Saturday, February 6, 2021

Schimmelfennig, Winzen, Lenz, Rocabert, Crasnic, Gherasimov, Lipps, & Mumford: The Rise of International Parliaments: Strategic Legitimation in International Organizations

Frank Schimmelfennig
, Thomas Winzen, Tobias Lenz, Jofre Rocabert, Loriana Crasnic, Cristina Gherasimov, Jana Lipps, & Densua Mumford have published The Rise of International Parliaments: Strategic Legitimation in International Organizations (Oxford Univ. Press 2021). Here's the abstract:

International parliaments are on the rise. An increasing number of international organizations establishes 'international parliamentary institutions' or IPIs, which bring together members of national parliaments or - in rare cases - elected representatives of member state citizens. Yet, IPIs have generally remained powerless institutions with at best a consultative role in the decision-making process of international organizations.

Why do the member states of international organizations create IPIs but do not vest them with relevant institutional powers? This study argues that neither the functional benefits of delegation nor the internalization of democratic norms answer this question convincingly. Rather, IPIs are best understood as an instrument of strategic legitimation. By establishing institutions that mimic national parliaments, governments seek to ensure that audiences at home and in the wider international environment recognize their international organizations as democratically legitimate. At the same time, they seek to avoid being effectively constrained by IPIs in international governance.

The Rise of International Parliaments provides a systematic study of the establishment and empowerment of IPIs based on a novel dataset. In a statistical analysis covering the world's most relevant international organizations and a series of case studies from all major world regions, we find two varieties of international parliamentarization. International organizations with general purpose and high authority create and empower IPIs to legitimate their region-building projects domestically. Alternatively, the establishment of IPIs is induced by the international diffusion of democratic norms and prominent templates, above all that of the European Parliament.

Quaglia: The Politics of Regime Complexity in International Derivatives Regulation

Lucia Quaglia
(Univ. of Bologna - Political Science) has published The Politics of Regime Complexity in International Derivatives Regulation (Oxford Univ. Press 2020). Here's the abstract:

This book provides the first comprehensive account of post-crisis international regulation of derivatives by bringing together the international relations literature on regime complexity and the international political economy literature on financial regulation.

It addresses three questions: What factors drove international standard-setting on derivatives post-crisis? Why did international regime complexity emerge? And how was it managed and with what outcomes? This research innovatively combines a state-centric, a transgovernmental, and business-led explanations. It examines all the main sets of standards (or elemental regimes) concerning various aspects of derivatives markets, namely: trading, clearing, and reporting of derivatives; resilience, recovery and resolution of central counterparties; capital requirements for bank exposures to central counterparties and derivatives; margins for derivatives non-centrally cleared. It is argued that regime complexity in derivatives ensued from the multi-dimensionality and the interlinkages of the problems to tackle, especially given the fact that it was a new policy area without a focal international standard-setter. Despite these challenges, international cooperation resulted in relatively precise, stringent, and consistent rules, even though there was variation across standards. The main jurisdictions played an important role in managing regime complexity, but their effectiveness was constrained by limited domestic coordination. Networks of regulators gathered in international standard-setting bodies deployed a variety of formal and informal coordination tools to deal with regime complexity. The financial industry, at times, lobbied for less precise and stringent rules and engaged in 'venue shopping', whereas, other times, it contributed to the quest for regulatory consistency.

New Issue: Revista romana de drept international

The latest issue of Revista romana de drept international (No. 23, January-June 2020) is out. Contents include:
  • Articole
    • Radu Bogdan Bobei, O analiză preliminară a diverselor sensuri ale termenului „drept transnațional”
    • Andreea Zalomir, Implicații juridice ale conflictelor în spațiul cosmic (Partea I)
  • Studii și comentarii de jurisprudență și legislație
    • Ion Gâlea, Relația dintre tratate și Constituția României: jurisprudența recentă a Curții Constituționale din România
  • Contribuţia doctorandului şi masterandului
    • Adrian-Nicușor Popescu, Primul refugiat climatic recunoscut?
  • Recenzie de carte
    • Elena Lazăr, “La construcción jurídica de un espacio marítimo común europeo”

