Call for Applications: Lund University Faculty of Law (Doctoral Students in Human Rights Law, Specializing in Migration Law)

The Lund University Faculty of Law has issued a call for applications for Doctoral Students in Human Rights Law, specializing in Migration Law. The call is here.

Jeydel & Egan: An "IEEPA-Free Zone" for TikTok and other Chinese Mobile Applications?

Peter Jeydel (Steptoe & Johnson LLP) & Brian Egan (Steptoe & Johnson LLP) have posted an ASIL Insight on An "IEEPA-Free Zone" for TikTok and other Chinese Mobile Applications?

Pavone: Security Council Resolution 2532 (2020) on COVID-19 A Missed Opportunity?

Ilja Richard Pavone (Catholic Univ. of the Sacred Heart) has posted an ESIL Reflection on Security Council Resolution 2532 (2020) on COVID-19 A Missed Opportunity?

Durkee: Interpretive Entrepreneurs

Melissa (MJ) Durkee (Univ. of Georgia - Law) has posted Interpretive Entrepreneurs (Virginia Law Review, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Private actors interpret legal norms, a phenomenon I call “interpretive entrepreneurship.” The phenomenon is particularly significant in the international context, where many disputes are not subject to judicial resolution, and there is no official system of precedent. Interpretation can affect the meaning of laws over time. For this reason, it can be a form of “post hoc” international lawmaking, worth studying alongside other forms of international lobbying and norm entrepreneurship by private actors. The Article identifies and describes the phenomenon through a series of case studies that show how, why, and by whom it unfolds. The examples focus on entrepreneurial activity by business actors and cast a wide net, examining aircraft finance, space mining, modern slavery, and investment law. As a matter of theory, this process-based account suggests that international legal interpretation involves contests for meaning among diverse groups of actors, giving credence to critical and constructivist views of international legal interpretation. As a practical matter, the case studies show that interpretive entrepreneurship is an influence tool and a driver of legal change.

New Issue: Human Rights Law Review

The latest issue of the Human Rights Law Review (Vol. 21, no. 1, March 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Kathryn McNeilly, The Temporal Ontology of the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review
• Luka Glušac, A Critical Appraisal of the Venice Principles on the Protection and Promotion of the Ombudsman: An Equivalent to the Paris Principles?
• Bríd Ní Ghráinne, Complementary Protection and Encampment
• Dimitri Van Den Meerssche, A Legal Black Hole in the Cosmos of Virtue—The Politics of Human Rights Critique Against the World Bank
• Antonio Moreira Maués, Breno Baía Magalhães, Paulo André Nassar, & Rafaela Sena, Judicial Dialogue Between National Courts and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights: A Comparative Study of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico
• Marie-Catherine Petersmann, Contested Indigeneity and Traditionality in Environmental Litigation: The Politics of Expertise in Regional Human Rights Courts
• Charles O’Sullivan & Donna McNamara, The ‘Necessity' of Austerity and its Relationship with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A Case Study of Ireland and the United Kingdom
• Paweł Łącki, Consensus as a Basis for Dynamic Interpretation of the ECHR—A Critical Assessment
• Giulia Ciliberto, A Brand-New Exclusionary Clause to the Prohibition of Collective Expulsion of Aliens: The Applicant’s Own Conduct in N.D. and N.T. v Spain
• Lewis Graham, Jeanty v Belgium: Saving Lives Provides (another) Exception to Article 3 ECHR
• Stewart Manley, Critical Speech in Southeast Asian Grey Literature During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Lecture: Tzouvala on "Capitalism as Civilisation"

On February 15, 2021, Ntina Tzouvala (Australian National Univ. - Law) will deliver a lecture on "Capitalism as Civilisation" as part of the Essex Public International Law Lecture Series. Details are here.

