New Issue: Journal of International Criminal Justice

The latest issue of the Journal of International Criminal Justice (Vol. 19, no. 2, May 2021) is out. Contents include:

• In Memoriam: Robert Cryer
• Neil Boister, Darryl Robinson, Sergey Vasiliev, Martins Paparinskis, Meagan Wong, & Ioannis Kalpouzos, In Memoriam: Robert Cryer, b. 2 August 1974 -- d. 3 January 2021
• Articles
• Matthew Seet, ‘Cosmopolitan Citizenship’, Territorial Borders, and Bringing Denationalized Terrorists to Justice
• Marta Bo, Autonomous Weapons and the Responsibility Gap in light of the Mens Rea of the War Crime of Attacking Civilians in the ICC Statute
• Ady Niv, Transparent Uniforms: The Legal Status of Reservists in International Law
• Kathleen M Maloney, Ending Impunity for Forced Marriage in Conflict Zones: The Need for Greater Judicial Emphasis on the Human Rights of Girls
• Symposium: Torture by Non-state Actors
• Ginevra Le Moli, Foreword
• Ginevra Le Moli, Torture by Non-state Actors: Four Inquiries
• Tatyana Eatwell & Steven Powles, ‘Quasi-governors’ and Questions Relating to Impunity and Legal Certainty
• Émilie Pottle, What is Torture? Making the Case for Expanding the Definition to Include Private Individuals as Perpetrators
• Manfred Nowak, Can Private Actors Torture?
• Paola Gaeta, ‘Another Step in What it Means to Be Human’ — Prohibition v. Criminalization of Torture as a Private Act
• Thinking Beyond the Offence of Torture: An Interview with Andrew Clapham
• W.L. Cheah, Some Views on Torture from Asia

New Additions to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law

The Codification Division of the UN Office of Legal Affairs recently added new materials to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law website. They include a lecture given by Jennifer Trahan on “War Crimes Prosecutions”; a lecture by Bogdan Aurescu on “Sea-Level Rise in relation to International Law - A Concrete Contribution by the International Law Commission to Solving a Problem of Pressing Concern for the International Community”; and an introductory note by Donald M. McRae on General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 1947.

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The Audiovisual Library of International Law is also available as a podcast on SoundCloud and can also be accessed through the relevant preinstalled applications on Apple or Google devices, or through the podcast application of your preference by searching “Audiovisual Library of International Law.”

New Issue: International Organizations Law Review

The latest issue of the International Organizations Law Review (Vol. 18, no. 2, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Jacob Katz Cogan, Cities in the Shadows of International Institutional Law
• Nataša Nedeski, Shared Obligations and the Responsibility of an International Organization and Its Member States: The Case of EU Mixed Agreements
• Vojtěch Belling, Lukáš Kollert, & Martin Vojta, The IMF Conditionality in the Age of Post-National Governance
• Tommaso Natoli, Unus Pro Omnibus, Omnes Pro Uno: Regionalization and Sub-Regionalization of Disaster Management between Sovereignty and Solidarity
• Eugenio Carli, Multiple Attribution of Conduct in EU Security Missions

New Issue: American Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the American Journal of International Law (Vol. 115, no. 4, October 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Sara McLaughlin Mitchell & Andrew P. Owsiak, Judicialization of the Sea: Bargaining in the Shadow of UNCLOS
• Gregory Shaffer, Governing the Interface of U.S.-China Trade Relations
• Current Developments
• Sean D. Murphy, Provisional Application of Treaties and Other Topics: The Seventy-Second Session of The International Law Commission
• International Decisions
• Yurika Ishii, Situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
• Desirée LeClercq, Nestlé United States, Inc. v. Doe. 141 S. Ct. 1931
• Csongor István Nagy, Case C-66/18
• Maria Antonia Tigre, Indigenous Communities of the Lhaka Honhat (Our Land) Association v. Argentina
• Contemporary Practice of the United States Relating to International Law
• Kristen Eichensehr, Contemporary Practice of the United States Relating to International Law
• Recent Books on International Law
• Aeyal Gross, The Past, Present, and Future of Global Health Law Beyond Crisis
• Nicola Palmer, reviewing Transnational Legal Orders of Criminal Justice, by Gregory Shaffer and Ely Aaronson
• Tom Ginsburg, reviewing The Performance of Africa's International Courts: Using Litigation for Political, Legal, and Social Change, edited by James Thuo Gathii
• Anne Orford, reviewing Civil Wars: A History in Ideas, by David Armitage
• Cymie R. Payne, reviewing New Knowledge and Changing Circumstances in the Law of the Sea, edited by Tomas Heidar

