New Issue: Nordic Journal of Human Rights

The latest issue of the Nordic Journal of Human Rights (Vol. 35, no. 1, 2017) is out. Contents include:

• Jenny E. Goldschmidt, New Perspectives on Equality: Towards Transformative Justice through the Disability Convention?
• Carola Glinski, The Ruggie Framework, Business Human Rights Self-Regulation and Tort Law: Increasing Standards through Mutual Impact and Learning
• Anna Lundberg & Mikael Spång, Deportability Status as Basis for Human Rights Claims: Irregularised Migrants' Right to Health Care in Sweden
• Iselin Frydenlund, Religious Liberty for Whom? The Buddhist Politics of Religious Freedom during Myanmar's Transition to Democracy

New Issue: American Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the American Journal of International Law (Vol. 110, no. 4, October 2016) is out. Contents include:

• Agora: Reflections on President Obama's War Powers Legacy
• Curtis A. Bradley, President Obama's War Powers Legacy
• Curtis A. Bradley & Jack L. Goldsmith, Obama's AUMF Legacy
• Ashley S. Deeks, The Obama Administration, International Law, and Executive Minimalism
• Ryan Goodman, The Obama Administration and Targeting “War-Sustaining” Objects in Noninternational Armed Conflict
• Rebecca Ingber, The Obama War Powers Legacy and the Internal Forces That Entrench Executive Power
• Michael D. Ramsey, Constitutional War Initiation and the Obama Presidency
• Current Developments
• Sean D. Murphy, Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters and Other Topics: The Sixty-Eighth Session of the International Law Commission
• International Decisions
• Lucy Reed & Kenneth Wong, Marine Entitlements in the South China Sea: The Arbitration Between the Philippines and China
• Vassilis Pergantis, Nasr v. Italy
• Alexander Orakhelashvili, Al-Dulimi v. Switzerland
• Nicole D. Foster, Philip Morris Brands Sàrl v. Oriental Republic of Uruguay
• Nicholas Petrie, De Leopoldo López
• Contemporary Practice of the United States Relating to International Law
• Kristina Daugirdas & Julian Davis Mortenson, Contemporary Practice of the United States Relating to International Law
• Recent Books on International Law
• Nico Schrijver, reviewing The Thin Justice of International Law: A Moral Reckoning of the Law of Nations, by Steven R. Ratner
• Paul Williams & Laura Livingston, reviewing Lawfare: Law as a Weapon of War, by Orde F. Kittrie
• Thomas D. Grant, reviewing Diplomatic Interference and the Law, by Paul Behrens
• Jaya Ramji-Nogales, reviewing The International Law of Migrant Smuggling, by Anne T. Gallagher and Fiona David

Christakis & Constantinides: Territorial Disputes in the Context of Secessionist Conflicts

Theodore Christakis (Université Grenoble Alpes - Law) & Aristoteles Constantinides (Univ. of Cyprus - Law) have posted Territorial Disputes in the Context of Secessionist Conflicts (in Research Handbook on Territorial Disputes in International Law, Marcelo Kohen & Mamadou Hebie eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

In this chapter, we explore the territorial dimension of non-decolonization secessionist conflicts in international law. Our investigation is divided in three parts. The first part focuses on secessions resulting from violations of jus cogens norms. We conclude that contemporary international law prohibits such secessions and prescribes non-recognition as the legal consequence. In the second part, we explore the legal framework under general international law relating to unilateral secessions that do not involve violations of jus cogens. We conclude that even though international law neither authorizes nor outright prohibits unilateral secession it sets many obstacles and presumptions against its ultimate success, but ultimately leaves some space for the principle of effectiveness in exceptional cases. Our third part investigates consensual agreements in the context of secessionist conflicts, which have either led to the creation of new states or accommodated the self-determination aspirations of separatist entities within parent states based on territorial self-governance arrangements. This part also highlights the interplay between consent, effectivités and uti possidetis in state practice and also gives a close look to three arbitrations that dealt with territorial disputes in various non/post-colonial contexts.

Rosenboim: The Emergence of Globalism: Visions of World Order in Britain and the United States, 1939–1950

Or Rosenboim (Univ. of Cambridge - Queens’ College) has published The Emergence of Globalism: Visions of World Order in Britain and the United States, 1939–1950 (Princeton Univ. Press 2017). Here's the abstract:

During and after the Second World War, public intellectuals in Britain and the United States grappled with concerns about the future of democracy, the prospects of liberty, and the decline of the imperial system. Without using the term "globalization," they identified a shift toward technological, economic, cultural, and political interconnectedness and developed a "globalist" ideology to reflect this new postwar reality. The Emergence of Globalism examines the competing visions of world order that shaped these debates and led to the development of globalism as a modern political concept.