New Issue: European Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the European Journal of International Law (Vol. 31, no. 3, August 2020) is out Contents include:

• Editorial
  • Editorial: The UK Taken in Adultery. Who Will Cast the First Stone?; A Modest Proposal on Zoom Teaching; In This Issue
• Articles
• Laurence R Helfer & Erik Voeten, Walking Back Human Rights in Europe?
• Ríán Derrig, Educating American Lawyers: The New Haven School’s Jurisprudence of Personal Character
• Rémi Bachand, What’s Behind the WTO Crisis? A Marxist Analysis
• Merijn Chamon, Provisional Application of Treaties: The EU’s Contribution to the Development of International Law
• Focus: Foreign Cyberattacks Against Civilians
• Herbert Lin & Joel Trachtman, Diagonal Export Controls to Counter Diagonal Transnational Attacks on Civil Society
• Nicholas Tsagourias & Michael Farrell, Cyber Attribution: Technical and Legal Approaches and Challenges
• Martha Finnemore & Duncan B Hollis, Beyond Naming and Shaming: Accusations and International Law in Cybersecurity
• EJIL: Exchange!
• Henri de Waele, A New League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? The Professionalization of International Law Scholarship in the Netherlands, 1919–1940
• Janne E Nijman, Marked Absences: Locating Gender and Race in International Legal History
• Roaming Charges: Visible Absences
• EJIL: Debate!
• Ardi Imseis, Negotiating the Illegal: On the United Nations and the Illegal Occupation of Palestine, 1967–2020
• David Hughes, Of Tactics, Illegal Occupation and the Boundaries of Legal Capability: A Reply to Ardi Imseis
• Changing the Guards - Part III
• Sara Hagemann, Politics and Diplomacy: Lessons from Donald Tusk’s Time as President of the European Council
• Review Essays
• Patryk I Labuda, The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and Post-Genocide Justice 25 Years On
• Leonardo Borlini, On Financial Nationalism and International Law: Sovereignty, Cooperation and Hard/Soft Governance in International Finance
• Books Reviews
• Sophie Rigney, reviewing Phil Clark, Distant Justice: The Impact of the International Criminal Court on African Politics
• Ingo Venzke, reviewing Anne Saab, Narratives of Hunger in International Law: Feeding the World in Times of Climate Change
• Ntina Tzouvala, reviewing Alvaro Santos, Chantal Thomas and David Trubek (eds), World Trade and Investment Law Reimagined: A Progressive Agenda for an Inclusive Globalization
• Jarrod Hepburn, reviewing Daniel Peat, Comparative Reasoning in International Courts and Tribunals
• Alexandre Skander Galand, reviewing Claus Kreß and Stefan Barriga (eds), The Crime of Aggression: A Commentary
• The Last Page
• Valentin Jeutner, The Last Page

New Issue: Journal of International Dispute Settlement

The latest issue of the Journal of International Dispute Settlement (Vol. 11, no. 4, December 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Benedikt Pirker & Jennifer Smolka, International Law and Linguistics: Pieces of an Interdisciplinary Puzzle
• Zheng Tang, International Judicial Cooperation in Game Theory
• Esmé Shirlow, E-Discovery in Investment Treaty Arbitration: Practice, Procedures, Challenges and Opportunities
• Ksenia Polonskaya, Frivolous and Abuse of Process Claims in Investor–State Arbitration: Can Rules on Cost Allocation Become Solution?
• Wenliang Zhang & Guangjian Tu, The 1971 and 2019 Hague Judgments Conventions: Compared and Whether China Would Change Its Attitude Towards The Hague
• Current Developments
• Natalia Gallardo-Salazar & Jaime Tijmes-Ihl, Dispute Settlement at the World Trade Organization, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and the Pacific Alliance
• Rashri Baboolal-Frank, An Analysis of Sectional Title Dispute Resolution in South Africa

Call for Applications: Academy for European Human Rights Protection (Postdoctoral Position; PhD Positions)

The Academy for European Human Rights Protection, which is currently being established at the University of Cologne, has issued a call for applications for one postdoctoral position and six PhD positions. The calls are here (postdoctoral) and here (PhD).

New Issue: Cooperation and Conflict

The latest issue of Cooperation and Conflict (Vol. 56, no. 1, March 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Minna Lyytikäinen, Punam Yadav, Annick TR Wibben, Marjaana Jauhola, & Catia Cecilia Confortini, Unruly wives in the household: Toward feminist genealogies for peace research
• Ayşe Betül Çelik, Agonistic peace and confronting the past: An analysis of a failed peace process and the role of narratives
• Catherine Hecht, When democratic governance unites and divides: Social status and contestation in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
• David Mitchell, Comparative consultation: The theory and practice of ‘sharing lessons’ between peace processes
• Arash Heydarian Pashakhanlou & Felix Berenskötter, Friends in war: Sweden between solidarity and self-help, 1939–1945
• Laura Luciani, The EU’s hegemonic interventions in the South Caucasus: Constructing ‘civil’ society, depoliticising human rights?