New Issue: Transnational Legal Theory

The latest issue of Transnational Legal Theory (Vol. 12, no. 2, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Symposium: Bringing the “human problem” back into transnational law – The example of corporate (ir)responsibility
• Laura Knöpfel & Felix Lüth, Bringing the human problem back into transnational law: the example of corporate (ir)responsibility
• Kevin Crow, International corporate constituency as a human problem
• Jan Hendrik Ritter, Engaging the creativity of law for organisational knowledge creation
• Michael Elliot, Problematising the ‘governance gap’: corporations, human rights, and the emergence of transnational law
• Ioannis Kampourakis, From global justice to supply chain ethics
• Jaakko Salminen & Mikko Rajavuori, Private International Law, Global Value Chains and the externalities of transnational production: towards alignment?
• Dorothea Endres, The human side of protecting foreign investment
• Eliana Cusato, Transnational law and the politics of conflict minerals regulation: construing the extractive industry as a ‘partner’ for peace
• Sarah Jakob, The corporate social credit system in China and its transnational impact
• Felix Lüth, Corporate non-prosecution agreements as transnational human problems: transnational law and the study of domestic criminal justice reforms in a globalised world

New Issue: Ethics & International Affairs

The latest issue of Ethics & International Affairs (Vol. 35, no. 3, Fall 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Essay
• Hendrik Schopmans & Jelena Cupać, Engines of Patriarchy: Ethical Artificial Intelligence in Times of Illiberal Backlash Politics
• Book Symposium: Ethics, Security, and the War-Machine
• Peter Balint, Introduction: Is a Military Really Worth Having?
• Neta C. Crawford, Democracy and the Preparation and Conduct of War
• Cheyney Ryan, Nation-States, Empires, Wars, Hostilities
• C. A. J. Coady, War Crimes and the Asymmetry Myth
• Cécile Fabre, War, Duties to Protect, and Military Abolitionism
• Ned Dobos, Are States under a Prospective Duty to Create and Maintain Militaries?
• Christopher J. Finlay, Deconstructing Nonviolence and the War-Machine: Unarmed: Coups, Nonviolent Power, and Armed Resistance
• David Rodin, Justice Between Wars
• Feature
• Philipp Gisbertz-Astolf, Reduced Legal Equality of Combatants in War
• Review Essay
• Andreas Papamichail, The Global Politics of Health Security before, during, and after COVID-19

Giraudeau: Is the Pacific Shaping the Future of Maritime Limits and Boundaries?

Géraldine Giraudeau (University of Perpignan Via Domitia - Law) has posted an ASIL Insight on Is the Pacific Shaping the Future of Maritime Limits and Boundaries?

Inaugural Issue: Italian Review of International and Comparative Law

The inaugural issue of the Italian Review of International and Comparative Law (Vol. 1, no. 1, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Elisabetta Grande, Rodrigo Míguez Núñez, & Pier Giuseppe Monateri, The Italian Theory of Comparative Law Goes Abroad
• Carlo Focarelli, State Immunity and Serious Violations of Human Rights: Judgment No. 238 of 2014 of the Italian Constitutional Court Seven Years on
• Loukas Mistelis & Giammarco Rao, Multilateral Principles in a Bilateral World: Mandatory or Consensual Multilateralism in International Investment Law?
• Giovanna Adinolfi, Soft Law in International Investment Law and Arbitration
• Maria Chiara Malaguti, The New Italian Model Bit Between Current and Future Trends
• Sara Tonolo, Adoption v. Surrogacy: New Perspectives on the Parental Projects of Same-Sex Couples
• Fabrizio Vona, Environmental Disasters and Humanitarian Protection: A Fertile Ground for Litigating Climate Change and Human Rights in Italy? Some Remarks on the Ordinance No. 5022/2021 of the Italian Corte Suprema di Cassazione
• Elisabetta Lamarque, The Failure by Italy to Ratify Protocol no. 16 to the ECHR: Left behind but not lost
• Caterina Milo, Russian Diplomatic Espionage in Italy: The Biot Affair and International Law
• Massimo Iovane, The development of international law through the lens of the Italian doctrine
• Laura Cappuccio, Art. 11 of the Italian Constitution between text and context
• Orlando Scarcello, Borrowing to Survive: Investigating the Functioning of the Court of Justice of the EU through Comparative Law

New Issue: Chinese Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Chinese Journal of International Law (Vol. 20, no. 2, June 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Xuan Shao, What We Talk about When We Talk about General Principles of Law
• Chaoyi Jiang, Decoding China’s Perspectives on Cyber Warfare
• Jinyup Kim, Tackling Biopiracy in International Investment Arbitration: Consideration of the Perspective(s) of Developing Countries
• Comment
• Ignacio de la Rasilla & Hao Yayezi, The Community of Shared Future for Mankind and China’s Legalist Turn in International Relations
• To Fight a New Coronavirus: Special Section of Letters and Comments (Part II)
• Vanda Lamm, Some Remarks on International Health Legislation and the WHO
• Barry Sautman, Big Thunder, Little Rain: The Yellow Peril Framing of the Pandemic Campaign Against China
• Sufian Jusoh & Intan Murnira Ramli, The COVID-19 Pandemic, Regional Cooperation Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Rise of Investment Facilitation
• Bartłomiej Sierzputowski, To Cope with a Pandemic: Effects on Certain International Agreements
• Letters to the Journal
• Chengming Yang & Chaohui Sun, The Swiss Federal Tribunal Annulled the Arbitral Award in the SUN Yang v. WADA & FINA Case: The Applicant’s Duty of Curiosity on the Qualifications of an Arbitrator and the Neutrality of the Arbitrator
• Zhan Yangjun, The Expropriation Exception in the US Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act: Federal Republic of Germany et al. v. Philipp et al.