Shedding critical light on this neglected chapter in the history of political thought, Or Rosenboim describes how a transnational network of globalist thinkers emerged from the traumas of war and expatriation in the 1940s and how their ideas drew widely from political philosophy, geopolitics, economics, imperial thought, constitutional law, theology, and philosophy of science. She presents compelling portraits of Raymond Aron, Owen Lattimore, Lionel Robbins, Barbara Wootton, Friedrich Hayek, Lionel Curtis, Richard McKeon, Michael Polanyi, Lewis Mumford, Jacques Maritain, Reinhold Niebuhr, H. G. Wells, and others. Rosenboim shows how the globalist debate they embarked on sought to balance the tensions between a growing recognition of pluralism on the one hand and an appreciation of the unity of humankind on the other.

Della Fine, Cera, & Palmisano: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A Commentary

Valentina Della Fina (National Research Council of Italy (CNR) - Institute for International Legal Studies), Rachele Cera (National Research Council of Italy - Institute for International Legal Studies), & Giuseppe Palmisano (National Research Council of Italy - Institute for International Legal Studies) have published The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A Commentary (Springer 2017). Here's the abstract:

This Commentary provides the first comprehensive legal article-by-article analysis of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The Convention is the key international human rights instrument exclusively devoted to persons with disabilities and the centerpiece of international efforts to address inequalities and barriers they encounter to the full enjoyment of human rights. The book discusses the Convention’s position within existing international human rights law and within the framework of the United Nations measures to protect the rights of people with disabilities.

Starting with the background of all the Convention’s articles, including the travaux préparatoires, this Commentary examines each provision’s substance and interpretation, and explores the significance of each right, its legal scope and relationship with other international legal norms and principles. A unique contribution also analyzes the Optional Protocol to the Convention. In addition to enriching academic studies of international human rights law, the book provides insights into the practical operation of the Convention’s provisions by assessing the practice of the CRPD Committee, the activities of relevant international and regional human rights bodies in enforcing the rights of persons with disabilities and the contracting parties’ implementation practices. Relevant European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the European Union and, if appropriate, other regional jurisdictions’ case law, as well as the jurisprudence of domestic courts, are taken into consideration.

New Issue: Global Trade and Customs Journal

The latest issue of Global Trade and Customs Journal (Vol. 12, no. 3, 2017) is out. Contents include:

• Lorand Bartels, The UK’s WTO Schedules
• Christian Häberli, Brexit Without WTO-Problems: For the UK? The EU? Global Business?'
• Michael Lux & Eric Pickett, The Brexit: Implications for the WTO, Free Trade Models and Customs Procedures
• Tobias Dolle & David Leys, The Trade and Customs Law Consequences of Brexit
• Clifford Sosnow, Alexandra Logvin, & Kevin Massicotte, The Brexit Vote: Its Impact on the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement and UK’s Obligations Under Comprehensive Trade and Economic Trade Agreement

Conference: 2017 Cambridge International and European Law Conference

The Cambridge International Law Journal, in association with the Centre for European Legal Studies and Monckton Chambers, will hold the 2017 Cambridge International and European Law Conference, on March 23-24. The theme is: "Transforming Institutions." The program is here.

Call for Papers: Towards Utopia – Rethinking International Law

The Walther Schücking Institute for International Law at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel has issued a call for papers for a workshop for young international lawyers for a workshop on "Towards Utopia – Rethinking International Law." Here's the call:

Towards Utopia –
Rethinking International Law

Call for Papers: Walther Schücking Workshop
for Young International Lawyers

Kiel, 19-20 August 2017

The Walther Schücking Institute for International Law at the University of Kiel is organising a two-day workshop on new and utopian approaches to international law.

Walther Schücking, judge at the Permanent Court of International Justice and namesake of the Institute, was said to hold views “destined to become the law of the future” (James Brown Scott). We wish to discuss visions for that law of the future at the workshop, which will focus on progressive, unconventional thinking and new ways of approaching, using, and conceptualising international (and regional) law. It is aimed primarily at young international lawyers (PhD students or post-docs), in the hope that we may come together as a diverse group of open-minded and idealistic scholars to develop and discuss utopian lines of thought otherwise left unpursued.

We welcome submissions that engage with utopian thought and international law – either in form of substantive suggestions or recursively on utopian approaches in general and the possibility of rethinking international law. Possible topics include but are not limited to:

• The role(s) of utopianism: Which role(s), if any, does utopianism play in current international legal theory and political morality? Which should it play? Are some areas of law (e.g. human rights, ius cogens) particularly relevant – or troublesome?
• Moral and legal progress: How, if ever, can we reach or work towards utopia? How should progress be measured? What are the implications for conceptualising time, morality, and law?
• Existing structures: How do current structures of international law (e.g. certain dogmatic approaches, formalism, supposed objectivity or neutrality of law) relate to utopian thought? How, if ever, can these be overcome? Should they?
• Critical approaches revisited: Can primarily critical and deconstructive approaches (feminist, queer, anti-colonialist, critical race or disability studies, etc.) be given positive and utopian formulations?
• Practical implications: What should utopian proposals actually look like? What are their implications for structural reforms of international law and international organisations? What would such reforms entail?