New Issue: Security Studies

The latest issue of Security Studies (Vol. 29, no. 5, 2020) is out. Contents include:
  • Wyn Bowen, Jeffrey W. Knopf & Matthew Moran, The Obama Administration and Syrian Chemical Weapons: Deterrence, Compellence, and the Limits of the “Resolve plus Bombs” Formula
  • Yuan-kang Wang, The Durability of a Unipolar System: Lessons from East Asian History
  • Maggie Dwyer & Oisín Tansey, Explaining Divergent Trends in Coups and Mutinies: The End of the Cold War and the Role of Military Agency
  • Alex Neads, You're in the Army Now: The Politics of Cohesion During Military Integration in Sierra Leone
  • Jonas Schneider, Beyond Assurance and Coercion: US Alliances and the Psychology of Nuclear Reversal
  • Aleksandar Matovski, Strategic Intelligence and International Crisis Behavior

New Issue: International Interactions

The latest issue of International Interactions (Vol. 47, no. 1, 2021) is out. Contents include:
  • Making Trains from Boxcars: Studying Conflict and Conflict Management Interdependencies
    • Andrew P. Owsiak, J. Michael Greig & Paul F. Diehl, Making trains from boxcars: studying conflict and conflict management interdependencies
    • Andrew P. Owsiak, Conflict management trajectories: theory and evidence
    • Zorzeta Bakaki & Marius Mehrl, Examining conflict management technique sequences in international claims
    • J. Michael Greig, Helping without hurting: ameliorating the negative effects of humanitarian assistance on civil wars through mediation
    • Molly M. Melin, The business of peace: understanding corporate contributions to conflict management
    • Rebecca Cordell, Thorin Wright & Paul F. Diehl, Extant commitment, risk, and UN peacekeeping authorization
    • Govinda Clayton, Han Dorussen & Tobias Böhmelt, United Nations peace initiatives 1946-2015: introducing a new dataset
    • Daniel Druckman & Susan Allen, Interactions among conflict management techniques: extending the breadth and depth of the framework

Friday, February 5, 2021

Call for Applications: Fellowship with the Berlin Potsdam Research Group "The International Rule of Law - Rise or Decline?"

The Berlin Potsdam Research Group "The International Rule of Law - Rise or Decline?" has issued a call for applications for a Fellowship in International Law, International Relations or Political Philosophy. The call is here.

"Live from L": L in the Transition of U.S. Administrations

On February 18, 2021, the ABA Section of International Law, together with the American Society of International Law and George Washington University Law School, will present the 11th Annual "Live from L" as a virtual webinar. The topic is: "L in the Transition of U.S. Administrations." Registration is here.

New Issue: Leiden Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Leiden Journal of International Law (Vol. 34, no. 1, March 2021) is out. Contents include:
  • International Legal Theory
    • Miriam Bak McKenna, Designing for international law: The architecture of international organizations 1922–1952
    • Deborah Whitehall, The nadir of vital interests: Hannah Arendt and the Franco-German Armistice 1940
    • Xinxiang Shi, Diplomatic immunity ratione materiae, immunity ratione materiae of state officials, and state immunity: A comparative analysis
    • Luiza Leão Soares Pereira & Niccolò Ridi, Mapping the ‘invisible college of international lawyers’ through obituaries
  • International Law and Practice: Symposium on International Investment Law and Human Rights
    • Tomer Broude & Caroline Henckels, Not all Rights are Created Equal: A Loss–Gain Frame of Investor Rights and Human Rights
    • Jean-Michel Marcoux, Informal Instruments to Impose Human Rights Obligations on Foreign Investors: An Emerging Practice of Legality?
    • Moshe Hirsch, Social Movements, Reframing Investment Relations, and Enhancing the Application of Human Rights Norms in International Investment Law
    • Dafina Atanasova, Non-Economic Disciplines Still Take the Back Seat: The Tale of Conflict Clauses in Investment Treaties
    • Ole Kristian Fauchald, International Investment Law in Support of the Right to Development?
  • International Criminal Courts and Tribunals: International Criminal Court
    • Regina E. Rauxloh, Good Intentions and Bad Consequences: The General Assistance Mandate of the Trust Fund for Victims of the ICC
    • Liana Georgieva Minkova, Expressing what? The Stigmatization of the Defendant and the ICC’s Institutional Interests in the Ongwen Case
    • Rosemary Grey, Kcasey McLoughlin & Louise Chappell, Gender and Judging at the International Criminal Court: Lessons from ‘Feminist Judgment Projects’

