New Issue: Global Policy

The latest issue of Global Policy (Vol. 13, no. 3, June 2022) is out. Contents include:

• Giuseppe Zaccaria, You’re Fired! International Courts, Re-contracting, and the WTO Appellate Body during the Trump Presidency
• Laura Trajber Waisbich, ‘It Takes Two to Tango’: South–South Cooperation Measurement Politics in a Multiplex World
• Henry Padden, Does Space Law Prevent Patterns of Antarctic Imperialism in Outer Space?
• Mathias Lund Larsen, Driving Global Convergence in Green Financial Policies: China as Policy Pioneer and the EU as Standard Setter
• Nancy Y. Kim, Yoorim Bang, & Eun Mee Kim, Women’s Empowerment Without Power: Strategic v. Practical Interests in SDGs and the Voluntary National Reviews
• Dona Barirani, A UN Treaty for Marine Biodiversity: Establishing Environmental Policy Integration in Global Governance
• Nadia Garcia-Santaolalla & Kyle de Klerk, Ensuring Market Supply Transparency for Personal Protective Equipment: Preparing for Future Pandemics

Giannopoulos: L’exécution des arrêts de la Cour Européenne des Droits de l’Homme : Pratiques et perspectives après la fin du processus d'Interlaken

Christos Giannopoulos has published L’exécution des arrêts de la Cour Européenne des Droits de l’Homme : Pratiques et perspectives après la fin du processus d'Interlaken (Pedone 2022). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

À l’issue de la Conférence d’Interlaken de février 2010, un Plan d’action fut arrêté afin d’améliorer l’efficacité du système de surveillance de l’exécution des arrêts de la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme. Douze années plus tard, les circonstances sont propices pour mener une réflexion approfondie sur son apport au renforcement de l’autorité de la Convention européenne des droits de l’homme en droit interne. Dans cette optique, le présent ouvrage vise à étudier de manière critique et approfondie l’évolution de l’arsenal des instruments juridico-politiques développés par les acteurs impliqués dans l’exécution des arrêts de la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme et d’examiner les perspectives d’amélioration et d’adaptation des pratiques existantes afin de renforcer le rayonnement et l’effectivité de la jurisprudence européenne.

Mills: Justifying and Challenging Territoriality in Private International Law

Alex Mills (Univ. College London - Law) has posted Justifying and Challenging Territoriality in Private International Law (in Philosophical Foundations of Private International Law, Roxana Banu, Michael Green, & Ralf Michaels eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Private international law essentially deals with the question of how we should regulate relationships and resolve disputes which have connections with more than one legal system, distinguishing between the institutional aspects of regulation (jurisdiction) and the substantive aspects (applicable law). Traditionally, a decision is made about which legal system (or systems) should govern based on a range of connecting factors. Among these factors, territorial connections have historically had the most significant influence, reflecting an approach to private international law which understands the subject as concerned with the division and allocation of state authority and adopts a ‘spatial’ conception of that authority. Private international law theory and practice has also, however, explored a range of alternatives which might be relied on, including the characteristics or wishes of the parties themselves, as well as other approaches which reject altogether the idea that private international law should focus on allocational questions. This chapter asks why territoriality plays such an important role in private international law, and considers whether it should. The chapter begins with an examination of the role of territoriality in private international law history and theory. It then considers various arguments which might be raised to justify territoriality in private international law, suggesting that they may also justify traditional private international law techniques. The chapter also, however, addresses the question of whether these justifications hold up against the challenges presented to territoriality by modern globalisation, in particular, whether territoriality can provide certainty, coherence, and effective regulatory constraint.

