Saturday, November 23, 2013

New Issue: Global Environmental Politics

The latest issue of Global Environmental Politics (Vol. 13, no. 4, November 2013) is out. Contents include:
  • Forum
    • Maria Ivanova, The Contested Legacy of Rio+20
    • Steven Bernstein, Rio+20: Sustainable Development in a Time of Multilateral Decline
  • Research Articles
    • Christian Downie, Three Ways to Understand State Actors in International Negotiations: Climate Change in the Clinton Years (1993–2000)
    • Graciela Kincaid & J. Timmons Roberts, No Talk, Some Walk: Obama Administration First-Term Rhetoric on Climate Change and US International Climate Budget Commitments
    • Jon Birger Skjærseth, Guri Bang, & Miranda A. Schreurs, Explaining Growing Climate Policy Differences Between the European Union and the United States
    • Joshua Ozymy & Denis Rey, Wild Spaces or Polluted Places: Contentious Policies, Consensus Institutions, and Environmental Performance in Industrialized Democracies
    • Mattias Wahlström, Magnus Wennerhag, & Christopher Rootes, Framing “The Climate Issue”: Patterns of Participation and Prognostic Frames among Climate Summit Protesters
    • Henry Boer, Governing Ecosystem Carbon
    • Kemi Fuentes-George, Neoliberalism, Environmental Justice, and the Convention on Biological Diversity: How Problematizing the Commodification of Nature Affects Regime Effectiveness

Friday, November 22, 2013

New Issue: Revista Española de Derecho Internacional

The latest issue of the Revista Española de Derecho Internacional (Vol. 65, no. 2, 2013) is out. Contents include:
  • Estudios
    • Carlos Bartolomé Jiménez Piernas, Estados débiles y Estados fracasados
    • Manuel Desantes Real, Hacia un tribunal unificado y un efecto unitario para las patentes europeas en casi todos los Estados miembros de la Unión Europea. Consecuencias de la autoexclusión de España
    • Nathalie Ros, El Derecho jurisprudencial de la delimitación marítima
    • José Alejandro del Valle Gálvez, ¿De verdad cedimos el Peñón?. Opciones estratégicas de España sobre Gibraltar a los 300 años del Tratado de Utrecht
    • María Alvarez Torné, El Derecho internacional privado ante las vulneraciones de derechos humanos cometidas por empresas y respuestas en la UE
  • Notas
    • Susana Sanz Caballero, Los efectos del calentamiento global en los derechos del niño. Una perspectiva desde el Derecho internacional
    • Ana Gemma López Martín, Primera sentencia de la Corte Penal Internacional sobre reparación a las víctimas: caso The Prosecutor c. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, 7 de agosto de 2012

Hilpold: Von der Utopie zur Realität – das Selbstbestimmungsrecht der Völker im Europa der Gegenwart

Peter Hilpold (Universität Innsbruck - Law) has published Von der Utopie zur Realität – das Selbstbestimmungsrecht der Völker im Europa der Gegenwart (Juristen Zeitung, Vol. 68, no. 22, Nov. 2013). Here's the abstract:
Europaweit erschallt der Ruf nach Selbstbestimmung. Die damit verbundenen Forderungen variieren jedoch. In diesem Beitrag wird das wechselvolle Schicksal des Selbstbestimmungskonzepts nachgezeichnet und aufgezeigt, in welcher Form dieses Prinzip zu einem Recht normativ verdichtet worden ist. Gerade wenn Selbstbestimmung als Ausdruck demokratischer Mitbestimmung verstanden wird, sind an deren Verwirklichung aber zahlreiche Bedingungen zu knüpfen. Sollte der Selbstbestimmungsprozess in Eigenstaatlichkeit münden, so hat ein Neustaat im europäischen Grundrechteraum eine Vielzahl von anspruchsvollen Anforderungen zu erfüllen.

Lambert, McAdam, & Fullerton: The Global Reach of European Refugee Law

Hélène Lambert (Univ. of Westminster), Jane McAdam (Univ. of New South Wales), & Maryellen Fullerton (Brooklyn Law School) have published The Global Reach of European Refugee Law (Cambridge Univ. Press 2013). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:
Europe has the most advanced regional protection regime in the world. The predicted impact of this body of norms, including the new Common European Asylum System, has been widely identified as one that will have a 'ripple effect' beyond the EU. However, very few studies have noted the fact that this regime has already influenced the law and practice of states around the world, for some time. The purpose of this book is to gather evidence that emulation is happening (if it is), to explore the extent and identify the processes through which it is happening, and to examine the implications of these findings. A review of seven case studies reveals all but one of these cases provides clear evidence of emulation at some point in time. The EU protection regime, which has been most influenced by the European Court of Human Rights, is 'naturally' evolving transnationally and spreading internationally.