We are honoured that Professor Philip Allott of the University of Cambridge has agreed to join our workshop and discuss these matters. His ground-breaking work on reconceiving international law and overcoming current modes of thought, particularly his recent monograph Eutopia (re-published in paperback in March 2017, with a new Introduction), may serve as a starting point for our explorations. It could be commented upon, further developed, or used as a prism through which to analyse certain issues; it can also be criticised or given a feminist or queer reading. All kinds of utopian approaches relating to the topics suggested above are welcome. Professor Allott’s work will serve as a common frame of reference that enables discussion among the workshop participants despite a wide range of substantive topics or different approaches.

Professor Allott will also give the inaugural Walther Schücking Lecture on the day before the workshop, which participants are invited to attend. The title of his lecture will be Beyond War and Diplomacy. A Giant Step for Mankind.

The workshop will be held on the weekend of 19-20 August 2017, with the Walther Schücking Lecture scheduled for the afternoon of 18 August. We envision a format of intense discussion between around fifteen participants, with each participant giving a brief presentation. Interested scholars should submit an abstract of around 750 words to the organising committee (utopia@wsi.uni-kiel.de) by 8 May 2017. Abstracts must include a title and the name and affiliation of the author; preference will be given to those at an early stage of their career (PhD students or post-docs). We encourage scholars with different backgrounds to apply – interdisciplinary submissions are welcome.

If your abstract is accepted, you will be expected to submit a paper of around 8,000 words (including footnotes) by 7 August 2017. The papers will be circulated among the workshop participants in advance to facilitate an in-depth discussion. Selected papers may, subject to peer review, subsequently be published in the German Yearbook of International Law. The workshop will take place in a beautiful waterfront location in Kiel, Germany. All reasonable travel expenses for workshop participants will be reimbursed, and hotel rooms in Kiel will be provided for two nights. Further information on funding and reimbursement procedures will follow once participants have been chosen.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the organising committee: Isabelle Haßfurther, Wiebke Staff, and Jens Theilen (utopia@wsi.uni-kiel.de).

Timeline:

8 May 2017: Deadline for submission of abstracts (ca. 750 words)
7 August 2017: Deadline for submission of full papers (ca. 8,000 words)
18 August 2017: Walther Schücking Lecture from 4-6 pm
19-20 August 2017: Walther Schücking Workshop

Cohen, Føllesdal, Grossman, & Ulfstein: Introduction: Legitimacy and International Courts

Harlan Grant Cohen (Univ. of Georgia - Law), Andreas Føllesdal (Univ. of Oslo - Law), & Nienke Grossman (Univ. of Baltimore - Law), & Geir Ulfstein (Univ. of Oslo - Law) have posted Introduction: Legitimacy and International Courts (in Legitimacy and International Courts, Harlan Grant Cohen, Andreas Føllesdal, Nienke Grossman, & Geir Ulfstein eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Legitimacy and International Courts examines the underpinnings of legitimacy, or the justification of the authority, of international courts and tribunals. It brings together an esteemed group of authors, noted for both their expertise in individual courts, tribunals, or other adjudicatory bodies, and their work on legitimacy, effectiveness, and governance more broadly, to consider the legitimacy of international courts from a comparative perspective. Authors explore what strengthens and weakens the legitimacy of various different international courts, while also considering broader theories of international court legitimacy. Some chapters highlight the sociological or normative legitimacy of specific courts or tribunals, while others address cross-cutting issues such as representation, democracy, independence and effectiveness.

This Introduction surveys some of the key contributions of this volume and distills some of the lessons of its varied chapters for the legitimacy of international courts. Parts II and III are largely conceptual in approach, exploring what legitimacy means for each and all of the courts. Part IV takes a more functional approach, exploring how various factors internal or external to particular courts have contributed to those courts’ normative or sociological legitimacy. Part V provides thumbnail summaries of each the chapters that follow.

Call for Papers: Rethinking Free Trade: Liberal International Economic Order in the Wake of Brexit and Trump

The Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica has issued a call for papers for a conference on "Rethinking Free Trade: Liberal International Economic Order in the Wake of Brexit and Trump," to be held November 15-16, 2017, in Taipei. Here's the call:

Call for Papers

Rethinking Free Trade: Liberal International Economic Order
in the Wake of Brexit and Trump

(15-16 November 2017)

The GATT in conjunction with the Bretton Wood institutions, are seen as a major effort to retain a liberal international economic order in the aftermath of WWII. In parallel, the European integration project stemming from the Rome Treaties is seen as a political, social, and intellectual engineering project to pursue democratic peace and security through closer economic integration. Economic integration and trade liberalisation are not ends in themselves, but important economic instruments in the service of political and societal ends. In this context, some scholars argue that free trade constitutes a crucial global public good that is from time-to-time belittled and undervalued. This view is not always shared by civil society and the academic community. Social discontent against economic integration and free trade is best illustrated by Brexit and Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.