Conference: Reckoning with Empire: The Right to Self-Determination in Historical View

On November 12-13, 2021, Yale University will host an online conference on "Reckoning with Empire: The Right to Self-Determination in Historical View." Details are here.

10th SIEL Conversation: Institutions and Dispute Settlement under WTO

The 10th SIEL Conversation, on the topic "Institutions and Dispute Settlement under WTO," will take place on Thursday, October 28, 2021. Registration and other details are available here.

Lecture: Dupuy on "About the Universality of Public International Law in the Year 2021 and in the Years to Come"

On October 25, 2021, Pierre-Marie Dupuy (Univ. of Paris (Panthéon-Assas) & Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies) will deliver the opening lecture of the 2021-2022 Essex Public International Law Lecture Series. The topic is: "About the Universality of Public International Law in the Year 2021 and in the Years to Come." Registration is here. Further details are here.

Job Opening: Professor, Associate Professor, or Assistant Professor of International Law (Helsinki)

The Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki has announced a search for a Professor, Associate Professor, or Assistant Professor of International Law. The announcement is here.

Kriener & Wilson: The Rise of Nonviolent Protest Movements and the African Union’s Legal Framework

Florian Kriener (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public and International Law) & Elizabeth A. Wilson (Rutgers Univ. - Law) have posted an ESIL Reflection on The Rise of Nonviolent Protest Movements and the African Union’s Legal Framework.

Henrich: Umweltschutz durch humanitäres Völkerrecht im nichtinternationalen bewaffneten Konflikt

Sophia Henrich has published Umweltschutz durch humanitäres Völkerrecht im nichtinternationalen bewaffneten Konflikt (Duncker & Humblot 2021). Here's the abstract:

Selbst während nichtinternationaler bewaffneter Konflikte stehen Individuen und Bevölkerungen unter dem Schutz des auf humanitären Grundentscheidungen basierenden Kriegsrechts. Inwieweit auch der Erhalt der natürlichen Umwelt durch geltendes humanitäres Völkerrecht gefördert wird, ist Gegenstand dieser Untersuchung, die sowohl an die derzeitige Debatte um die Hinlänglichkeit des durch Völkerrecht allgemein bewirkten Umweltschutzes als auch an Überlegungen zu denkbaren Fortentwicklungen des Rechts nichtinternationaler bewaffneter Konflikte unter Beteiligung nichtstaatlicher Akteure anknüpft. Ausgehend von dem Fehlen unmittelbar umweltschützender Vertragsnormen befasst sich die Untersuchung insbesondere mit den Möglichkeiten eines funktionsbasierten Umweltschutzes, mit der tatsächlichen Verankerung proklamierter Gewohnheitsrechtssätze im positiven Recht sowie der denkbaren Einflussnahme des Umweltvölkerrechts auf die Auslegung des humanitären Völkerrechts.

van Doorn: Legal Implications of the »Common Heritage« Principle for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna

Erik van Doorn has published Legal Implications of the »Common Heritage« Principle for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Duncker & Humblot 2021). Here's the abstract:

Many fisheries management systems have individual rights at their basis but are not always successful. The question is what would have to change in fisheries law when community rights form the basis of management. Applying this idea globally, the principle of the common heritage of humankind could provide a future foundation. The principle incorporates intra- and intergenerational justice and has a clear biocentric component but is now only applicable to the ocean floor beyond national jurisdiction and to celestial bodies other than Earth. If this principle would also apply to highly migratory fish species like Atlantic bluefin tuna, not only an analysis of the applicable law but also of the principle´s roots in environmental ethics, the economic consequences of such application and a comparison with the idea of public trusteeship provide helpful insights. It appears that the common heritage of humankind can enable both utilisation and preservation of natural resources.

New Issue: International Relations

The latest issue of International Relations (Vol. 35, no. 3, September 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Special issue on the global commons
• Marianne Riddervold & Akasemi Newsome, Introduction: cooperation, conflict, and interaction in the global commons
• Mai’a K. Davis Cross, Outer space and the idea of the global commons
• Marianne Takle, Common concern for the global ecological commons: solidarity with future generations?
• Denise Garcia, Global commons law: norms to safeguard the planet and humanity’s heritage
• Kristi Govella, China’s challenge to the global commons: compliance, contestation, and subversion in the maritime and cyber domains
• Beverly Kay Crawford, Explaining Arctic peace: a human heritage perspective
• Nina Kelsey, Cities, commons, and the unilateral provision of public goods
• Noora Lori & Kaija Schilde, Muddying the waters: migration management in the global commons

Kopar: Stability and Legitimate Expectations in International Energy Investments

Rahmi Kopar (Ankara Yildirim Beyazit Univ. - Law) has published Stability and Legitimate Expectations in International Energy Investments (Hart Publishing 2021). Here's the abstract:

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This book assesses stability guarantees through the lens of the legitimate expectations principle to offer a new perspective on the stability concept in international energy investments. The analysis of the interaction between the concepts of stability and legitimate expectations reveals that there are now more opportunities for energy investors to argue their cases before arbitral tribunals.