Call for Applications: Arthur C. Helton Fellowships

The American Society of International Law is accepting applications for the Arthur C. Helton Fellowships, which "provide financial assistance in the form of 'micro-grants' for law students and young professionals to pursue field work and research on significant issues involving international law, human rights, humanitarian affairs, and related areas." Additional information is available here.

Call for Nominations: Francis Lieber Prize

The Francis Lieber Prize is awarded annually by the American Society of International Law's Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict to the authors of publications which the judges consider to be outstanding in the field of law and armed conflict. Both monographs and articles (including chapters in books of essays) are eligible for consideration, as the prize is awarded to the best submission in each of these two categories. Nominations must be received by January 20, 2014. Further information is available here.

New Volume: Anuário Brasileiro de Direito Internacional

The latest volumes of the Anuário Brasileiro de Direito Internacional (Vol. 8, nos. 1 & 2, 2013) are out. Contents include:
  • Ana Marina Castro Costa & Carla Ribeiro Volpini Silva, A Proteção dos Direitos Humanos do Povo Cigano no Âmbito da União Europeia
  • Catherine Maia & Robert Kolb, O Estatuto do Enclave de Cabinda à Luz do Direito Internacional Público
  • Celso Amorim, O Panorama Global de Segurança e as Linhas de Defesa dos Interesses Brasileiros
  • Emmanuel Decaux, La mise en œuvre de la Convention internationale pour la protection de toutes les personnes contre les disparitions forcées
  • Henrique Weil Afonso & José Luiz Quadros de Magalhães, The Third World, History and International Law
  • João Paulo Guerra Vieira, O Compromisso Internacional do Estado Brasileiro com a FIFA para Sediar a Copa do Mundo de 2014: Razões e Efeitos Jurídicos
  • Friedrich Viktor Kratochwil, Reflexão: Interdisciplinaridade, o Ideal Epistemológico das Bases Incontestáveis e o Problema da Prática
  • Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant & Júlia Soares Amaral, A Centralização Normativa Representada pela Atuação dos Órgãos Políticos da Organização das Nações Unidas
  • Rafael A. Prieto Sanjuán, Aproximaciones al Delito de Desplazamiento Forzado: La Experiencia Colombiana, entre lo Local y lo Internacional
  • Roberta Cerqueira Reis & Carlos Augusto Canêdo, Personal Responsibility in International Criminal Law: Perpetrators, Victims and Trial
  • Rodrigo Rocha Feres Ragil, Imunidade de Execução no Direito Internacional: Da Existência de um Regramento Objetivo para a Execução das Sentenças pelas Cortes Domésticas
  • Santiago Villalpando, Codification Light: A New Trend in the Codification of International Law at the United Nations
  • Friedrich Viktor Kratochwil, Direito Segunda Meditação: Sobre o Conceito do Direito

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Ranjan: India’s International Investment Agreements and India’s Regulatory Power as a Host Nation

Prabhash Ranjan (National Law Univ., Jodhpur) has posted India’s International Investment Agreements and India’s Regulatory Power as a Host Nation (Ph.D. thesis, King's College London). Here's the abstract:
There has been an exponential growth in International Investment Agreements (IIAs), signed by countries to protect foreign investments, in last two decades. These agreements provide broad standards of treatment and give private investors the right to challenge allegedly treaty-inconsistent regulatory actions of sovereign countries at international arbitration. Over the last decade or so, such investor-state disputes have increased manifold where all sorts of regulatory actions, like urban policy; health policy; monetary measures; taxation, property rules, environmental policy, have been challenged by private investors. These developments have not only brought the investor-state dispute settlement system under the scanner but have also made it imperative to critically review the substantive law the investor-state tribunals apply i.e. the IIAs. In this light, this thesis will critically analyse Indian IIAs, which have not been subjected to detailed research yet, despite India’s gigantic IIA programme and India’s increasing integration with the global economy. This thesis will analyse the provisions on fair and equitable treatment; expropriation; monetary transfer; and non precluded measures (NPM) in 73 Indian IIAs from the perspective of India’s regulatory power as a host nation. The thesis hypothesises that the present formulations of these four provisions, in Indian IIAs, are capable of being interpreted in a manner that gives precedence to investment protection over India’s regulatory power to adopt policies and measures directed at achieving legitimate policy objectives. Hence, the thesis concludes that these provisions in Indian IIAs should be reformulated in a manner that balances investment protection with India’s regulatory power.