Call for Papers: International Criminal Justice: A Counter-Hegemonic Project?

A call for papers has been issued for a workshop on "International Criminal Justice: A Counter-Hegemonic Project?" to be held in June 2021 in Berlin. The call is here.

Call for Papers: ILA 150th Anniversary Conference 2023 - Ideas Laboratory (Young Scholars)

The International Law Association has issued a call for papers directed to young scholars for an "Ideas Laboratory," in connection with its 150th Anniversary Conference in 2023. The call is here. The deadline has been extended until March 2021.

Conference: 115th ASIL Annual Meeting (Early Bird Discount Expires Soon)

On March 24-26, 2021, the American Society of International Law will hold its 115th Annual Meeting online. The theme is: "Reconceiving International Law: Creativity in Times of Crisis." Registration is now open. The early bird discount expires on February 10. Here's the idea:

In these extraordinary times, dramatic shifts in global health, the global economy, and geopolitical power structures are forcing human beings to adapt and evolve. These shifts require us to revisit the operation of the legal, political, and conceptual structures of our international order, and to examine the possibility — and perhaps necessity — of creating new norms, tools, and paradigms.

Today's health, economic, and racial justice crises are having a profound impact on the rule of law, human security, and the environment; human rights and gender equality; international business and trade; and virtually all other aspects of society. These effects are being exacerbated by the differing approaches that governments, international organizations, and private actors have taken toward international problem-solving. Although some may hope for a return to "normalcy" in all these areas, the current moment offers both the challenge and the opportunity to reconsider and potentially to reshape international law and international institutions.

The 2021 Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law will provide a forum to think critically and creatively about all fields of international law. Sessions will present a broad range of perspectives on innovative ways to address emerging issues, to improve global governance, and to tackle international problems. More than ever, it is a time to come together as international law scholars and practitioners, and to challenge ourselves to imagine a new way forward.

Panel: The Ongoing Dispute Between Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea

On Februrary 10, 2021, the Stockton Center for International Law at the U.S. Naval War College will host an online panel on "The Ongoing Dispute Between Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea." Further information is here.

Aust: Legal Consequences of Serious Breaches of Peremptory Norms in the Law of State Responsibility: Observations in the Light of the Recent Work of the International Law Commission

Helmut Aust (Freie Universität Berlin - Law) has posted Legal Consequences of Serious Breaches of Peremptory Norms in the Law of State Responsibility: Observations in the Light of the Recent Work of the International Law Commission (in Peremptory Norms of General International Law: Perspectives and Future Prospects, Dire Tladi ed., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

The paper deals with the legal consequences of serious breaches of peremptory norms under general international law. After setting out some aspects of the complex relationship between jus cogens and the law of state responsibility, the contribution presents the recent work of the UN International Law Commission (ILC) on these questions. This work is contextualised in the light of the debates in the Sixth Committee of the UN General Assembly. The contribution discusses to what extent the Commission has offered the international community of States merely an ‘effort to imagine’ hypothetical consequences of breaches of jus cogens – or whether the special consequences for serious breaches of peremptory norms of general international law are now indeed firmly accepted in international law. In particular, the paper assesses recent practice with respect to the three additional consequences that the ILC included in the Articles on State Responsibility in 2001 – the obligation of cooperation as well as the obligations to refrain from recognizing situations brought about by serious breaches of peremptory norms as lawful and to render aid or assistance for maintaining such situations.