New Issue: Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The latest issue of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law (Vol. 55, no. 3, May 2022) is out. Contents include:

• Michael A. Becker, Challenging Some Baseline Assumptions about the Evolution of International Commissions of Inquiry
• Ngoc Son Bui & Jyh-An Lee, Comparative Cybersecurity Law in Socialist Asia
• Rachael Curtin, Suspension of Citizenship: Ethical Concerns in International Commercial Surrogacy
• Tom Dannenbaum, Criminalizing Starvation in an Age of Mass Deprivation in War: Intent, Method, Form, and Consequence
• Marco Longobardo, The Duties of Occupying Powers in Relation to the Prevention and Control of Contagious Diseases

Day: States of Disorder, Ecosystems of Governance: Complexity Theory Applied to UN Statebuilding in the DRC and South Sudan

Adam Day (United Nations Univ.) has published States of Disorder, Ecosystems of Governance: Complexity Theory Applied to UN Statebuilding in the DRC and South Sudan (Oxford Univ. Press 2022). Here's the abstract:

Today's vision of world order is founded upon the concept of strong, well-functioning states, in contrast to the destabilizing potential of failed or fragile states. This worldview has dominated international interventions over the past 30 years as enormous resources have been devoted to developing and extending the governance capacity of weak or failing states, hoping to transform them into reliable nodes in the global order. But with very few exceptions, this project has not delivered on its promise: countries like Somalia, Afghanistan, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remain mired in conflict despite decades of international interventions.

States of Disorder addresses the question, 'Why has UN state-building so consistently failed to meet its objectives?'. It proposes an explanation based on the application of complexity theory to UN interventions in South Sudan and DRC, where the UN has been tasked to implement massive stabilization and state-building missions. Far from being ''ungoverned spaces," these settings present complex, dynamical systems of governance with emergent properties that allow them to adapt and resist attempts to change them. UN interventions, based upon assumptions that gradual increases in institutional capacity will lead to improved governance, fail to reflect how change occurs in these systems and may in fact contribute to underlying patterns of exclusion and violence. Based on more than a decade of the author's work in peacekeeping, this book offers a systemic mapping of how governance systems work, and indeed work against, UN interventions. Pursuing a complexity-driven approach instead helps to avoid unintentional consequences, identifies meaningful points of leverage, and opens the possibility of transforming societies from within.

Workshop: Rosa Luxemburg & International Law

On September 15, 2022, Warwick Law School will host an online workshop on "Rosa Luxemburg & International Law." Program and registration are here.

New Issue: Rivista di Diritto Internazionale

The latest issue of the Rivista di Diritto Internazionale (Vol. 105, no. 2, 2022) is out. Contents include:

• Articoli
• A. Ollino & G. Puma, La causalità e il suo ruolo nella determinazione dell’illecito internazionale
• D. Alland, Les mesures de réaction à l’illicite prises par l’Union Européenne motif pris d’un certain intérêt général
• G. Bartolini, Le misure di riparazione dell’illecito a favore dei beneficiari degli obblighi violati diversi dallo Stato leso
• G. Palmisano, Responsabilità degli Stati e obblighi di regolamento delle controversie: l’occasione mancata dalla Commissione del diritto internazionale
• Note e Commenti
• M.I. Papa, Un nuovo capitolo della saga riguardante le Isole Chagos: la sentenza sulle eccezioni preliminari del Tribunale internazionale del diritto del mare nel caso della frontiera marittima tra Mauritius e Maldive dell’Unione Europea
• Panorama
• S. Forlati, Il ruolo della funzione giudiziaria internazionale nel conflitto armato in Ucraina: l’ordinanza della Corte internazionale di giustizia sulle misure cautelari
• F. Salerno, L’epilogo del caso Enrica Lexie con l’archiviazione del procedimento penale in Italia
• M. Gestri, L’Italia evita, all’ultimo minuto, l’iscrizione di Venezia nella Lista del patrimonio mondiale in pericolo
• S. Silingardi, Il regolamento di blocco davanti alla Corte di giustizia
• O. Lopes Pegna, Attentato alle Torri Gemelle e sentenza statunitense di condanna dell’Iran: quali ricadute della sentenza della Corte costituzionale n. 238/2014 nei procedimenti di exequatur di sentenza straniera?
• O. Feraci, Il riconoscimento « funzionalmente orientato » dello status di un minore nato da due madri nello spazio giudiziario europeo: una lettura internazionalprivatistica della sentenza Pancharevo

New Issue: Journal du Droit International

The latest issue of the Journal du Droit International ("Clunet") (Vol. 149, no. 2, Avril-Mai-Juin 2022) is out. Contents include:

• Doctrine
• Sara Godechot-Patris, Le prélèvement est mort… Vive le prélèvement ! De quelques réflexions sur l’article 913, alinéa 3 du Code civil
• Sarah Cassella, Les limites des arguments de nécessité sanitaire des États comme exception à leurs obligations économiques internationales
• Variétés
• Pierre Mayer, À propos de deux arrêts récents de la cour d’appel de Paris rendus dans les affaires Monster Energy et Accessoires Company
• Fabienne Quilleré-Majzoub, Un droit international de l’exportation massive d’eau : lege lata ou lege ferenda ?