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The book offers detailed analyses of the latest energy investment arbitral awards from Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic, and reflects on the state of the art of the legitimate expectations debate and its relationship with the stability concept. The author argues that, in order to achieve stability, the legitimate expectations principle should be employed as the main investment protection tool when a dispute arises on account of unilateral host state alterations.

New Issue: International Journal of Human Rights

The latest issue of the International Journal of Human Rights (Vol. 25, no. 9, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Zaka Firma Aditya & Sholahuddin Al-Fatih, Indonesian constitutional rights: expressing and purposing opinions on the internet
• Iffath Unissa Syed, Hijab, niqab, and the religious symbol debates: consequences for health and human rights
• Daphine Kabagambe Agaba, Social accountability approaches employed by civil society organisations to address maternal mortality and morbidity in Uganda
• Chloë M. Gilgan, Human rights localisation in liberal states: the UK’s responsibility to protect as regime change and political transition in Syria
• Gloria C. Nwafor & Anthony O. Nwafor, Covid-19 implications on right to healthcare in Nigeria and China
• Sara Bailey, ‘Moral and material resources’ and the social construction of India’s Right to Food Act
• Diane A. Desierto & Ilaria Schnyder von Wartensee, The right to development, integral human development, and integral ecology in the Amazon
• Seiriol Morgan, Entitlement, domination and violence: a philosophical model of a deviant sense of justification, and its implications for understanding human rights abuses
• Haeri Joo, ‘Rights investing’ in Korea: focusing on the overturned decisions of the Constitutional Court
• Juan-Pablo Perez-Leon-Acevedo, Victims and appeals at the International Criminal Court (ICC): evaluation under international human rights standards

New Issue: Nordic Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Nordic Journal of International Law (Vol. 90, no. 3, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Yoshifumi Tanaka, Temporal Elements in the Valuation of Environmental Damage: Reflections on the Costa Rica v. Nicaragua Compensation Case before the International Court of Justice
• Elliot Winter, The Geographical Reach of International Humanitarian Law in Transnational Armed Conflict
• Sondre Torp Helmersen, The Methodology of Formal Interpretations of Judicial Decisions by the International Court of Justice
• Alexander Lott, The MS Estonia Shipwreck Revisited: New Developments in the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage in the Northern Baltic Sea
• Ulf Linderfalk, Concepts as Tools of Legal Reasoning – How Pragmatics May Promote the Rationality of International Legal Discourse and the Work of Legal Scholars

Workshop: The Role of Interpretation in the Practice of Customary International Law: Interpretation as a Tool

On November 5, 2021, the project on "The Rules of Interpretation of Customary International Law" will hold a workshop, in a hybrid format, on "The Role of Interpretation in the Practice of Customary International Law: Interpretation as a Tool." The program is here. Registration is here.

Special Issue: On the Rohingya and the Andaman Sea Crisis: Six Years On

The latest issue of the Asia-Pacific Journal on Human Rights and the Law (Vol. 22, no. 1, 2021) focues on "On the Rohingya and the Andaman Sea Crisis: Six Years On." Contents include:

• Madeline Gleeson & Kelley Loper, Introduction
• Sumaiya Islam, Coline Schupfer, Zaid Hydari, Alexandra Zetes, & Kevin Cole, The Peril and Potential of Ambiguity: How National Laws and Policies Can Strengthen and Protect the Rights of Rohingya Refugees
• Brian Barbour, Lilianne Fan, & Chris Lewa, A Whole-of-Society Approach to the Rohingya Refugee Crisis: Strengthening Local Protection Capacity in South and South-East Asia
• Kate McMillan & Sriprapha Petcharamesree, Towards an ASEAN Model of ‘Responsibility-Sharing’ for Refugees and Asylum-Seekers
• Yunizar Adiputera & Antje Missbach, Indonesia’s Foreign Policy Regarding the Forced Displacement of Rohingya Refugees: Muslim Solidarity, Humanitarianism, and Non-Interventionism
• Authors: Natasha Yacoub, Nikola Errington, Wai Wai Nu, & Alexandra Robinson, Rights Adrift: Sexual Violence Against Rohingya Women on the Andaman Sea

Alter: The Promise and Perils of Theorizing International Regime Complexity in an Evolving World

Karen J. Alter (Northwestern Univ. - Political Science) has posted The Promise and Perils of Theorizing International Regime Complexity in an Evolving World (Review of International Organizations, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

As the world becomes more complicated, so too does global governance. The political consequences of the rising density of institutions, policies, rules and strategies to address global phenomena has been a central focus of the scholarship on international regime complexity. This conclusion to a special issue grapples with the promise and perils of theorizing about international regime complexity in a constantly evolving world. It discusses the special issue contributions while uniting the different conversations about the increasingly complex global governance space we refer to as international regime complexity. The goal is to bridge existing debates about global governance, to expand the scholarly conversation by drawing from and better connecting to IR debates, and to ensure that we can address practical and pressing global governance challenges.

Graduate Institute International Law Colloquium Fall 2021

The schedule for the Graduate Institute's International Law Colloquium for Fall 2021 is here.