Conceptually, free trade is asserted to be closely associated with neoliberalism, which attracts tremendous criticism. The ideological shift from embedded liberalism to neoliberalism is a topical issue heatedly debated by both proponents and opponents of free trade. A fresh look at neoliberalism and its critique is thus essential to underscore the trajectory of free trade and to the preservation of liberal international economic order.

Practically, free trade has never merely been wholly free trade, and has given rise to ‘non-trade’ concerns, ranging from environmental protection to labor rights, and from social distribution to national security. Ensuring such concerns are taken into consideration while pursuing free trade, if it is worth pursuing, is a fundamental challenge facing trade policymakers and scholars. Today, it the question is even more acute as social anger and discontent with free trade grows and the legitimacy of the EU and the WTO is questioned seriously. The European integration project is in peril due to a surge in Euroscepticism, exemplified by Brexit. The deadlock of the Doha negotiations has led countries to turn to trade liberalization through other venues, such as the TPP, TTIP, and RCEP. Yet, the emergence of such mega-FTAs seems to exacerbate rather than alleviate the suspicions of civil society.

Free trade is also asserted to be one of the main factors contributing to the concentration of national wealth and widening the gap in social inequality. This results in greater discontent with economic integration and trade liberalization and provides fertile soil for populism. On the other hand, the secrecy of trade negotiations, in particular in the context of TPP, frustrates demands from civil society for greater transparency and public participation. Ironically, Brexit and Trump’s presidency may contribute to further entrenching free trade, at the expense of social concerns, rather than undermine it. The withdrawal of the US from the TPP—and possibly from the NAFTA and the WTO—does not mean that Trump disdains free trade, but rather displays his preference for bilateral or unilateral action. Similarly, Brexit gives the UK a good opportunity to pursue FTA talks that will unleash its economic competiveness without needing to overcome the hurdles of social clauses normally contained in EU FTAs. Thus the paradox: resentment against economic integration and trade liberalization contribute to Brexit and a Trump presidency, which in turn leads to the more radical pursuit of free trade.

Against this background, the Institute of European and American Studies (IEAS), Academia Sinica intends to organize an international conference devoted to these debates on 15-16 (Wed-Thu) November, 2017 in Taipei, Taiwan. The potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following issues:

• The shift from embedded liberalism to neoliberalism and its critique
• The future of mega-FTAs in the wake of Trump and Brexit: Free and Freer Trade and the role of China
• Trump’s trade policy and the end of the WTO?
• Populism and economic integration and trade liberalization
• Social impact/consequences of economic integration and trade liberalization

The organizer will be able to cover a round-trip ticket (economy class) and local accommodation. The organizer intends to publish the conference papers, with revisions made in accordance with the comments of participants and/or reviewers, as an edited volume by an international renowned publisher. The organizer welcomes lawyers, political scientists, and sociologists submit an abstract of less than 500 words outlining the main arguments, supported with a short CV of two pages or less indicating the author’s affiliation, contact, and relevant publications before May 1, 2017 Interdisciplinary works are particularly encouraged. Successful applicants will be notified by May 20, 2017. Abstracts are to be submitted to Dr. Chien-Huei Wu wch@sinica.edu.tw as well the project manager Mr. David Kuan-Wei Wu davidwukw@gate.sinica.edu.tw. Queries about the conference can also be made to the above email addresses.

Important Timeline

1st May: Deadline for Abstracts
20th May: Notification of Successful Applicants
20th October: Conference Papers Due
15th-16th November: Conference on Rethinking Free Trade Takes Place in Taipei
31th March 2018: Revised Chapters Due

Special Issue: Regulatory Intermediaries in the Age of Governance

The latest issue of the ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (Vol. 670, March 2017) focuses on "Regulatory Intermediaries in the Age of Governance." Contents include:

• Regulatory Intermediaries in the Age of Governance
• Kenneth W. Abbott, David Levi-Faur, & Duncan Snidal, Introducing Regulatory Intermediaries
• Kenneth W. Abbott, David Levi-Faur, & Duncan Snidal, Theorizing Regulatory Intermediaries: The RIT Model
• Mathias Koenig-Archibugi, Kate Macdonald, The Role of Beneficiaries in Transnational Regulatory Processes
• Tetty Havinga & Paul Verbruggen, Understanding Complex Governance Relationships in Food Safety Regulation: The RIT Model as a Theoretical Lens
• Timothy D. Lytton, The Taming of the Stew: Regulatory Intermediaries in Food Safety Governance
• Graeme Auld & Stefan Renckens, Rule-Making Feedbacks through Intermediation and Evaluation in Transnational Private Governance
• Allison Marie Loconto, Models of Assurance: Diversity and Standardization of Modes of Intermediation
• Andreas Kruck, Asymmetry in Empowering and Disempowering Private Intermediaries: The Case of Credit Rating Agencies
• Martino Maggetti, Christian Ewert, & Philipp Trein, Not Quite the Same: Regulatory Intermediaries in the Governance of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices
• Nicole De Silva, Intermediary Complexity in Regulatory Governance: The International Criminal Court’s Use of NGOs in Regulating International Crimes
• Axel Marx & Jan Wouters, Rule Intermediaries in Global Labor Governance
• Jeroen van der Heijden, Brighter and Darker Sides of Intermediation: Target-Oriented and Self-Interested Intermediaries in the Regulatory Governance of Buildings
• Tom Pegram, Regulatory Stewardship and Intermediation: Lessons from Human Rights Governance
• Jacint Jordana, Transgovernmental Networks as Regulatory Intermediaries: Horizontal Collaboration and the Realities of Soft Power
• Jean-Pierre Galland, Big Third-Party Certifiers and the Construction of Transnational Regulation
• Kenneth W. Abbott, David Levi-Faur, & Duncan Snidal, Enriching the RIT Framework

