request from the Caribbean Community (Caribbean Ct. J.), with introductory note by Stephen Vasciannie
Friday, August 28, 2020
Eslava: The teaching of (another) international law: critical realism and the question of agency and structure
Luis Eslava (Univ. of Kent - Law) has published The teaching of (another) international law: critical realism and the question of agency and structure (The Law Teacher, Vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 368-384, 2020). Here's the abstract:
In this article I explore the potential of a critical realist approach to the teaching of international law. Critical realist scholars have advanced a compelling account of the importance of paying attention – in designing educational curricula, delivering materials and classroom interactions – to the close relationship between agency and structure, a relationship that has also come to preoccupy international legal scholars. Recent academic work, especially that developed by critical international legal scholars, has revealed and insisted upon the structural dimension of the international legal order. According to these scholars, this dimension should be taken into account in order to explain and challenge some of the ways in which international law has historically constituted, and continues to constitute, our persistently violent and unequal material and social world at all levels, from international to local spaces, and from collective to individual subjectivities. If the aim is to generate another global order, and another international law, teaching international law today requires us to learn how to negotiate the structure and agency divide. The work of critical realists has the potential to help teachers of international law create a more emancipatory learning experience for their students in order to face this crucial task.
Alter: Visions of International Law: An Interdisciplinary Retrospective
Karen J. Alter (Northwestern Univ. - Political Science; Univ. of Copenhagen - iCourts) has posted Visions of International Law: An Interdisciplinary Retrospective. Here's the abstract:
Taking the opportunity of this LJIL special lecture, Professor Alter provides an interdisciplinary retrospective that explains, defends and critiques six common visions of international law: The naïve political scientist’s expectations about international law as a fixed reflection of political choices; the legal formalist and structural theorist who believes that formal rules, institutions, and processes should generate similar outcomes in different parts of the world; the Western centric scholar’s notion that one can draw general lessons based on European and American experiences; the liberal internationalist who believes that multilateral processes generate consent based agreements and outcomes; the law and society scholar whose focus on the local can minimize international structural elements; and the international legal sociologist who believes that meanings and practices constitute international law. After reflecting on what each vision captures and misses about international law, Professor Alter identifies the policy stakes of residing within a vision. While we need to draw from multiple visions to understand the hybridity of international law, we also need to understand the implicit presumptions of each vision, as these presumptions generate contradictory prescriptive recommendations.
Paulsson: The Unruly Notion of Abuse of Rights
Everyone condemns what they perceive as 'abuse of rights', and some would elevate it to a general principle of law. But the notion seldom suffices to be applied as a rule of decision. When adjudicators purport to do so they expose themselves to charges of unpredictability, if not arbitrariness. After examining the dissimilar origins and justification of the notion in national and international doctrine, and the difficulty of its application in both comparative and international law, this book concludes that except when given context as part of a lex specialis, it is too nebulous to serve as a general principle of international law.
New Issue: International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics
The latest issue of International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics (Vol. 20, no. 3, September 2020) is out. Contents include:- Carole-Anne Sénit, Transforming our world? Discursive representation in the negotiations on the Sustainable Development Goals
- Dorine E. van Norren, The Sustainable Development Goals viewed through Gross National Happiness, Ubuntu, and Buen Vivir
- Thomas Hickmann & Joshua Philipp Elsässer, New alliances in global environmental governance: how intergovernmental treaty secretariats interact with non-state actors to address transboundary environmental problems
- Alexandre Gajevic Sayegh, Moral duties, compliance and polycentric climate governance
- Dirk-Jan Koch & Marloes Verholt, Limits to learning: the struggle to adapt to unintended effects of international payment for environmental services programmes
- Shiro Hori & Sachi Syugyo, The function of international business frameworks for governing companies’ climate change-related actions toward the 2050 goals
- Chaewoon Oh, Contestations over the financial linkages between the UNFCCC’s Technology and Financial Mechanism: using the lens of institutional interaction
- Borys Kormych, Tetiana Averochkina, & Vitalii Gaverskyi, The public administration of territorial seas: Ukrainian case
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