New Issue: International Legal Materials

The latest issue of International Legal Materials (Vol. 60, no. 1, February 2021) is out. Contents include:
  • The Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, with introductory note by Simon N.M. Young
  • Executive Order 13928 on Blocking Property of Certain Persons Associated with the International Criminal Court, with introductory note by Beth Van Schaack
  • United Nations Security Council Resolution 2532, with introductory note by Stefania Negri
  • Situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (Int'l Crim. Ct. App. Chamber), with introductory note by Ryan Vogel
  • Data Protection Commissioner v. Facebook Ireland Ltd. and Maximillian Schrems (C.J.E.U.), with introductory note by Michael S. Aktipis & Ron B. Katwan
  • Agreement for the Termination of Bilateral Investment Treaties Between the Member States of the European Union, with introductory note by Charbel A. Moarbes

Comstock: Committed to Rights: UN Human Rights Treaties and Legal Paths for Commitment and Compliance

Audrey L. Comstock
(Arizona State Univ. - Political Science) has published Committed to Rights: UN Human Rights Treaties and Legal Paths for Commitment and Compliance (Cambridge Univ. Press 2021). Here's the abstract:
International treaties are the primary means for codifying global human rights standards. However, nation-states are able to make their own choices in how to legally commit to human rights treaties. A state commits to a treaty through four commitment acts: signature, ratification, accession, and succession. These acts signify diverging legal paths with distinct contexts and mechanisms for rights change reflecting legalization, negotiation, sovereignty, and domestic constraints. How a state moves through these actions determines how, when, and to what extent it will comply with the human rights treaties it commits to. Using legal, archival, and quantitative analysis this important book shows that disentangling legal paths to commitment reveals distinct and significant compliance outcomes. Legal context matters for human rights and has important implications for the conceptualization of treaty commitment, the consideration of non-binding commitment, and an optimistic outlook for the impact of human rights treaties.

New Issue: World Trade Review

The latest issue of the World Trade Review (Vol. 20, no. 1, February 2021) is out. Contents include:
  • Yoshiko Naiki, Meta-Regulation of Private Standards: The Role of Regional and International Organizations in Comparison with the WTO
  • Yoojin Cha & Min Gyo Koo, Who Embraces Technical Barriers to Trade? The Case of European REACH Regulations
  • Nayung Kim, The Impact of ISO22000 Standard Diffusion on Agricultural Exports
  • Catherine E. Gascoigne, The Determination of Causation in the Application of Trade Remedies
  • Wolfgang Alschner, Manfred Elsig, & Rodrigo Polanco, Introducing the Electronic Database of Investment Treaties (EDIT): The Genesis of a New Database and Its Use
  • Rodrigo Camarena & Bradly J. Condon, Mi casa es tu casa? The Limits of Inter-systemic Dispute Resolution
  • Bernard Hoekman & Ben Shepherd, Services Trade Policies and Economic Integration: New Evidence for Developing Countries

Thursday, February 4, 2021

Call for Papers: Society of International Economic Law Seventh Biennial Conference

The Society of International Economic Law has issued a call for papers for its seventh biennial conference, which will take place remotely in collaboration with Bocconi University on July 8-10, 2021. The call is here. The deadline is February 22, 2021.

Call for Submissions: Trade, Law and Development

The journal Trade, Law and Development has issued a call for submissions for a special issue on "Trade and Technology: Rebooting Global Trade for the Digital Millennium" (Vol. 13, no. 1, Winter 2021). The call is here.