New Issue: International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law

The latest issue of the International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law (Vol. 32, no. 1, 2017) is out. Contents include:

• Andrew Friedman, Submarine Telecommunication Cables and a Biodiversity Agreement in ABNJ: Finding New Routes for Cooperation
• Fayokemi Olorundami, Objectivity versus Subjectivity in the Context of the ICJ’s Three-stage Methodology of Maritime Boundary Delimitation
• Zoe Scanlon, Taking Action against Fishing Vessels without Nationality: Have Recent International Developments Clarified the Law?
• Suk Kyoon Kim, Maritime Boundary Negotiations between China and Korea: The Factors at Stake
• Mary George; Abdul Samad Shaik Osman; Hanafi Hussin & Anneliz Reina George, Protecting the Malacca and Singapore Straits from Ships’ Atmospheric Emissions through the Implementation of MARPOL Annex VI
• Viktor Weber & Michael N. Tsimplis, The UK Liability Framework for the Transport of CO2 for Offshore Carbon Capture and Storage Operations
• Seokwoo Lee, The Sewol Ferry Disaster in Korea: Liability and Compensation Issues

Trubek, Morosini, & Sanchez Badin: Brazil in the Shadow of Mega-Regional Trade and Investment Standards: Beyond the Grand Debate, Pragmatic Responses

David M. Trubek (Univ. of Wisconsin - Law), Fabio C. Morosini (Federal Univ. of Rio Grande do Sul - Law), & Michelle Ratton Sanchez Badin (Fundação Getulio Vargas - São Paulo Law School) have posted Brazil in the Shadow of Mega-Regional Trade and Investment Standards: Beyond the Grand Debate, Pragmatic Responses. Here's the abstract:

This paper addresses the impact of TPP-like policies on third countries, looking at the case of Brazil, one of the most important emerging economies. We argue that TPP-like agreements are a way to bypass resistance to neoliberal ordering in the WTO through the institution of alternative fora. We investigate whether this type of agreement -- or bilateral agreements with TPP-type standards -- could represent a threat to Brazil's state-led development mode and conclude they could significantly affect industrial policy, the role of state-owned enterprises, and foreign investment regulation while possibly also constraining Brazil's policy space in areas such as intellectual property and the digital economy. We review a series of pragmatic moves by Brazil as it seeks to carve out a new role in global economic space in a period of rapid change. This evolving approach, we contend, could allow Brazil to engage in the 21st century economy while preserving the core of its state-led development model.

Young: Energy Transitions and Trade Law: Lessons from the Reform of Fisheries Subsidies

Margaret A. Young (Univ. of Melbourne - Law) has posted Energy Transitions and Trade Law: Lessons from the Reform of Fisheries Subsidies (International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Fossil fuel subsidies, like subsidies to the fishing sector, lead to trade-distorting and ecologically harmful practices. The US$35 billion in subsidies provided by countries every year to the fishing sector leads to more and more boats being built, even as 90% of fish stocks are either fully exploited or overfished. An estimated US$650 billion in subsidies provided annually to the fossil fuel sector supports increased production and consumption, even as evidence emerges that oil, gas and coal reserves must remain unexploited to limit global warming increases to 2° Celsius. Of course, each country has its own development priorities, livelihood concerns and need for food and energy security. Agreeing upon subsidy reform is a complex undertaking requiring social, political and historical considerations, and involving international legal regimes that govern climate change, energy, fisheries and trade. This article reviews proposals for reform within the World Trade Organization and regional trade agreements, including the new disciplines on fisheries subsidies in the recently concluded text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Consensus is emerging on the need to prohibit subsidies that contribute to overfishing or that are linked to illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing. The article shows how these legal developments might inform attempts to limit fossil fuel production and consumption subsidies. It highlights the need for learning and open deliberation about subsidy reform by affected stakeholders, including representatives from international organisations and civil society. It also points to new arrangements that link compliance with subsidy rules to standards and benchmarks from fisheries regimes, and demonstrates how such inter-regime connections are legitimate in the context of the fragmentation of international law. While reform to fisheries subsidies is still preliminary and fraught, there are useful lessons for the equally important project of energy transitions.