New Issue: African Journal of International and Comparative Law

The latest issue of the African Journal of International and Comparative Law (Vol. 29, no. 4, November 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Paul Smit & Joaquin Grobler, Dismissal during Probationary Period of Employment in South Africa: An International Perspective
• John S. Ombella, Regulation of Natural Resources Located in Indigenous Communities Territory under the Principles of Consultation and Free, Prior-Informed Consent: Perspectives in Selected Countries
• Ndinawe Mtonga Ruppert, Kevin Sobel-Read & Blake Pepper, Law, Global Value Chains and Upgrading in the Mining Industry: A Case Study on Zambia
• Daniel Philemon Saredau, Law and Nigeria's Development: How to Strengthen the Efficacy of Law for Development in Nigeria
• Edith O. Nwosu, Edwin E. Arum & Oluchukwu P. Obioma, Promoting Sustainable Goals in Nigeria through the Kaleidoscope of the Social Protection Floor Initiative
• Funmi Alonge, Analysing the Effectiveness of the Nigerian Law and Policy in Promoting Renewable Energy and Expanding Access to Electricity
• Jonathan Heard & Emmanuel T. Laryea, Export Credit Agencies, International Investment Law and the Spectre of Unsustainable Developing Countries' Debts
• Georgios Pavlidis, The Troubling Shortcomings of International Asset Freezes: The Hunt for Gaddafi's Lost Billions
• Jamil Ddamulira Mujuzi, Discrimination on the Ground of Age in Uganda: Analysing Madrama Izama v. Attorney General (Constitutional Appeal No.01 of 2016) [2019] UGSC 1 (14 February 2019)

Conference: 2021 ASIL Midyear Meeting

On November 11-12, 2021, the American Society of International Law will hold its Midyear Meeting in a fully virtual format. Program and registration are here.

Lecture: Chimni on "Global South, Imperialism and International law: The Post Pandemic Era"

On November 5, 2021, the Collège de France will host a lecture by Bhupinder Chimni on "Global South, Imperialism and International law: The Post Pandemic Era." Details are here.

Workshop: Facial Recognition Technology: Challenges for International Collaboration & Governance

On November 17, 2021, Utrecht University will host a hybrid workshop on "Facial Recognition Technology: Challenges for International Collaboration & Governance." The program is here. Registration is here.

Lecture: Rae on "The Promotion of Transnational Human Rights: What Role for Canada at the UN?"

On October 20, 2021, the Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security will host an online lecture by Bob Rae (Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations) on "The Promotion of Transnational Human Rights: What Role for Canada at the UN?" Details are here.

Lecture: Prieto on "Blockchain infrastructures and changes in international lawmaking"

On October 20, 2021, the Institute of International Relations in Prague will host an online lecture by Gustavo Prieto (Ghent Univ.) on "Blockchain infrastructures and changes in international lawmaking." Details are here.

New Issue: International Studies Quarterly

The latest issue of the International Studies Quarterly (Vol. 65, no. 3, September 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Nicolas Jabko & Sebastian Schmidt, Paradigms and Practice
• Swati Srivastava & Lauren Muscott, How to Hold Unjust Structures Responsible in International Relations
• Dan Reiter, Gulliver Unleashed? International Order, Restraint, and The Case of Ancient Athens
• Quintin H Beazer & Daniel J Blake, Risk Is Relative: Heterogeneous Responses to Institutional Risks for Foreign Investment
• Aleksandra Conevska, International Cooperation and Natural Disasters: Evidence from Trade Agreements
• Desirée Nilsson & Isak Svensson, The Intractability of Islamist Insurgencies: Islamist Rebels and the Recurrence of Civil War
• Govinda Clayton & Valerie Sticher, The Logic of Ceasefires in Civil War
• Christopher M Faulkner, & Austin C Doctor, Rebel Fragmentation and the Recruitment of Child Soldiers
• Håvard Hegre, Håvard Mokleiv Nygård, & Peder Landsverk, Can We Predict Armed Conflict? How the First 9 Years of Published Forecasts Stand Up to Reality
• Jana Herold, Andrea Liese, Per-Olof Busch, & Hauke Feil, Why National Ministries Consider the Policy Advice of International Bureaucracies: Survey Evidence from 106 Countries
• Paula Castro & Marlene Kammerer, The Institutionalization of a Cleavage: How Differential Treatment Affects State Behavior in the Climate Negotiations
• Maria Martin de Almagro, Indicators and Success Stories: The UN Sustaining Peace Agenda, Bureaucratic Power, and Knowledge Production in Post-War Settings
• Jesse Dillon Savage, Common-Pool Hierarchy: Explaining the Emergence of Cooperative Hierarchies
• Huimin Cheng, Ye Wang, Ping Ma, & Amanda Murdie, Communities and Brokers: How the Transnational Advocacy Network Simultaneously Provides Social Power and Exacerbates Global Inequalities
• Ryan C Briggs, Why Does Aid Not Target the Poorest?
• Martin Roessler, Patrick Zwerschke, & Jonathan Old, Democracy and the Transnational Dimensions of Low-Level Conflict and State Repression
• Christopher P Willis, Sexual Violence by the State: The Role of Political Institutions in Sexual Violence Perpetration
• Lee Demetrius Walker, Melissa Martinez, & Christopher Pace, Gender, Internal Armed Conflict, and High Court Decision-Making in Transitioning Societies
• Daniel Silverman, Karl Kaltenthaler, & Munqith Dagher, Seeing Is Disbelieving: The Depths and Limits of Factual Misinformation in War
• Michael Tomz & Jessica L P Weeks, Military Alliances and Public Support for War
• John P Harden, All the World’s a Stage: US Presidential Narcissism and International Conflict
• Muhammet A Bas & Omer F Orsun, Regime Uncertainty and Interstate Conflict
• Peter Trubowitz & Kohei Watanabe, The Geopolitical Threat Index: A Text-Based Computational Approach to Identifying Foreign Threats