New Issue: Chinese Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Chinese Journal of International Law (Vol. 19, no. 4, December 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Zou Keyuan & Jin Jing, The Question of Pirate Trials in States Without a Crime of Piracy
• G Le Moli, From “Is” to “Ought”: The Development of Normative Powers of UN Investigative Mechanisms
• Bing Bing Jia, The Question of Jurisdiction in the 2019 Arbitration between Ukraine and Russia
• Pracitice and Documents
• Xiaohui Wu, Chronology of Practice: Chinese Practice in Public International Law in 2019
• Letters to the Journal
• James Kraska, China and Canada are Unlikely to Collaborate on Unlawful Straight Baselines: A Response to Michael Byers and Emma Lodge, “China and the Northwest Passage”
• Xinxiang Shi, The Status of Northwest Passage and the Position of China in the US-Canada Dispute: Some Comments in Partial Response to the Exchange of Views between Michael Byers and Emma Lodge on the One Hand and James Kraska on the Other

Clooney & Webb: The Right to a Fair Trial in International Law

Amal Clooney (Doughty Street Chambers) & Philippa Webb (King's College London - Law) have published The Right to a Fair Trial in International Law (Oxford Univ. Press 2021). Here's the abstract:

The Right to a Fair Trial in International Lawbrings together the diverse sources of international law that define the right to a fair trial in the context of criminal (as opposed to civil, administrative or other) proceedings. The book provides a comprehensive explanation of what the right to a fair trial means in practice under international law and focuses on factual scenarios that practitioners and judges may face in court.

Each of the book's fourteen chapters examines a component of the right to a fair trial as defined in Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and reviews the case law of regional human rights courts, international criminal courts as well as UN human rights bodies. Highlighting both consensus and divisions in the international jurisprudence in this area, this book provides an invaluable resource to practitioners and scholars dealing with breaches of one of the most fundamental human rights.

7th SIEL Conversation: The RCEP Agreement

The 7th SIEL Conversation, on the topic "The RCEP Agreement," will take place on Thursday, February 25, 2021. Registration and other details are available here.

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

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

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

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

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

Quaglia: The Politics of Regime Complexity in International Derivatives Regulation

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

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

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

New Issue: Revista romana de drept international

The latest issue of Revista romana de drept international (No. 23, January-June 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Articole
• Radu Bogdan Bobei, O analiză preliminară a diverselor sensuri ale termenului „drept transnațional”
• Andreea Zalomir, Implicații juridice ale conflictelor în spațiul cosmic (Partea I)
• Studii și comentarii de jurisprudență și legislație
• Ion Gâlea, Relația dintre tratate și Constituția României: jurisprudența recentă a Curții Constituționale din România
• Contribuţia doctorandului şi masterandului
• Adrian-Nicușor Popescu, Primul refugiat climatic recunoscut?
• Recenzie de carte
• Elena Lazăr, “La construcción jurídica de un espacio marítimo común europeo”

New Issue: Security Studies

The latest issue of Security Studies (Vol. 29, no. 5, 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Wyn Bowen, Jeffrey W. Knopf & Matthew Moran, The Obama Administration and Syrian Chemical Weapons: Deterrence, Compellence, and the Limits of the “Resolve plus Bombs” Formula
• Yuan-kang Wang, The Durability of a Unipolar System: Lessons from East Asian History
• Maggie Dwyer & Oisín Tansey, Explaining Divergent Trends in Coups and Mutinies: The End of the Cold War and the Role of Military Agency
• Alex Neads, You're in the Army Now: The Politics of Cohesion During Military Integration in Sierra Leone
• Jonas Schneider, Beyond Assurance and Coercion: US Alliances and the Psychology of Nuclear Reversal
• Aleksandar Matovski, Strategic Intelligence and International Crisis Behavior

New Issue: International Interactions

The latest issue of International Interactions (Vol. 47, no. 1, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Making Trains from Boxcars: Studying Conflict and Conflict Management Interdependencies
• Andrew P. Owsiak, J. Michael Greig & Paul F. Diehl, Making trains from boxcars: studying conflict and conflict management interdependencies
• Andrew P. Owsiak, Conflict management trajectories: theory and evidence
• Zorzeta Bakaki & Marius Mehrl, Examining conflict management technique sequences in international claims
• J. Michael Greig, Helping without hurting: ameliorating the negative effects of humanitarian assistance on civil wars through mediation
• Molly M. Melin, The business of peace: understanding corporate contributions to conflict management
• Rebecca Cordell, Thorin Wright & Paul F. Diehl, Extant commitment, risk, and UN peacekeeping authorization
• Govinda Clayton, Han Dorussen & Tobias Böhmelt, United Nations peace initiatives 1946-2015: introducing a new dataset
• Daniel Druckman & Susan Allen, Interactions among conflict management techniques: extending the breadth and depth of the framework

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

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

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

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