New Issue: Journal of World Energy Law & Business

The latest issue of Journal of World Energy Law & Business (Vol. 6, no. 4, December 2013) is out. Contents include:
  • Philip R. Weems & Monica Hwang, Overview of issues common to structuring, negotiating and documenting LNG projects
  • Osman Devrim Elvan & Y. Ozhan Turker, Geothermal energy capacity and legislation in Turkey
  • Rex J. Zedalis, The role provincial governmental units can play regarding oil and gas development agreements in the Kurdish North: allocation of Iraqi constitutional power
  • Rafael Leal-Arcas & Andrew Filis, The fragmented governance of the global energy economy: a legal-institutional analysis

Workshop: ASIL Human Rights Interest Group Workshop

On November 22, 2013, the American Society of International Law's Human Rights Interest Group will hold a workshop at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. The program is here.

Call for Papers: Authority and Control in International Organisations

On April 10-15, 2014, the European Consortium for Political Research will hold its annual Joint Sessions of Workshops at the Universidad de Salamanca. One of the workshops will be on "Authority and Control in International Organisations." The workshop outline is here. Proposals are due by December 1, 2013, and can be submitted here.

Buchanan: The Heart of Human Rights

Allen Buchanan (Duke Univ. - Philosophy and Law) has published The Heart of Human Rights (Oxford Univ. Press 2013). Here's the abstract:

This is the first attempt to provide an in-depth moral assessment of the heart of the modern human rights enterprise: the system of international legal human rights. It is international human rights law--not any philosophical theory of moral human rights or any "folk" conception of moral human rights--that serves as the lingua franca of modern human rights practice. Yet contemporary philosophers have had little to say about international legal human rights. They have tended to assume, rather than to argue, that international legal human rights, if morally justified, must mirror or at least help realize moral human rights. But this assumption is mistaken. International legal human rights, like many other legal rights, can be justified by several different types of moral considerations, of which the need to realize a corresponding moral right is only one.

Further, this volume shows that some of the most important international legal human rights cannot be adequately justified by appeal to corresponding moral human rights. The problem is that the content of these international legal human rights--the full set of correlative duties--is much broader than can be justified by appealing to the morally important interests of any individual. In addition, it is necessary to examine the legitimacy of the institutions that create, interpret, and implement international human rights law and to defend the claim that international human rights law should "trump" the domestic law of even the most admirable constitutional democracies.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Rolland: Are Consumer-Oriented Rules the New Frontier of Trade Liberalization?

Sonia Elise Rolland (Northeastern Univ. - Law) has posted Are Consumer-Oriented Rules the New Frontier of Trade Liberalization? (Harvard International Law Journal, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Lead paint toys and tainted baby formula milk from China, along with other scares involving consumer goods, have focused the public’s attention on the risks of a global supply chain that no state controls. Yet, domestic instruments available to protect consumers against unsafe or undesirable foreign goods and services are limited.

This article explores, from a comparative legal perspective, what shapes international trade regimes to be more or less consumer oriented, using primarily EU law as a counterpoint to the WTO, but also NAFTA and MERCOSUR. Ultimately, it suggests that the WTO’s producer-centered liberalization focus leaves consumers underserved and it seeks to articulate a more holistic understanding of the trade liberalization project that accounts both for producer and consumer interests. Although the WTO may not be the appropriate or optimal forum to fulfill such needs, a more robust examination of the intersection between producer-oriented trade rules and consumer interests is warranted.