New Issue: Revue de Droit International et de Droit Comparé

The latest issue of the Revue de Droit International et de Droit Comparé (2022, no. 2) is out. Contents include:

• M. Povoa, Réflexions sur la responsabilité du fait des choses. Regards croisés entre la France et le Brésil sur un régime en difficulté
• E. Dirix, Le rôle du droit comparé dans la jurisprudence de la Cour de cassation belge
• B. Belbara, Regard croisé sur la pénétration de la théorie du droit pénal de l’ennemi dans les dispositifs tchado-camerounais de lutte contre le terrorisme
• L.J.B. Tchouambia Tomtom, Les difficultés de l’exécution des décisions de justice pénale camerounaise

New Volume: European Yearbook of International Economic Law

The latest volume of the European Yearbook of International Economic Law (Vol. 12, 2021) is out. The table of contents is here.

Gibbons: The Hegemon's Tool Kit: US Leadership and the Politics of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime

Rebecca Davis Gibbons (Univ. of Southern Maine - Political Science) has published The Hegemon's Tool Kit: US Leadership and the Politics of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime (Cornell Univ. Press 2022). Here's the abstract:

At a moment when the nuclear nonproliferation regime is under duress, Rebecca Davis Gibbons provides a trenchant analysis of the international system that has, for more than fifty years, controlled the spread of these catastrophic weapons. The Hegemon's Tool Kit details how that regime works and how, disastrously, it might falter.

In the early nuclear age, experts anticipated that all technologically-capable states would build these powerful devices. That did not happen. Widespread development of nuclear arms did not occur, in large part, because a global nuclear nonproliferation regime was created. By the late-1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union had drafted the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), and across decades the regime has expanded, with more agreements and more nations participating. As a result, in 2022, only nine states possess nuclear weapons.

Why do most states in the international system adhere to the nuclear nonproliferation regime? The answer lies, Gibbons asserts, in decades of painstaking efforts undertaken by the US government. As the most powerful state during the nuclear age, the United States had many tools with which to persuade other states to join or otherwise support nonproliferation agreements.

The waning of US global influence, Gibbons shows in The Hegemon's Tool Kit, is a key threat to the nonproliferation regime. So, too, is the deepening global divide over progress on nuclear disarmament. To date, the Chinese government is not taking significant steps to support the nuclear nonproliferation regime, and as a result, the regime may face a harmful leadership gap.

New Issue: Transnational Environmental Law

The latest issue of Transnational Environmental Law (Vol. 11, no. 2, July 2022) is out. Contents include:

• Editorial
• Thijs Etty, Josephine van Zeben, Cinnamon Carlarne, Leslie-Anne Duvic-Paoli, Bruce Huber, & Anna Huggins, Legal, Regulatory, and Governance Innovation in Transnational Environmental Law
• Articles
• Leslie-Anne Duvic-Paoli, Re-imagining the Making of Climate Law and Policy in Citizens’ Assemblies
• Elizabeth Donger, Children and Youth in Strategic Climate Litigation: Advancing Rights through Legal Argument and Legal Mobilization
• Jocelyn Stacey, The Public Law Paradoxes of Climate Emergency Declarations
• Hope Johnson, Zoe Nay, Rowena Maguire, Leonie Barner, Alice Payne, & Manuela Taboada, Conceptualizing the Transnational Regulation of Plastics: Moving Towards a Preventative and Just Agenda for Plastics
• David J. Devlaeminck, Softness in the Law of International Watercourses: The (E)merging Normativities of China's Lancang-Mekong Cooperation
• Walters Nsoh, Achieving Groundwater Governance: Ostrom's Design Principles and Payments for Ecosystem Services Approaches
• Case Analysis
• Benoit Mayer, The Duty of Care of Fossil-Fuel Producers for Climate Change Mitigation: Milieudefensie v. Royal Dutch Shell District Court of The Hague (The Netherlands)
• Laura Burgers, An Apology Leading to Dystopia: Or, Why Fuelling Climate Change Is Tortious
• Benoit Mayer, Judicial Interpretation of Tort Law in Milieudefensie v. Shell: A Rejoinder