Lauterpacht Centre Friday Lunchtime Lecture Series for Michaelmas Term 2021

The schedule for the Lauterpacht Centre's Friday Lunchtime Lecture Series for Michaelmas Term 2021 is here. The series begins tomorrow, October 15.

Petersen: Hong Kong’s First Conviction for Incitement to Secession: What Role for the ICCPR?

Carole J. Petersen (Univ. of Hawaii - Law) has posted an ASIL Insight on Hong Kong’s First Conviction for Incitement to Secession: What Role for the ICCPR?

New Issue: International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics

The latest issue of International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics (Vol. 21, no. 4, December 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Mariana Rivera-Torres & Andrea K. Gerlak, Evolving together: transboundary water governance in the Colorado River Basin
• M. Pilar Latorre, Margarita Martinez-Nuñez, & Carmen Callao, Modelling and analysing the relationship between innovation and the European Regulations on hazardous waste shipments
• Ali Sabyrzhan, Gulnara Balgimbekova, & Viktor Shestak, Economic and legal regulation of the use and development of renewable energy sources
• Parita Shah & George Atisa, Environmental education and awareness: the present and future key to the sustainable management of Ramsar convention sites in Kenya
• Dan-Bi Um, Assigning a grass-root NGO role to legitimate organizations as resident watch-dogs in negotiating carbon benefits derived from multilateral funding
• Aigul Nukusheva, Guldana Karzhassova, & Kulbagila Baikenzhina, International nuclear energy legal regulation: comparing the experience of the EU and the CIS countries
• Benjamin M. Abraham, Ideology and non-state climate action: partnering and design of REDD+ projects
• Qinrun Zhang, China's policy and finding ways to prevent collapse in WEEE processing in the context of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal
• Joseph Earsom & Tom Delreux, Evaluating EU responsiveness to the evolution of the international regime complex on climate change

Markus: Rechtsvergleichung im Völkerrecht

Till Markus (Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung UFZ) has published Rechtsvergleichung im Völkerrecht (Mohr Siebeck 2021). Here's the abstract:

Till Markus untersucht die Bedeutung der Rechtsvergleichung für das Völkerrecht, insbesondere im Hinblick auf die Gestaltung, Bestimmung und Anwendung seiner drei primären Rechtsquellen. Aufbauend auf einer Rekonstruktion der Entscheidungspraxis verschiedener internationaler Gerichte sowie ausgewählter Arbeiten der Völkerrechtskommission entwickelt er den Grundriss einer Methodik der Rechtsvergleichung im Völkerrecht. Die Untersuchung basiert auf der Annahme, dass methodisch angeleitete Rechtsvergleiche einen Beitrag zur Effektuierung und Ordnung des Völkerrechts leisten, indem sie das Maß an Rationalität, dogmatischer Klarheit und Legitimität völkerrechtlicher Vertragsgestaltung und gerichtlicher Entscheidungsfindung steigern.

Call for Submissions: Special Issue on TWAIL (Indonesian Journal of International Law)

The Indonesian Journal of International Law has issued a call for submissions for a special issue on "Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL)," to be edited by Prabhakar Singh. The call is here.

Call for Papers: CyCon 2022

The NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence has issued a call for papers for the legal track of the 14th International Conference on Cyber Conflict (CyCon), to be held May 31-June 3, 2022 in Tallinn. CyCon is a multidisciplinary conference, combining academic research with high-level policy and strategy perspectives on cyber defence and security. The extended deadline is October 24, 2021. The call is here.

AJIL Unbound Symposium: Undoing Discriminatory Borders

AJIL Unbound has posted a symposium on "Undoing Discriminatory Borders." The symposium includes an introduction by Catherine Briddick & Cathryn Costello and contributions by E. Tendayi Achiume, Cathryn Costello & Michelle Foster, Liav Orgad, Anuscheh Farahat, Catherine Briddick, and Colm Ó Cinnéide.

Willemyns: Digital Services in International Trade Law

Ines Willemyns (Sidley Austin LLP) has published Digital Services in International Trade Law (Cambridge Univ. Press 2021). Here's the abstract:

Digitisation has significantly impacted international trade. This book explains the impact of digitisation on trade in services, the ensuing concept of 'digital services' and the different types of trade barriers these services face. This book establishes that the legal framework that applies to trade in services also applies to digital services. It elaborates on the scope of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and how to classify digital services. The relevant GATS obligations are subsequently applied to several case studies that illustrate the barriers to digital services trade. These case studies demonstrate the impact of the applicability of GATS to digital services on countries' international obligations. Finally, the book maps the electronic commerce-related provisions in in regional trade agreements (RTAs). Six extensive e-commerce RTAs are compared in depth and it is considered whether they add substantially to the existing multilateral obligations applicable to digital services trade.