New Issue: Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law

The latest issue of the Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law (Vol. 22, no. 3, November 2013) is out. Contents include:
  • Special Issue: CITES+40
    • John E. Scanlon, CITES at Its Best: CoP16 as a ‘Watershed Moment’ for the World's Wildlife
    • Michael Bowman, A Tale of Two CITES: Divergent Perspectives upon the Effectiveness of the Wildlife Trade Convention
    • Annecoos Wiersema, Uncertainty and Markets for Endangered Species under CITES
    • Peter H. Sand, Enforcing CITES: The Rise and Fall of Trade Sanctions
    • Richard Caddell, Inter-Treaty Cooperation, Biodiversity Conservation and the Trade in Endangered Species
    • Soledad Aguilar, Regulatory Tools for the Management of Fish and Timber Species through CITES
    • Sara F. Oldfield, The Evolving Role of CITES in Regulating the International Timber Trade
    • Rosie Cooney & Max Abensperg-Traun, Raising Local Community Voices: CITES, Livelihoods and Sustainable Use
    • Ed Couzens, CITES at Forty: Never Too Late to Make Lifestyle Changes
  • Regular Articles
    • Sikina Jinnah & Elisa Morgera, Environmental Provisions in American and EU Free Trade Agreements: A Preliminary Comparison and Research Agenda
    • Seita Romppanen, The Role and Relevance of Private Actors in EU Biofuel Governance
    • Deliana Ernst, Beam It Down, Scotty: The Regulatory Framework for Space-Based Solar Power
  • Case Note
    • Britta Sjöstedt, Costa Rica and Nicaragua before the International Court of Justice: Trying to Work Out the Complicated Relationship between Law and the Environment

Føllesdal, Karlsson Schaffer, & Ulfstein: The Legitimacy of International Human Rights Regimes: Legal, Political and Philosophical Perspectives

Andreas Føllesdal (Universitetet i Oslo), Johan Karlsson Schaffer (Universitetet i Oslo), & Geir Ulfstein (Universitetet i Oslo) have published The Legitimacy of International Human Rights Regimes: Legal, Political and Philosophical Perspectives (Cambridge Univ. Press 2013). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:
The past sixty years have seen an expansion of international human rights conventions and supervisory organs, not least in Europe. While these international legal instruments have enlarged their mandate, they have also faced opposition and criticism from political actors at the state level, even in well-functioning democracies. Against the backdrop of such contestations, this book brings together prominent scholars in law, political philosophy and international relations in order to address the legitimacy of international human rights regimes as a theoretically challenging and politically salient case of international authority. It provides a unique and thorough overview of the legitimacy problems involved in the global governance of human rights.

New Issue: International Theory

The latest issue of International Theory (Vol. 5, no. 3, November 2013) is out. Contents include:
  • Mareike Kleine, Trading control: national fiefdoms in international organizations
  • Eamon Aloyo, Just assassinations
  • Alexander Lanoszka, Beyond consent and coercion: using republican political theory to understand international hierarchies
  • Robert F. Trager, How the scope of a demand conveys resolve
  • Daniel Bray, Pragmatic ethics and the will to believe in cosmopolitanism

Nouwen: Complementarity in the Line of Fire: The Catalysing Effect of the International Criminal Court in Uganda and Sudan

Sarah M.H. Nouwen (Univ. of Cambridge - Law) has published Complementarity in the Line of Fire: The Catalysing Effect of the International Criminal Court in Uganda and Sudan (Cambridge Univ. Press 2013). Here's the abstract:
Of the many expectations attending the creation of the first permanent International Criminal Court, the greatest has been that the principle of complementarity would catalyse national investigations and prosecutions of conflict-related crimes and lead to the reform of domestic justice systems. Sarah Nouwen explores whether complementarity has had such an effect in two states subject to ICC intervention: Uganda and Sudan. Drawing on extensive empirical research and combining law, legal anthropology and political economy, she unveils several effects and outlines the catalysts for them. However, she also reveals that one widely anticipated effect – an increase in domestic proceedings for conflict-related crimes – has barely occurred. This finding leads to the unravelling of paradoxes that go right to the heart of the functioning of an idealistic Court in a world of real constraints.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

New Issue: International Affairs

The latest issue of International Affairs (Vol. 89, no. 6, November 2013) is out. Contents include:
  • Campbell Craig, Kennedy's international legacy, fifty years on
  • Jeffrey D. Sachs, JFK and the future of global leadership
  • Michael Dunne, Kennedy's Alliance for Progress: countering revolution in Latin America. Part I: From the White House to the Charter of Punta del Este
  • David Hastings Dunn & Mark J.L. McClelland, Shale gas and the revival of American power: debunking decline?
  • Klaus Dodds & Alan D. Hemmings, Britain and the British Antarctic Territory in the wider geopolitics of the Antarctic and the Southern Ocean
  • Duncan Depledge, Emerging UK Arctic policy

Conference: Protezione e salvaguardia del patrimonio culturale dai rischi connessi ai disastri naturali e antropici

On December 4, 2013, the International Disaster Law Project will hold a conference on "Protezione e salvaguardia del patrimonio culturale dai rischi connessi ai disastri naturali e antropici. Prospettive internazionali, europee e nazionali," in Rome. The program is here. The registration form is here.