New Issue: China and WTO Review

The latest issue of China and WTO Review (Vol. 3, no. 1, March 2017) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Jerry Jie Hua, Implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty for Visually Impaired Persons into the Chinese Copyright Law
• Haijun Lu, Can Nordic Extended Collective Licence Be Transplanted to China?
• Chunlei Zhao, Jurisdiction Ratione Temporis in Successive International Investment Agreements: What Can Chinese Investors Learn from the Ping An Case?
• Current Developments
• Tsung-Sheng Liao, Regional Trade Agreements as Laboratories for New Trade Disciplines to Tackle Climate Change: Why and How?
• Stuart S. Malawer, Trump's China Trade Policies: Threats and Constraints
• Yucong Wang, Indirect Expropriation and One Belt One Road Initiative: A Pivotal Issue for the Implementation of China’s Refreshed Strategy for Foreign Investment
• Correspondence
• Lingtong Kong, A Brief Review of UDRP: Achievements, Challenges and Recommendations
• Prince-Arnaud Adiko, Connecting the Belt and Road Initiative to the Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone Development
• Insights
• Xiangqian Gong, THAAD and China’s Trade Policy with South Korea
• Seryon Lee, Trump’s “America First” Doctrine and Trans-Pacific Partnership
• Keyao Zhang, China Beamed Confidence into Economic Globalization on WEF

Schmahl & Breuer: The Council of Europe: Its Laws and Policies

Stefanie Schmahl (Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg - Law) & Marten Breuer (Universität Konstanz - Law) have published The Council of Europe: Its Laws and Policies (Oxford Univ. Press 2017). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

The Council of Europe, of which all European States are members, plays a pivotal role in the promotion and protection of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in Europe. Bringing together specialist scholars and practitioners, The Council of Europe: Its Laws and Policies offers profound insights into the functioning of the organization. The organization's primary and secondary law, its institutional structure, and its far-reaching fields of activities are comprehensively and systematically analysed. This volume investigates the impact of the Council's activities within the national legal systems of the Member States and the dense web of relationships between the Council of Europe and other international organisations. An important reference work on one of the most influential organizations in Europe, the book concludes that the Council of Europe has played a considerable role in the constitutionalization process of regional public international law.

Voon: Consolidating International Investment Law: The Mega-Regionals as a Pathway Towards Multilateral Rules

Tania S.L. Voon (Univ. of Melbourne - Law) has posted Consolidating International Investment Law: The Mega-Regionals as a Pathway Towards Multilateral Rules (World Trade Review, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Pessimism abounds in international economic law. The World Trade Organization (‘WTO’) faces an uncertain future following its Ministerial Conference in Nairobi in 2015. International investment law is under attack in countries around the world, while mega-regional agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership are beset by world events, from the United States’ federal election to the unexpected Brexit outcome. Yet the appetite of numerous States to continue forging plurilateral trade and investment deals provides some cause for hope. Viewed alongside other institutional developments including consensus-building work at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, the potential arguably now exists for credible movement towards multilateral rules in investment law. While the WTO’s current negotiating stalemate highlights the difficulties in reaching agreement among 164 Members, international trade law offers lessons for working towards multilateralism in the international investment law field. Alongside informal discussions about a world investment court, mega-regionals provide a vehicle for future multilateral investment rules, particularly through the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership currently under negotiation in Asia.

Alschner: Locked in Language: Historical Sociology and the Path Dependency of Investment Treaty Design

Wolfgang Alschner (Univ. of Ottawa - Law) has posted Locked in Language: Historical Sociology and the Path Dependency of Investment Treaty Design (in Edward Elgar Research Handbook on the Sociology of International Law, Moshe Hirsch & Andrew Lang eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Past legal language exerts an almost magnetic force on negotiators. From boilerplate treaties or copy-and-paste adaptations to the codification of prior jurisprudence – practitioners constantly recycle already existent terms, phrases and concepts into new legal outputs. In this contribution, I link the reproduction of legal language to the concept of path dependency and apply it to international investment agreements. I show that historical sociology rather than rational design helps to explain the path-dependent style and content of today’s investment regime. Using the fair and equitable treatment clause as a case study, I trace how these clauses first emerged haphazardly in investment law, yet then became entrenched through efficiency considerations, sociological forces and cognitive biases. The ensuing path dependency has prevented adaptations of superior treaty design alternatives and instead geared negotiators into reproducing or refining the fair and equitable treatment standard. Differently put, negotiators have become locked in language. I conclude by outlining ways how current reform efforts can overcome the system’s path dependency to allow for innovation inspired not by past practices but by current needs.