Wednesday, February 3, 2021

Carayannis & Weiss: The 'Third' United Nations: How a Knowledge Ecology Helps the UN Think

Tatiana Carayannis
(Social Science Research Council) & Thomas G. Weiss (City Univ. of New York - Graduate Center) have published The 'Third' United Nations: How a Knowledge Ecology Helps the UN Think (Oxford Univ. Press 2021). Here's the abstract:
The Third UN is the ecology of supportive non-state actors-intellectuals, scholars, consultants, think tanks, NGOs, the for-profit private sector, and the media-that interacts with the intergovernmental machinery of the First UN (member states) and the Second UN (staff members of international secretariats) to formulate and refine ideas and decision-making at key junctures in policy processes. Some advocate for particular ideas, others help analyze or operationalize their testing and implementation; many thus help the UN 'think'. While think tanks, knowledge brokers, and epistemic communities are phenomena that have entered both the academic and policy lexicons, their intellectual role remains marginal to analyses of such intergovernmental organizations as the United Nations.

New Issue: Journal of International Arbitration

The latest issue of the Journal of International Arbitration (Vol. 38, no. 1, 2021) is out. Contents include:
  • Sundaresh Menon, Arbitration’s Blade: International Arbitration and the Rule of Law
  • Kevin Ongenae & Maud Piers, Procedural Formalities in Arbitration: Towards a Technologically Neutral Legal Framework
  • Chiann Bao, Return to Reason: Reigning in Runaway Due Process Claims
  • Joséphine Hage Chahine, UN and EU Sanctions Versus US Sanctions: Two Different Yardsticks Commentary on the Decision of the Paris Court of Appeal (International Commercial Chamber) (5th Pole, Chamber 16) of 3 June 2020, No. 21/2020
  • Bankole Sodipo, Enforceability of Awards Vitiated by Illegality and Fair Hearing: A Review from a Nigerian Law Perspective of PID v. FRN
  • Arpan Banerjee & Ashwin Murthy, Rand Investments v. Republic of Serbia: Transparency and the Limits of Consent

Geddes: Governing Migration Beyond the State: Europe, North America, South America, and Southeast Asia in a Global Context

Andrew Geddes
(European Univ. Institute) has published Governing Migration Beyond the State: Europe, North America, South America, and Southeast Asia in a Global Context (Oxford Univ. Press 2021). Here's the abstract:
International migration has become a salient concern in global politics but there is also significant variation in governance responses. By focusing on four key world regions — Europe, North America, South America, and Southeast Asia — this book explores the underlying factors that shape governance responses. Rather than focusing on the more visible outputs or outcomes of governance processes such as laws and policies, this book opens the 'black box' of migration governance to reveal how understandings and representations of the causes and effects of migration held by key governance actors in these four regions have powerful effects, not only on governance outcomes, but more broadly on the prospects for global migration governance. By doing so, the book shows how migration governance systems through their operation and effects can shape migration — in its various forms — and the lived experiences of migrants.

New Issue: African Journal of International and Comparative Law

The latest issue of the African Journal of International and Comparative Law (Vol. 29, no. 1, February 2021) is out. Contents include:
  • Caroline Dommen, Applying the Human Rights Framework to Economic Policy: Insights from an Impact Assessment of Services Trade Liberalisation in Mauritius
  • Ashraf M. A. Elfakharani, Rohana Abdul Rahman, Hamza E. Albaheth & Nor Anita Abdullah, Bilateral Investment Treaties and the Increase in Egyptian Appearances before International Arbitration Tribunals
  • W. D. Lubbe & Otto Spijkers, Taking Stock of United Nations and African Union Constitutionalism
  • Muyiwa Adigun, The Principle of Complementarity: A Reflection on Its Meaning, Origin and Types in International Criminal Law
  • Justin Ngambu Wanki, (Un)Constitutional Amendments and Cameroon Constitutions: Strange Bedfellows with the Rule of Law and Constitutionalism
  • Yeukai Mupangavanhu, Towards an Extensive Statutory Protection of Consumers in Timeshare Agreements: A Comparative Perspective
  • Judicaël Élisée Tiehi, La Contribution de la Cour Penale Internationale à la Reconstruction de l’état de Droit dans les Sociétés Post-conflit en Afrique : Vingt-deux Ans après, Quel Bilan ?
  • Chukwunweike A. Ogbuabor, Damian U. Ajah & Anthony O. Nwafor, Aliens' Acquisition of Land in Nigeria: An Incursion into the Evolving Jurisprudence
  • Moses Retselisistoe Phooko, Revisiting the Monism and Dualism Dichotomy: What does the South African Constitution of 1996 and the Practice by the Courts tell us about the Reception of SADC Community Law (Treaty Law) in South Africa?

Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Lorenz: Exterritoriale Selbstverteidigung im unwilligen oder unfähigen Staat

Paul D. Lorenz
has published Exterritoriale Selbstverteidigung im unwilligen oder unfähigen Staat (Duncker & Humblot 2021). Here's the abstract:

Die Unterbindung privater Gewaltakte stellt Staaten vor allem dann vor besondere rechtliche Herausforderungen, wenn sie am exterritorialen Aufenthaltsort gefährdender Privatpersonen Maßnahmen im Anwendungsbereich des völkerrechtlichen Gewaltverbots (Art. 2 Nr. 4 UNCh) ergreifen möchten. Ob ihnen hierzu der in Staatenpraxis und Wissenschaft vermehrt ins Feld geführte – auf Verstrickungen und Schwächungen von Aufenthaltsstaaten abhebende – unwilling or unable-Standard verhelfen kann, ist Gegenstand dieser Untersuchung.

Nachdem unter Zugrundelegung der relevanten Staatenpraxis die tatbestandlich ausschlaggebenden Begriffe des »Unwillens« und der »Unfähigkeit« skizziert werden, lotet die Arbeit völkerrechtsdogmatische Einordnungsmöglichkeiten dieses wesentlich um das Selbstverteidigungsrecht (Art. 51 UNCh) kreisenden Standards aus, um zu fragen, ob diese Praxis Ausdruck gewohnheitsrechtlicher Geltung ist bzw. bei der Auslegung der Charta der Vereinten Nationen zu berücksichtigen ist.

Vidigal: Loophole or Fire Alarm? The Consensus Requirement for the Appointment of Appellate Body Members and the Institutional Design of the WTO

Geraldo Vidigal (Univ. of Amsterdam - Law) has posted Loophole or Fire Alarm? The Consensus Requirement for the Appointment of Appellate Body Members and the Institutional Design of the WTO (Legal Issues of Economic Integration, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
The past four years have shown that, in contrast to previous assessments that saw the WTO dispute settlement organs as exercising irresistible authority over the WTO Agreements, a WTO Member can single-handedly derail the functioning of the WTO by obstructing appointments to the Appellate Body. This paper investigates the origins and character of this feature of the WTO Agreements and examines possible means to overcome it, arguing that merely appointing seven new Appellate Body members will not be sufficient to ensure the future operation of the organization. If Members wish to avoid obstruction of appointments becoming a regularly employed negotiation tactic, they must explicitly establish that this possibility is not an integral feature of the institutional design of the WTO – a fire alarm that Members can resort to in case they are dissatisfied with developments within the organization – but an unwarranted loophole in the WTO institutional structure. Among the possible courses of action available to address it, the one that is likely to be both politically feasible in the short term and free from doubt regarding its legal effects is a decision, made by consensus by the Membership, to clarify the relationship between the general decision-making authority of the Ministerial Conference and the provisions governing the appointment of Appellate Body members.

Longobardo: The Standing of Indirectly Injured States in the Litigation of Community Interests before the ICJ: Lessons Learned and Future Implications in Light of The Gambia v. Myanmar and Beyond

Marco Longobardo (Univ. of Westminster - Law) has posted The Standing of Indirectly Injured States in the Litigation of Community Interests before the ICJ: Lessons Learned and Future Implications in Light of The Gambia v. Myanmar and Beyond (International Community Law Review, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This article explores the legal challenges related to the standing of indirectly injured states before the International Court of Justice in relation to violations of obligations erga omnes and erga omnes partes. After an examination of the emergence of these kinds of obligations, the article addresses the evolution of the approach of the Court in relation to the issue of standing, in light of the works of the International Law Commission on state responsibility. Especially after the 2012 Belgium v. Senegal case, the Court does not hesitate to recognise the standing of indirectly injured states. Yet, some aspects related to standing – such as the requirement of a special interests and the coordination between the reaction of the directly injured state and the indirectly injured ones – are still imprecise. The Court should take the opportunity to elaborate on these issues in the merits phase of The Gambia v. Myanmar case.