Rothwell: Islands and International Law

Donald R Rothwell (Australian National Univ. - Law) has published Islands and International Law (Hart Publishing 2022). Here's the abstract:

Islands and their status in international law have become one of the more contentious issues in public international law. However, despite this, there is no contemporary book-length study on the question. This book fills that gap. Written by one of the world's leading public international lawyers, it offers an authoritative overview of how public international law operates in relation to islands. Key issues such as artificial islands, archipelagos, sovereignty, territorial rights, maritime entitlements, and governance are explored in depth. This will become a classic text in the field of international law.

New Issue: The Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals

The latest issue of The Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals (Vol. 21, no. 2, 2022) is out. Contents include:

• Interview
• Freya Baetens & Régis Bismuth, Face à Face: Interview with Maria Teresa Infante Caffi – Judge at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
• Articles
• Alec Stone Sweet, Wayne Sandholtz, & Mads Andenas, The Failure to Destroy the Authority of the European Court of Human Rights: 2010–2018
• Lilla Ozoráková, The Road to Finding a Definition for the Crime of Genocide – the Importance of the Genocide Convention
• Jan Eiken & David Keane, Towards an Amicable Solution: The Inter-State Communications Procedure under ICERD
• Richard Clements, “Efficiency Is Paramount in This Regard”: The Managerial Role of the ICC Presidency from Kirsch to Fernández
• Mihaela Maria Barnes, The European Court of Human Rights and State-Owned Entities: Engagement and Development of a Jurisprudence Constante
• Symposium on Deference in International Adjudication
• Vladyslav Lanovoy, Introduction
• Laurence Boisson de Chazournes & Jason Rudall, Judicial Deference: Why Does It Matter?
• Yuka Fukunaga, Deference and the Authority of International Adjudication
• Joshua Paine, Deference and Other Standards of Review in International Adjudication
• Andrew Legg, Is There Method in the Margin? The Essence of Judicial Deference and the Margin of Appreciation
• Katalin Sulyok, Judicial Deference and Science
• Esmé Shirlow, Deference and the Practice of International Law
• Johannes Hendrik Fahner, The Limited Utility of Deference in International Dispute Settlement

New Issue: Global Responsibility to Protect

The latest issue of Global Responsibility to Protect (Vol. 14, no. 3, 2022) is out. Contents include:

• Special Issue: Intervention and the Responsibility to Protect
• Thomas Peak, Charlie Laderman, & Cecilia Jacob, Intervention and the Responsibility to Protect: Past, Present, and Futures
• Luke Glanville, Wrestling with R2P’s Colonial Parallels
• Karen Smith, R2P at the UN: The Problem of Selective History and Incomplete Narratives
• Alex J. Bellamy, R2P and the Use of Force
• Anastasia Prokhorova, The Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect: Performing Norm Leadership
• Felicity Gray, Relational R2P? Civilian-Led Prevention and Protection against Atrocity Crimes
• Patrick Wight & Yuriko Cowper-Smith, Mass Atrocities in Ethiopia and Myanmar: The Case for ‘Harm Mitigation’ in R2P Implementation

Milanovic & Sivakumaran: Assessing the Authority of the ICRC Customary IHL Study

Marko Milanovic (Univ. of Reading - Law) & Sandesh Sivakumaran (Univ. of Cambridge - Law) have posted Assessing the Authority of the ICRC Customary IHL Study (International Review of the Red Cross, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

In 2005, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) published its two-volume Study of customary international humanitarian law (IHL). While upon its publication it was greeted both with acclaim and with criticism, today the Study has become a standard reference work for practitioners and academics alike – indeed, as far as the academia is concerned, it is probably the single most cited work on IHL. But how authoritative has the Study really been in practice? This is the question that we hope to answer in this article.