Koskenniemi, Rech, & Jiménez Fonseca: International Law and Empire: Historical Explorations

Martti Koskenniemi (Univ. of Helsinki - Law), Walter Rech (Univ. of Helsinki - Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights), & Manuel Jiménez Fonseca (Univ. of Helsinki - Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights) have published International Law and Empire: Historical Explorations (Oxford Univ. Press 2017). Contents include:

• Martti Koskenniemi, Introduction
• Arthur Weststeijn, Provincializing Grotius: International Law and Empire in a Seventeenth-Century Malay Mirror,
• Stefan Kroll, Indirect Hegemonies in International Legal Relations: The Debate of Religious Tolerance in Early Republican China
• Walter Rech, International Law, Empire, and the Relative Indeterminacy of Narrative
• Peter Schroder, The Concepts of Universal Monarchy and Balance of Power in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century-a Case Study
• Randall Lesaffer, Between Faith and Empire: The Justification of the Spanish Intervention in the French Wars of Religion in the 1590s
• Manuel Jiménez Fonseca, Jus gentium and the Transformation of Latin American Nature: One More Reading of Vitoria?
• José-Manuel Barreto, Cerberus: The State, the Empire, and the Company as Subjects of International Law in Grotius and the Peace of Westphalia
• Julie Saada, Revolution, Empire, and Utopia: Tocqueville and the Intellectual Background of International Law
• Christian Windler, Towards the Empire of a 'Civilizing Nation': The French Revolution and its Impact on Relations with the Ottoman Regencies in the Maghreb
• PG McHugh, A Comporting Sovereign, Tribes, and the Ordering of Imperial Authority in Colonial Upper Canada of the 1830s
• Luigi Nuzzo, Territory, Sovereignty, and the Construction of the Colonial Space
• Umut Özsu, An Anti-Imperialist Universalism? Jus Cogens and the Politics of International Law
• Hatsue Shinohara, Drift towards an Empire? The Trajectory of American Reformers in the Cold War
• Benjamin Straumann, Imperium sine fine: Carneades, the Splendid Vice of Glory, and the Justice of Empire
• Andrew Fitzmaurice, Scepticism of the Civilizing Mission in International Law

Sellars: Rocking the Boat: The Paracels, the Spratlys, and the South China Sea Arbitration

Kirsten Sellars (Chinese Univ. of Hong Kong - Law) has posted Rocking the Boat: The Paracels, the Spratlys, and the South China Sea. Here's the abstract:

On 12 July last year, the Permanent Court of Arbitration found overwhelmingly in favour of the Philippines in its dispute with the People’s Republic of China over maritime entitlements in the South China Sea. This piece appraises the decision in light of the events leading up to the current controversy in the Paracel and Spratly groups.

To investigate the source of the conflict, one does not have to go back very far. In the final stages of the Vietnam War, China ejected South Vietnam from the Paracel Islands — a group of tiny maritime features in the South China Sea claimed by both nations. After clashes on 19-20 January 1974 involving some fifteen naval vessels, the South Vietnamese withdrew. Four Vietnamese had been killed, dozens had been wounded, and scores more were missing or captured. After this classic ‘weekend war’, China tried to dampen down the affair by swiftly releasing the prisoners and refusing to be drawn into an international debate.

Within days, though, there was more activity, this time on the Spratly Islands, a larger group of maritime features further to the south of the South China Sea. From 1971 to 1974, this group saw the arrival of armed garrisons, the construction of barracks and airfields, the extension of claims to reefs, the search for oil and gas, and the degradation of the marine environment — precisely the sort of activities which the Philippines accused China of in the recent arbitration. Back then, though, it was the Philippines, South Vietnam and Taiwan involved in these pursuits. China arrived later. While this does not excuse Beijing’s current actions, it does put a different complexion on the current claims within the South China Sea.

By drawing on these earlier events, it is possible to construct a legal path to the current arbitration, based on the respective parties’ claims to the Spratlys features and the maritime zones around them. Having situated the arbitration within this legal debate, one can then critically appraise the Court’s reasoning on its jurisdiction over the case, its utilisation of the historical facts, and its interpretation of the UN Law of the Sea Convention.

Alter & Helfer: Transplanting International Courts: The Law and Politics of the Andean Tribunal of Justice

Karen J. Alter (Northwestern Univ. - Political Science and Law) & Laurence R. Helfer (Duke Univ. - Law) have published Transplanting International Courts: The Law and Politics of the Andean Tribunal of Justice (Oxford Univ. Press 2017). Here's the abstract:

Transplanting International Courts: The Law and Politics of the Andean Tribunal of Justice provides a deep, systematic investigation of the most active and successful transplant of the European Court of Justice. The Andean Tribunal is effective by any plausible definition of the term, but only in the domain of intellectual property law. Alter and Helfer explain how the Andean Tribunal established its legal authority within and beyond this intellectual property island, and how Andean judges have navigated moments of both transnational political consensus and political contestation over the goals and objectives of regional economic integration. By letting member states set the pace and scope of Andean integration, by condemning unequivocal violations of Andean rules, and by allowing for the coexistence of national legislation and supranational authority, the Tribunal has retained its fidelity to Andean law while building relationships with nationally-based administrative agencies, lawyers, and judges. Yet the Tribunals circumspect and formalist approach means that, unlike in Europe, community law is not an engine of integration. The Tribunals strategy has also limited its influence within the Andean legal system.