Farah & Cima: Energy Trade and the WTO: Implications for Renewable Energy and the OPEC Cartel

Paolo Davide Farah (Edge Hill Univ. - Law; Univ. of Turin) & Elena Cima (Yale Univ.) have posted Energy Trade and the WTO: Implications for Renewable Energy and the OPEC Cartel (Journal of International Economic Law, Vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 707-740, 2013). Here's the abstract:

Energy has become increasingly important in international trade relations. However, the World Trade Organization (WTO) does not deal specifically with this sector, and this creates several problems when it comes to regulating trade in energy goods and services. The situation is further complicated, on the one hand, by the need to foster the diffusion of renewable energy to address the current environmental concerns and, on the other, by the total and overwhelming control exercised by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) over the oil market.

It is true that, recently, the WTO has shown an increasingly open approach towards environmental issues. However, free trade is still the backbone of the Organization and trade liberalization its main goal. This explains why the WTO Panel and Appellate Body are still reluctant to justify measures adopted to support the renewable energy sector that may conflict with international trade law.

Different might be the case with fossil fuels, the main competitor of renewable energy. OPEC exploits several strategies to control oil prices, which, at least in theory, clash with international trade rules. However, whatever the reason, such practices have never been challenged in front of the WTO. The way WTO provisions are interpreted and applied by the Panel and the Appellate Body when environmental concerns are involved can be used as a starting point to forecast a hypothetical judgment in case OPEC's practices were eventually challenged.

Sundahl: The Cape Town Convention: Its Application to Space Assets and Relation to the Law of Outer Space

Mark J. Sundahl (Cleveland State Univ. - Law) has published The Cape Town Convention: Its Application to Space Assets and Relation to the Law of Outer Space (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2013). Here's the abstract:
The UNIDROIT Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment created a new international regime of secured finance applicable to aircraft and rolling stock that facilitates the financing of this equipment by, among other things, enabling lenders to create a readily enforceable security interest in the equipment. The Space Assets Protocol extends the benefits of the convention to satellites and other space assets. This book explains the operation of the convention in a manner that is useful both to lawyers engaged in satellite finance as well as to academics who desire to obtain a more complete understanding of this treaty. The book also explores the relationship between the convention and the existing body of space law.

New Issue: Global Policy

The latest issue of Global Policy (Vol. 4, no. 4, November 2013) is out. Contents include:
  • Research Articles
    • Devi Sridhar & Ngaire Woods, Trojan Multilateralism: Global Cooperation in Health
    • Mary Kaldor, Identity and War
    • Corneliu Bjola, Keeping the Arctic ‘Cold’: The Rise of Plurilateral Diplomacy?
    • Zaid Eyadat, Islamic Feminism: Roots, Development and Policies
  • Special Section - International Animal Protection
    • Alasdair Cochrane, International Animal Protection: An Introduction
    • Oscar Horta, Expanding Global Justice: The Case for the International Protection of Animals
    • Stuart R. Harrop, Wild Animal Welfare in International Law: The Present Position and the Scope for Development
    • Steven White, Into the Void: International Law and the Protection of Animal Welfare
  • Special Section - Globalising Justice: A Multidimensional Approach
    • Valentina Gentile, Global Justice as Recognition: Dealing with Diversity in a Pluralised World
    • Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, Human Rights, Universality and Sovereignty: The Irrelevance and Relevance of Sharia
    • Francesca M. Corrao, ‘Ijtihad’ and ‘Relevance of Sharia’ to Contextualize Universal Human Rights Discourse
    • Domenico Melidoro, Sharia and Human Rights: Hemeneutics and the Risks of State-centrism
    • Rajeev Bhargava, Overcoming the Epistemic Injustice of Colonialism
    • Aakash Singh, Deparochializing the Global Justice Debate, Starting with Indian Political Theory
    • Neera Chandhoke, The Great Global Poverty Debate: Is Something Missing?
    • Valentina Gentile, ‘Epistemic Injustice’ and the ‘Right Not to Be Poor’: Bringing Recognition into the Debate on Global Justice
  • Survey Articles
    • Andrew F. Cooper & Asif B. Farooq, BRICS and the Privileging of Informality in Global Governance
    • Andrea Koch, Alex McBratney, Mark Adams, Damien Field, Robert Hill, John Crawford, Budiman Minasny, Rattan Lal, Lynette Abbott, Anthony O'Donnell, Denis Angers, Jeffrey Baldock, Edward Barbier, Dan Binkley, William Parton, Diana H. Wall, Michael Bird, Johan Bouma, Claire Chenu, Cornelia Butler Flora, Keith Goulding, Sabine Grunwald, Jon Hempel, Julie Jastrow, Johannes Lehmann, Klaus Lorenz, Cristine L. Morgan, Charles W. Rice, David Whitehead, Iain Young & Michael Zimmermann, Soil Security: Solving the Global Soil Crisis
  • Practitioner Commentaries
    • Lenias Hwenda, Towards a Balanced and Sustainable Global Health Innovation and Access Policy
    • Sasidaran Gopalan, Ammar A. Malik & Kenneth A. Reinert, The Renewed Hope of Multilateralism in South Asia: Applying the MFN Principle to Pakistan–India Trade
  • Review Essay
    • Jeroen Cuvelier, Jose Diemel & Koen Vlassenroot, Digging Deeper: the Politics of ‘Conflict Minerals’ in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo

Call for Papers: Law, Justice, and the Security Gap

The Security in Transition research program at the London School of Economics has issued a call for papers for a conference on "Law, Justice, and the Security Gap," to take place June 21, 2014. Here's the call:

The world is in the midst of a profound change in the way that security is conceptualized and practiced. Up until 1989, security was largely viewed either as ‘internal security’ or as ‘national’ or ‘bloc’ security and the main instruments of security were considered to be the police, the intelligence services and the military. This traditional view of security fits uneasily with the far-reaching changes in social and political organisation that characterize the world at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

What we call the ‘security gap’ refers to the gap between our national and international security capabilities, largely based on conventional military forces, and the reality of the everyday experience of insecurity in different parts of the world. To some extent, public security capabilities are beginning to adapt to the changing nature of insecurity – with new doctrines or new military-civilian capabilities. But it is also the case that the gap is being filled by private agents – warlords, militias, private security companies, NGOs, for example – and, even though some new forms of hybrid security provision may improve people’s lives at least temporarily, this new market in security may have dangerous implications.

This conference will examine the relationship of law, justice, and in/security at the current juncture by focusing on two broad themes: a) Is the international legal regime adapting to address the ‘security gap’ and how effectively? b) What is the role of novel legal instruments, such as international justice and transitional justice, in relation to the ‘security gap’?

Security related law is undergoing fundamental changes with the growing importance of human rights law, international criminal law and transitional justice. These changes reflect the continuing adaptation and reformulation of legal rules and instruments, as well as the development of new ones. One example is the extension of responsibility for protection and prevention from states to individuals in cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The rules concerning state responsibility are also changing, such as the duty of the state to protect its population and the basis for other actors to fulfil this duty when it fails to do so.

Nevertheless, the current legal regime represents a mismatch of new families of law that extend internal notions of the rule of law, based on individual rights, beyond the nation-state, and classical international law that applies to states, such as international humanitarian law, as well as domestic law. The tensions, gaps and contradictions inherent in this regime raise a number of unsettled questions, for example what body of law should apply in situations like those associated with ‘new wars’ or the ‘war on terror’. The security implications of novel legal instruments, such as international criminal courts and various mechanisms of transitional justice, are also largely unclear, especially from the perspective of the security of individuals and communities rather than states.

‘Law, Justice, and the Security Gap’ is conceived as a forum for reassessing security related law and legal instruments and examining their relationship to contemporary forms of insecurity. The conference seeks to foster a multi-disciplinary discussion that draws on a wide range of approaches and intellectual resources in law and the social sciences and to engage both scholars and practitioners. Advanced PhD students and early-career researchers are also encouraged to apply. We invite theoretical and conceptual contributions as well as empirically focused case-studies.

The conference is convened in the framework of the research programme Security in Transition: An Interdisciplinary Investigation into the Security Gap, funded by the European Research Council at the Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit, Department of International Development, London School of Economics & Political Science. Partial contribution to the costs of attendance may be available for accepted participants, depending on needs and resources.

Submission

Please send a paper abstract of 300-500 words and a CV to Pippa Bore p.j.bore@lse.ac.uk by 6 January 2014. For more information see www.securityintransition.org.