That question can be framed and approached from many different angles. We have chosen an empirical one, by collecting and analysing citations to the Study in documents containing expressions of State positions, in the judgments of international and domestic courts and tribunals and in the outputs of other influential actors. Our analysis establishes that the Study is increasingly seen as a highly authoritative instrument, such that a particular proposition will be found to reflect customary international law simply on the basis that the Study says so. In the absence of any concerted pushback, particularly by States – and no such pushback appears to be evident today, even if initially that was not the case and there remains some discontent – the Study’s authority will only increase over time, if nothing else then through repetition and force of habit.

The Study’s authority is particularly evident from our survey of the judgments of international courts and tribunals, but the accretion of authority is widespread and not confined to them only. The common tendency to cite the Study as a primary or sole authority for the existence of a customary rule, without any independent analysis and often as if it was a quasi-legislative text, is remarkable. And even relatively trivial but approving citations reinforce the feedback loop of authority. The Study’s authority rests not only on its rigour and the ICRC’s special mandate and expertise, but also on purely pragmatic grounds. The Study fulfils a variety of otherwise unmet needs. Since its publication no rival project was even conceived of, let alone implemented, that could meet those needs. The Study is simply useful, either for genuinely fundamental purposes (such as regulating non-international conflicts) or for purely pedestrian ones (finding cites for non-controversial propositions). And because it will remain useful, and because so many international legal institutions have already treated it as authoritative, the process of accretion is highly likely to continue.

Note: the spreadsheets containing the citation data we collected will be available shortly in an online repository, but we can provide them on request in the meantime.

Call for Submissions: Special Issue of the UFMG Law School Review in Honor of Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade

The Revista da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais has issued a call for submissions for a special issue in honor of the late Judge Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade. O edital está aqui. The call is here.

New Issue: Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy

The latest issue of the Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy (Vol. 25, no. 1, 2022) is out. Contents include:

• Heidi E. Kretser, Monica Nuñez-Salas, John Polisar & Leonardo Maffei, A Range-Wide Analysis of Legal Instruments Applicable to Jaguar Conservation
• Samantha de Vries, Wildlife Law and Policy Loopholes and Canadian Species of Concern: Practitioners’ Perspectives
• Zhen Miao, Qiang Wang, Xiaofeng Cui, Kirsten Conrad, Wei Ji, Wei Zhang, Xuehong Zhou & Douglas Craig MacMillan, The Dynamics of the Illegal Ivory Trade and the Need for Stronger Global Governance

New Journal: Transnational Criminal Law Review

The Transnational Criminal Law Review is a new open access, peer reviewed journal focused on transnational criminal law. Here's the idea:

The Founding Board of Editors are pleased to announce the launch of the Transnational Criminal Law Review (TCLR). The TCLR is an open access journal, available free to all here, that welcomes submissions that deal with all aspects of legal responses to transnational crime. The journal seeks to promote scholarship in this relatively under-studied field of law, and to serve as a forum that can bring together academic research as well as those interested in the study of legal responses to transnational crime. Submissions may cover procedural as well as substantive aspects of transnational criminal law, which spans a wide range of areas such as transnational organized crime, terrorism, cybercrime, drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption, and migrant smuggling (for further details see About the Journal). The TCLR welcomes submissions that are written from legal doctrinal, theoretical, critical, and interdisciplinary perspectives.

The TCLR will be published twice yearly, and will target an audience of legal scholars, criminologists, and social scientists, as well as legal practitioners, policymakers, and students. The journal will publish full length academic articles (subject to double-blind peer review) and shorter pieces such as case comments, book reviews, and reports on new developments in the field.

Behind the scenes, the TCLR is the work of a founding board of editors, comprised of Neil Boister (University of Canterbury), Robert Currie (Dalhousie University), Masha Fedorova (Radboud University), Sabine Gless (Basel University), Cecily Rose (Leiden University), and Sara Wharton (University of Windsor). The board is supported by a number of regional rapporteurs, who will help to keep readers up-to-date on legal developments around the globe.

Interested in submitting to or receiving updates about the journal? Please register here in order to receive occasional announcements with information about the latest issue or to begin the submission process.