The authors also revisit their own path-breaking scholarship on the effectiveness of international adjudication. Alter and Helfer argue that the European Court of Justice benefitted in underappreciated ways from the support of transnational jurist advocacy movements that are absent or poorly organized in the Andes and elsewhere in the world. The Andean Tribunals longevity despite these and other challenges offers guidance for international courts in other developing country contexts. Moreover, given that the Andean Community has weathered member state withdrawals and threats of exit, major economic and political crises, and the retrenchment of core policies such as the common external tariff, the Andean experience offers timely and important lessons for European international courts.

New Issue: Review of International Studies

The latest issue of the Review of International Studies (Vol. 43, no. 2, April 2017) is out. Contents include:

• John G. Oates, The fourth face of legitimacy: Constituent power and the constitutional legitimacy of international institutions
• John Stone, George Orwell on politics and war
• Dimitrios E. Akrivoulis, Beyond the hermeneutics of suspicion in the critique of humanitarian intervention
• Moya Lloyd, Naming the dead and the politics of the ‘human’
• Luis Cabrera, Dalit cosmopolitans: Institutionally developmental global citizenship in struggles against caste discrimination
• Josh Brem-Wilson, La Vía Campesina and the UN Committee on World Food Security: Affected publics and institutional dynamics in the nascent transnational public sphere
• Ronnie Hjorth, State Civil Disobedience and international society
• Caterina Carta, Gramsci and The Prince: Taking Machiavelli outside the realist courtyard?
• Benjamin Zala, Great power management and ambiguous order in nineteenth-century international society

Kidane: The Culture of International Arbitration

Won L. Kidane (Seattle Univ. - Law) has published The Culture of International Arbitration (Oxford Univ. Press 2017). Here's the abstract:

Although international arbitration has emerged as a credible means of resolution of transnational disputes involving parties from diverse cultures, the effects of culture on the accuracy, efficiency, fairness, and legitimacy of international arbitration is a surprisingly neglected topic within the existing literature. The Culture of International Arbitration fills that gap by providing an in-depth study of the role of culture in modern day arbitral proceedings. It contains a detailed analysis of how cultural miscommunication affects the accuracy, efficiency, fairness, and legitimacy in both commercial and investment arbitration when the arbitrators and the parties, their counsel and witnesses come from diverse legal traditions and cultures. The book provides a comprehensive definition of culture, and methodically documents and examines the epistemology of determining facts in various legal traditions and how the mixing of traditions influences the outcome. By so doing, the book demonstrates the acute need for increasing cultural diversity among arbitrators and counsel while securing appropriate levels of cultural competence. To provide an accurate picture, Kidane conducted interviews with leading international jurists from diverse legal traditions with first-hand experience of the complicating effects of culture in legal proceedings. Given the insights and information on the rules and expectations of the various legal traditions and their convergence in modern day international arbitration practice, this book challenges assumptions and can offer a unique and useful perspective to all practitioners, academics, policy makers, students of international arbitration.

Discussion: Ethics and the Global War on Terror (Video)

Yesterday, March 8, 2017, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences hosted a discussion on "Ethics and the Global War on Terror: Can Conflicts with Non-State Actors Be Fought in a Just Way?" Participants included Gabriella Blum (Harvard Univ. – Law), Neta Crawford (Boston Univ. – Political Science), Jonathan F. Fanton (President, American Academy of Arts and Sciences), Jennifer Leaning (Harvard Univ. – School of Public Health), and Allen S. Weiner (Stanford Univ. – Law). The video is here.

Shany: All Roads Lead to Strasbourg?: Application of the Margin of Appreciation Doctrine by the European Court of Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Committee

Yuval Shany (Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem - Law) has posted All Roads Lead to Strasbourg?: Application of the Margin of Appreciation Doctrine by the European Court of Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Committee (Journal of International Dispute Settlement, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

The present article seeks to explore the possibility that a gap exists between the perceived rejection of the margin of appreciation (MoA) doctrine by the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), and its actual practice of employing substitute, MoA-like approaches. The existence of such a gap might be explained by the proposition that some aspects of the MoA doctrine are an indispensable element of international adjudication involving state conduct. It may also suggest that there are policy considerations which lead some international human rights bodies not to embrace explicitly the MoA doctrine or to downplay in their jurisprudence the prominence of similar deference-granting doctrines.

Part One of the article surveys the application of the MoA doctrine in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), identifying three analytically separate prongs – application of law to facts, balancing of norms in the course of law-application and balancing of norms in the course of law interpretation. Part Two then moves to discuss analogous legal moves taken by the HRC, while noting the remaining differences between the approaches of the two bodies. Part Three concludes.