New Issue: Humanity

The latest issue of Humanity (Vol. 4, no. 3, November 2013) is out. Contents include:
  • Jennifer E. Telesca, Preface: What Is Visual Citizenship?
  • Ariella Azoulay, A Tour of the Museum of Regime-Made Disasters
  • Manuel Herz, Refugee Camps of the Western Sahara
  • Fred Ritchin & Nandi Dill, Notes from the Field: An Interview with Fred Ritchin
  • Ian Hunter, English Blasphemy
  • Linde Lindkvist, The Politics of Article 18: Religious Liberty in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  • Richard Ashby Wilson, Gangster's Paradise? Framing Crime in Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Samuel Moyn, Judith Shklar versus the International Criminal Court

Monday, November 18, 2013

New Issue: Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy

The latest issue of the Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy (Vol. 16, no. 4, 2013) is out. Contents include:
  • Special Issue: Tracking and Protecting Marine Species at Risk: Scientific Advances, Sea of Governance Challenges, Part 2
    • David L. VanderZwaag, Richard Apostle & Steven J. Cooke, Tracking and Protecting Marine Species at Risk: Introduction to Special Issue, Part 2
    • John Duff, Hannah Dean, Tsafrir Gazit, Christopher T. Taggart & Jennifer H. Cavanagh, On the Right Way to Right Whale Protections in the Gulf of Maine—Case Study
    • Tsafrir Gazit, Damian Lidgard & Katie Sykes, Changing Environments: Tracking the Scientific, Socio-political, Legal, and Ethical Currents of the Grey Seal-Cod Debate in Atlantic Canada
    • Brendal Davis, David L. VanderZwaag, Aurelie Cosandey-Godin, Nigel E. Hussey, Steven T. Kessel & Boris Worm, The Conservation of the Greenland Shark (Somniosus microcephalus): Setting Scientific, Law, and Policy Coordinates for Avoiding a Species at Risk
    • Nathan Young, Isabelle Gingras, Vivian M. Nguyen, Steven J. Cooke & Scott G. Hinch, Mobilizing New Science into Management Practice: The Challenge of Biotelemetry for Fisheries Management, a Case Study of Canada's Fraser River
    • Steven J. Cooke, Vivian M. Nguyen, Karen J. Murchie, Jason D. Thiem, Michael R. Donaldson, Scott G. Hinch, Richard S. Brown & Aaron Fisk, To Tag or not to Tag: Animal Welfare, Conservation, and Stakeholder Considerations in Fish Tracking Studies That Use Electronic Tags
  • Regular Article
    • Cassandra L. Brunette, John Byrne & Christopher K. Williams, Resolving Conflicts between Renewable Energy and Wildlife by Promoting a Paradigm Shift from Commodity to Commons-Based Policy

Sadat & Jolly: Seven Canons of ICC Treaty Interpretation: Making Sense of Article 25's Rorschach Blot

Leila N. Sadat (Washington Univ. in Saint Louis - Law) & Jarrod M. Jolly (Washington Univ. in Saint Louis - Law) have posted Seven Canons of ICC Treaty Interpretation: Making Sense of Article 25's Rorschach Blot. Here's the abstract:
This article draws on well-established understandings of international treaty interpretation and the role of the judicial function to propose seven canons of International Criminal Court treaty construction that may serve as the basis of a principled interpretation of the Rome Statute. This interpretative framework is then applied to the seemingly intractable debate within the Court and among scholars over the correct interpretation of Article 25, on modes of liability. The seven canons provide guidelines that may enable the ‘Rorschach blot’ of Article 25, capable of so many divergent interpretations, to become uniformly and consistently understood and interpreted.

Peevers: The Politics of Justifying Force

Charlotte Peevers - (Univ. of Technology, Sydney - Law) has published The Politics of Justifying Force: The Suez Crisis, the Iraq War, and International Law (Oxford Univ. Press 2013). Here's the abstract:

What are the politics involved in a government justifying its use of military force abroad? What is the role of international law in that discourse? How and why is international law crucial to this process? And what role does the media have in mediating the interaction of international law and politics? This book provides a fresh and engaging answer to these questions. It introduces different actors to the study of international law in this context, in particular highlighting the importance of institutional actors and the role of the media. It takes a theoretical approach, informed by detailed empirical analysis of key case studies, which challenges the traditional distinction between the spheres of 'the international' and 'the domestic' in global affairs, and the role of international law in the making of public policy.