Mavroidis & Sapir: China and the WTO: Why Multilateralism Still Matters

Petros C. Mavroidis
(Columbia Univ. - Law) & Andre Sapir (Université libre de Bruxelles - Economics) have published China and the WTO: Why Multilateralism Still Matters (Princeton Univ. Press 2021). Here's the abstract:

China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 was rightly hailed as a huge step forward in international cooperation. However, China’s participation in the WTO has been anything but smooth, with China alienating some of its trading partners, particularly the United States. The mismatch between the WTO framework and China’s economic model has undermined the WTO’s ability to mitigate tensions arising from China’s size and rapid growth. What has to change? China and the WTO demonstrates that unilateral pressure, by the United States and others, is not the answer. Instead, Petros Mavroidis and André Sapir show that if the WTO enacts judicious reforms, it could induce China’s cooperation, leading to a renewed confidence in the WTO system.

The WTO and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, are predicated on liberal domestic policies. They managed the previous accessions of socialist countries and big trading nations, but none were as large or powerful as China. Mavroidis and Sapir contend that for the WTO to function smoothly and accommodate China’s unique geopolitical position, it needs to translate some of its implicit principles into explicit treaty language. To make their point, they focus on two core complaints—that Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) benefit from unfair trade advantages, and that domestic companies, private as well as SOEs, impose forced technology transfer on foreign companies as a condition for accessing the Chinese market—and they lay out specific proposals for WTO reforms.

In an age of global trade disputes, China and the WTO offers a timely exploration of unprecedented challenges to the current multilateral system and fresh ideas for lasting solutions.

Monday, February 1, 2021

New Volume: Hungarian Yearbook of International Law and European Law

The latest volume of the Hungarian Yearbook of International Law and European Law (Vol. 8, 2020) is out. The table of contents is here. This volume includes a thematic chapters on "New Tendencies in the Law of Foreign Investments in European Law and Public International Law."

Sunday, January 31, 2021

New Issue: Questions of International Law

The latest issue of Questions of International Law / Questioni di Diritto Internazionale (no. 77, 2021) is out. Contents include:
  • Plugging the enforcement gap: The rise and rise of human rights in climate change litigation
    • Introduced by Annalisa Savaresi
    • Christine Bakker, Baptism of fire?’ The first climate case before the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
    • Riccardo Luporini, The ‘Last Judgment’: Early reflections on upcoming climate litigation in Italy
    • Emanuele Sommario, When climate change and human rights meet: A brief comment to the UN Human Rights Committee’s Teitiota decision

Lecture: Mälksoo on "International Law and Russia’s 2020 Constitutional Amendment"

On February 8, 2021, Lauri Mälksoo (Univ. of Tartu - Law) will deliver a lecture on "International Law and Russia’s 2020 Constitutional Amendment" as part of the Essex Public International Law Lecture Series. Details are here.

New Issue: GlobaLex

The latest issue of GlobaLex (January/February 2021) includes the following articles:

New Issue: Swiss Review of International and European Law

The latest issue of the Swiss Review of International and European Law (Vol. 30, no. 5, 2020) is out. Contents include:
  • Articles
    • Marco Bocchi, The Fallacy of Cross-Regime Harmonization: An Upstream Perspective on the Application of the Necessity Test in the WTO and ECHR systems
    • Valérie Wyssbrod, L'utilisation des aires protégées pour atteindre la protection de la biodiversité et sa compatibilité avec les droits des peuples autochtones: le principe de proportionalité en droit international public
    • Morgane Ventura, Interdiction de la discrimination, droit d'accès et aménagements raisonnables: le point sur les droits des personnes en situation de handicap en Suisse