CALL FOR PAPERS

The journal currently welcomes submissions on all aspects of transnational criminal law for Volume 1, Issue 2. For more information on submitting to the TCLR, see here.

Webinar: Russian Aggression on Ukraine from the International Economic Law Perspective

On July 14, 2022, the Warsaw School of Economics, the University of Szeged, and the ELKH Center for Social Sciences will hold a webinar on "Russian Aggression on Ukraine from the International Economic Law Perspective." The program is here. Registration is here.

New Issue: International Criminal Law Review

The latest issue of the International Criminal Law Review (Vol. 22, no. 4, 2022) is out. Contents include:

• Raphaël van Steenberghe, Who Are Protected by the Fundamental Guarantees under International Humanitarian Law? Part 2: Breaking with the Control Requirement in Light of the ICC Case Law
• Juan-Pablo Pérez-Léon-Acevedo, UN-Backed Hybrid Criminal Tribunals (HCTs): Viable Options in International Criminal Justice?
• Mark Kersten, This Mass Atrocity was Brought to You by the Ivory Trade: Linking Transnational Organized and International Crimes
• Simon Wallace, The New Canadian Law of Refugee Exclusion: An Empirical Analysis of International Criminal Law Deportation Orders, January 2018 to July 2020
• Pascale Chifflet & Ian Freckelton, The Mental Incapacity Defence in International Criminal Law: Ramifications from the Ongwen Trial Judgment
• Vessela Terzieva, State Immunity and Victims’ Rights to Access to Court, Reparation, and the Truth
• Catrien Bijleveld, Margareta Blažević, Diana Bociga Gelvez, & Mirza Buljubasic, Sanctioning Perpetrators of International Crimes: A Vignette Study

New Issue: Pécs Journal of International and European Law

The latest issue of the Pécs Journal of International and European Law (Vol. 2022, no. 1) is out. Contents include:

• Elisabeth Sándor-Szalay, Recalling Fridtjof Nansen’s legacy – people fleeing war now and hundred years ago
• Hatim Hussain & Sanskriti Sanghi, Irreverence Intended? Destabilizing ‘Intent’ as Determinative in Discourse around Satire at the ECtHR
• Alexandru-George Moș, Illiberalism and Constitutional Identity. A Critique from a Multilevel Perspective
• István Szijártó, The CJEU Partially Excludes Bulgaria from Taking Part in Judicial Cooperation – an Absolute Order or a Balancing Act? The Gavanozov II Case

Call for Session Ideas: 2023 ASIL Annual Meeting (Reminder)

The American Society of International Law has issued a call for session ideas for its 117th Annual Meeting, which will take place March 29-31, 2023, in Washington, DC. The conference theme is: "The Reach and Limits of International Law to Solve Today's Challenges." The deadline is July 18, 2022. The call is here.

New Issue: Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Institutions

The latest issue of Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Institutions (Vol. 28, no. 2, April-June 2022) is out. Contents include:

• Andrea Ordóñez Llanos, Putting the “Common” in Our Common Agenda
• Kirsten Haack, Margaret P. Karns, & Jean-Pierre Murray, From Aspiration to Commitment: The UN’s “Long March” toward Gender Equality
• Thomas J. Biersteker, Rebecca Brubaker, & David Lanz, Exploring the Relationships between UN Sanctions and Mediation
• Zuzana Hudáková, “Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick”: The Threat of Sanctions in the UN Mediation Process in Yemen
• Clara Portela & Jean-Louis Romanet Perroux, UN Security Council Sanctions and Mediation in Libya: Synergy or Obstruction?
• Francesco Giumelli & Annette Weber, UN Sanctions as Leverage in Mediation Processes? An Anatomy of Missed Opportunities in South Sudan
• Joana Amaral, UN Sanctions and Mediation in Sierra Leone: Opportunities and Pitfalls When Managing Veto Players

Conference: Stockholm + 50: International Environmental Law in Perspective

On September 15-17, 2022, the Stockholm Environmental Law and Policy Centre at Stockholm University will host in-person and online a conference on “Stockholm + 50: International Environmental Law in Perspective.” Program and registration are here.