The book specifically critiques the idea of the 'politics of justification', which argues that deploying international legal norms to justify governmental decisions resulting in the use of force necessarily constrains government actions, and leads to fewer instances of military intervention. The politics of justification, on this account, can be seen as a progressive practice, through which international law can become embedded in domestic societies. The book investigates the actors engaged in this justification, and the institutional contexts within which legal justification is articulated, interpreted, and contested. It provides a rich, detailed account of domestic British discourse in the crucial case studies of the Suez Crisis of 1956 and the Iraq War of 2003, making extensive use of archival material, newspaper and television reporting, Parliamentary debates, polling data, personal memoirs, and the declassified material provided to several Public Inquiries, including the Chilcot Inquiry. In light of these sources, it considers the concept of international law as a language and form of communication rather than a set of abstract norms. It argues that a detailed understanding of how that language is deployed, both in private and in public, is essential to gaining a deeper understanding of the role of international law in domestic politics. This book will be illuminating reading for scholars and students the use of force in international law, historians, and media theorists.

Call for Submissions: Hague Yearbook of International Law

The Hague Yearbook of International Law has issued a call for submissions for its forthcoming 2013 volume. Here's the call:

Call for Papers for the 2013 issue

The deadline for submission is 1 January 2014. All submissions should be written in English or French, in MS WORD compatible format and delivered by email to the Editorial Board: hagueyearbook@gmail.com.

All submissions must be original and unpublished.

All submissions must be submitted in conformity with the “Authors' Instructions”, which is available here.

The Hague Yearbook of International Law is an annual peer-reviewed publication that provides a forum for analyzing the most recent trends in international law, which is shaped by the many international institutions that are based in The Hague. Thus, the Hague Yearbook of International Law is a reference tool for tracking the current trends in practice and scholarly discussions in international law broadly understood. Accordingly, the scope of the Hague Yearbook of International Law covers public international law, private international law, international investment law, international criminal law as well as relevant European law.

The Editorial Board welcomes both longer in-depth articles (8,000-20,000 words) and shorter notes and commentaries (4,000-7,000 words), which analyze the most recent developments in international law that have a nexus with the international institutions based in The Hague.

All submissions must be original, unpublished works and will be peer-reviewed. Submissions will only be definitely accepted if they are in full comliance with the "Authors' Instructions". Acceptance of publication by the HYIL implies the obligation by the author to withdraw the same submission from any other journal to which it may have been submitted. Publication is subject to transfer of copyright to the publisher.

New Issue: Human Rights Review

The latest issue of the Human Rights Review (Vol. 14, no. 4, December 2013) is out. Contents include:
  • Pablo Gilabert, The Capability Approach and the Debate Between Humanist and Political Perspectives on Human Rights. A Critical Survey
  • Michael Buckley, The Priority of Legitimacy in Times of Political Transition
  • Izabela Steflja & Jessica Trisko Darden, Making Civilian Casualties Count: Approaches to Documenting the Human Cost of War
  • Mark F. N. Franke, A Critique of the Universalisability of Critical Human Rights Theory: The Displacement of Immanuel Kant
  • Aysha Shafiq, The War on Terror and the Enforced Disappearances in Pakistan

Zimmermann: A Contemporary Concept of Monetary Sovereignty

Claus D. Zimmermann (Sidley Austin LLP) has published A Contemporary Concept of Monetary Sovereignty (Oxford Univ. Press 2013). Here's the abstract:

Monetary sovereignty is a crucial legal concept dictating that states have sovereignty over their own monetary, financial, and fiscal affairs. However, it does not feature as part of any key instruments of international law, including the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund. Rather, it has remained a somewhat separate notion, developed under contemporary international law from an assertion of the former Permanent Court of International Justice in 1929. As a consequence of globalization and increasing financial integration and a worldwide trend towards the creation of economic and monetary unions, the principle of monetary sovereignty has undergone significant change. This book examines this evolution in detail, and provides a conceptual framework to demonstrate what this means for the legal and economic challenges faced by the international community.

The book examines the historic origins and evolution of the concept of monetary sovereignty, putting it into the context of broader concepts of sovereignty. It argues that monetary sovereignty remains relevant as a dynamic legal concept with both positive and normative components. It investigates the continuing hybridization of international monetary law resulting from changes to its formal and material sources. It then examines the complex phenomenon of exchange rate misalignment under international monetary and trade law, and the increasing regionalization of monetary sovereignty, notably in light of the European sovereign debt crisis. Finally, it assesses the role the concept of monetary sovereignty can play in the reorganization of international finance following the recent global financial crisis.

Sunday, November 17, 2013