Lenz: Interorganizational Diffusion in International Relations: Regional Institutions and the Role of the European Union

Tobias Lenz (Leuphana Univ. Lüneburg - International Relations) has published Interorganizational Diffusion in International Relations: Regional Institutions and the Role of the European Union (Oxford Univ. Press 2021). Here's the abstract:

How and under what conditions does the European Union (EU) shape processes of institution building in other regional organizations? Interorganizational Diffusion in International Relations: Regional Institutions and the Role of the European Union develops and tests a theory of interorganizational diffusion in international relations that explains how successful pioneer organizations shape institutional choices in other organizations by affecting the institutional preferences and bargaining strategies of national governments. The author argues that Europe's foremost regional organization systematically affects institution building abroad, but that such influence varies across different types of organizations. Mixing quantitative and qualitative methods, it shows how the EU institutionally strengthens regional organizations through active engagement and by building its own institutions at home. Yet, the contractual nature of other regional organizations bounds this causal influence; EU influence makes a distinguishable difference primarily in those organizations that, like the EU itself, rest on an open-ended contract. Evidence for these claims is drawn from the statistical analysis of a dataset on the institutionalization of 35 regional organizations in the period from 1950 to 2017 as well as detailed single and comparative case studies on institutional creation and change in the Southern African Development Community, Mercosur, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Daniel: Head of State Immunity under the Malabo Protocol: Triumph of Impunity over Accountability?

Kobina Egyir Daniel has published Head of State Immunity under the Malabo Protocol: Triumph of Impunity over Accountability? (Brill | Nijhoff 2021). Here's the abstract:

In Head of State Immunity under the Malabo Protocol: Triumph of Impunity over Accountability?, Kobina Egyir Daniel engages the subject of Head of State Immunity in international law against the backdrop of the African Union (AU)’s decision to create a Court with international criminal jurisdiction before which “Heads of State” or persons “entitled to act in such capacity” will have immunity during incumbency. The AU asserts - in justification - not only that it is standing up for itself against “neo-colonialist imperialist forces,” which have perverted international criminal justice and target African States through the International Criminal Court (ICC), but also that it is preserving the very soul of international criminal justice as well as customary international law on immunities.

Beyond the analysis to determine whether the immunity that the AU’s Malabo Protocol of 2014 confers represents a retrogression in international law norms that seek accountability for jus cogens crimes, Daniel provides valuable insights into the status-inspired dialectics and self-serving hero-villain polemics that fuel contestations of right between the AU and the ICC, and the worldviews that respectively seek to overturn/preserve the asymmetry of the international legal order. Through a review of legal history, case law from national and international tribunals, state practice and academic expositions, the book examines the evolution and practice of Head of State immunity as well as recent trends in the practice of the doctrine in light of the countervailing push to establish exceptions to immunity in order to ensure accountability under international human rights and international criminal law.

Alter: From colonial to multilateral international law: A global capitalism and law investigation

Karen J Alter (Northwestern Univ. - Political Science and Law) has posted From colonial to multilateral international law: A global capitalism and law investigation (International Journal of Constitutional Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This Foreword integrates international law, international relations, and global history scholarship to understand two global trends that are in tension with each other: (i) the shift from European colonial dominance to a law-based multilateralism, which enabled a more equal and inclusive international law, and (ii) global capitalism which, across time, has been a political and economic force that, left to its own devices, promotes exclusion and inequality. Alter builds an encompassing conception of global economic law to show the interplay of colonial law, private law, domestic law, and international law in enabling and constraining global capitalism across time. The investigation looks backwards so as to think forward. The larger goal of the endeavor is to imagine how an Asian law-based capitalism might continue past trends and recreate continuities despite a professed desire to be different. Just as capitalism once locked in colonial features despite the shift to multilateral international law, multilateralism and capitalism may be forces that sustain the very features of the Western Liberal International Order that China seeks to move beyond.

New Issue: Human Rights Law Review

The latest issue of the Human Rights Law Review (Vol. 21, no. 4, December 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Paula Gerber & Aaron Timoshanko, Is the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Doing Enough to Protect the Rights of LGBT Children and Children with Same-Sex Parents?
• Jane Richards, An Incremental Approach to Filling Protection Gaps in Equality Rights for Persons with Disabilities
• Marloes van Noorloos, A Critical Reflection on the Right to the Truth about Gross Human Rights Violations
• Patricia Palacios Zuloaga, Pushing Past the Tipping Point: Can the Inter-American System Accommodate Abortion Rights?
• Felix E Torres, Economic and Social Rights, Reparations and the Aftermath of Widespread Violence: The African Human Rights System and Beyond
• Sarah Ganty, Poverty as Misrecognition: What Role for Antidiscrimination Law in Europe?
• Jacob Mchangama & Natalie Alkiviadou, Hate Speech and the European Court of Human Rights: Whatever Happened to the Right to Offend, Shock or Disturb?

Conference: III Jornadas de Derecho Antártico

The III Jornadas de Derecho Antártico will take place on November 9-11, 2021. Program and registration are here.