Call for Papers: New Horizons: The Future of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

The Australian National University College of Law's Centre for International and Public Law and the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law have issued a call for papers for a conference on "New Horizons: The Future of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea" on December 9-10, 2022, in Canberra. The call is here.

Kraska & Park: Emerging Technology and the Law of the Sea

James Kraska (United States Naval War College) & Young-Kil Park (Korea Maritime Institute) have published Emerging Technology and the Law of the Sea (Cambridge Univ. Press 2022). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

Autonomous vessels and robotics, artificial Intelligence and cybersecurity are transforming international shipping and naval operations. Likewise, blockchain offers new efficiencies for compliance with international shipping records, while renewable energy from currents and waves and offshore nuclear power stations open opportunities for new sources of power within and from the sea. These and other emerging technologies pose a challenge for the governance framework of the law of the sea, which is adapting to accommodate the accelerating rates of global change. This volume examines how the latest technological advances and marine sciences are reshaping the interpretation and application of the law of the sea. The authors explore the legality of new concepts for military operations on the continental shelf, suggest remote sensing methodologies for delimitation of maritime boundaries, and offer a legal roadmap for ensuring maritime cyber security.

Nedeski: Shared Obligations in International Law

Nataša Nedeski (Univ. of Amsterdam - Law) has published Shared Obligations in International Law (Cambridge Univ. Press 2022). Here's the abstract:

There are various situations in which multiple states or international organizations are bound to an international obligation in the context of cooperative activities and the pursuit of common goals. This practical phenomenon of sharing international obligations raises questions regarding the performance of obligations (who is bound to do what) and international responsibility in case of a breach (who can be held responsible for what). This book puts forward a concept of shared obligations that captures this practical phenomenon and enables scholars and practitioners to tackle these questions. In doing so, it engages in positive law-based categorization and systematization, building on existing categorizations of obligations and putting forward new typologies of shared obligations. Ultimately, it is contended that the sharing of obligations has relevant legal implications: it can influence the content and performance of obligations as well as the responsibility relations that arise in case of a breach.

Seminar: Nuclear Weapons: Challenges and Opportunities (Doctoral and Postdoctoral Researchers)

On September 26-27, 2022, the Asser Institute will host a seminar for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers on "Nuclear Weapons: Challenges and Opportunities." Program and registration details are here.

Wood & Sthoeger: The UN Security Council and International Law

Michael Wood (Twenty Essex Chambers) & Eran Sthoeger have published The UN Security Council and International Law (Cambridge Univ. Press 2022). Here's the abstract:

The UN Security Council and International Law explores the legal powers, limits and potential of the United Nations Security Council, offering a broadly positive (and positivist) account of the Council's work in practice. This book aims to answer questions such as 'when are Council decisions binding and on whom?', 'what legal constraints exist on Council decision making?' and 'how far is the Council bound by international law?'. Defining the controlling legal rules and differentiating between what the Council can do, as opposed to what it should do as a matter of policy, this book offers both a tool for assessment of the Council as well as realistic solutions to address its deficiencies, and, most importantly, evaluates its potential for maintaining international peace and security, to the benefit of us all.

New Issue: Humanity

The latest issue of Humanity (Vol. 13, no. 1, Spring 2022) is out. Contents include:

• Megan Black, Doc Savage Saves the World: a Pop Culture Origin Story for Us Modernization and Development, 1933–1949
• Kojo Koram, Drug Prohibition and the Policing of Warfare: The War on Drugs, Globalization, and the Moralization of Perpetual Violence
• Whitney Russell, Agents of Sacrifice: Victims and Human Rights in North India
• Dossier: Shaping a Global Horizon, New Histories of the Global South and the UN
• Alanna O’Malley & Vineet Thakur, Introduction: Shaping a Global Horizon, New Histories of the Global South and the UN
• Emma Kluge, A New Agenda for the Global South: West Papua, the United Nations, and the Politics of Decolonization
• Stella Krepp, Fighting an Illiberal World Order: The Latin American Road to UNCTAD, 1948–1964
• Miguel Bandeira Jerónimo & José Pedro Monteiro, “Colonialism on Trial”: International and Transnational Organizations and the “Global South” Challenges to The Portuguese Empire (1949–1962)