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

The latest issue of Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Institutions (Vol. 27, no. 3, July-September 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Manuel Fröhlich, World Organization Epitomized: The Life and Legacy of Sir Brian Urquhart
• Cecilia Jacob, Institutionalizing Prevention at the UN: International Organization Reform as a Site of Norm Contestation
• Emizet F. Kisangani & David F. Mitchell, The Impact of Integrated UN Missions on Humanitarian NGO Security: A Quantitative Analysis
• Kseniya Oksamytna & Magnus Lundgren, Decorating the “Christmas Tree”: The UN Security Council and the Secretariat’s Recommendations on Peacekeeping Mandates
• Megan Bradley, Joining the UN Family? Explaining the Evolution of IOM-UN Relations
• Marco Bocchese, In the Eye of the Beholder: Elite Assessments of the ICC’s Performance
• Hortense Jongen & Jan Aart Scholte, Legitimacy in Multistakeholder Global Governance at ICANN

Land, Libal, & Chambers: Beyond Borders: The Human Rights of Non-Citizens at Home and Abroad

Molly Katrina Land (Univ. of Connecticut - Law), Kathryn Rae Libal (Univ. of Connecticut - Social Work), & Jillian Robin Chambers (Univ. of Connecticut) have published Beyond Borders: The Human Rights of Non-Citizens at Home and Abroad (Cambridge Univ. Press 2021). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

States have long denied basic rights to non-citizens within their borders, and international law imposes only limited duties on states with respect to those fleeing persecution. But even the limited rights previously enjoyed by non-citizens are eroding in the face of rising nationalism, populism, xenophobia, and racism. Beyond Borders explores what obligations we owe to those outside our political community. Drawing on contributions from a broad variety of disciplines – from literature to political science to philosophy – the volume considers the failures of law and politics to guarantee rights for the most vulnerable and attempts to imagine new forms of belonging grounded in ideas of solidarity, empathy, and responsibility in order to identify a more robust basis for the protection of non-citizens at home and abroad.

New Issue: International Peacekeeping

The latest issue of International Peacekeeping (Vol. 28, no. 5, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Sukanya Podder & Giuseppe Manzillo, Reflection on Labour Hierarchies in Peacekeeping: A Study on the Operational Experiences of Military Peacekeepers
• Soili Paananen, Sensemaking Processes in Complex Peace Operations: A Means of Adapting to the Dynamism of ‘the Local’
• Eduardo Uziel & Danilo Marcondes, The Peacekeeping Deployment that Never was: Domestic Considerations Behind Brazil’s Decision not to Send Troops to MINUSCA
• Julia Leib & Samantha Ruppel, The Dance of Peace and Justice: Local Perceptions of International Peacebuilding in West Africa
• Peter Albrecht & Paul Jackson, Non-Linearity and Transitions in Sierra Leone’s Security and Justice Programming
• Vanessa Gauthier Vela, MINUSMA and the Militarization of UN Peacekeeping

New Issue: Journal of International Dispute Settlement

The latest issue of the Journal of International Dispute Settlement (Vol. 12, no. 2, June 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Edouard Fromageau, Machiko Kanetake, Stephan Wittich, & Andrea Gattini, Domestic Contestations against International Courts and Tribunals: Introduction to the Special Issue
• Edoardo Stoppioni, National Contestations of the Legal Reasoning of International Courts and Tribunals: A Gramscian Discourse Analysis Approach
• Relja Radović, Arbitral Jurisdictional Regulation in Investment Treaty Arbitration and Domestic Courts
• Gabriela Cristina Braga Navarro, The Struggle after the Victory: Non-compliance in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ Jurisprudence on Indigenous Territorial Rights
• Marten Breuer, The Concept of ‘Principled Resistance’ to ECtHR Judgments: A Useful Tool to Analyse Implementation Deficits?
• Jorge Contesse, Judicial Interactions and Human Rights Contestations in Latin America
• Current Developments
• Kabir A N Duggal & Nicholas J Diamond, Human Rights and Investor–State Dispute Settlement Reform: Fitting a Square Peg into a Round Hole?

Special Issue: Rule of Law from Below

The current issue of the Utrecht Law Review (Vol. 17, no. 2, 2021) focuses on "Rule of Law from Below." It investigates instances where actors beyond formal state institutions, who have no constitutional or other formal legal role, take it upon themselves to uphold and defend the rule of law. Contents include:

• Antoine Buyse, Katharine Fortin, Julie Fraser & Brianne McGonigle Leyh, The Rule of Law from Below - A Concept under Development
• Clara Burbano Herrera & Yves Haeck, The Historical and Present-Day Role of Non-Governmental Organisations before the Inter-American Human Rights System in Documenting Serious Human Rights Violations and Protecting Human Rights and the Rule of Law Through Ensuring Accountability
• Katharine Fortin, Of Interactionality and Legal Universes: A Bottom-Up Approach to the Rule of Law in Armed Group Territory
• Ana Gascón Marcén, The Platform for the Protection of Journalists: A Mechanism for Cooperation between Non-Governmental Organisations and the Council of Europe
• Barbara Grabowska-Moroz & Olga Śniadach, The Role of Civil Society in Protecting Judicial Independence in Times of Rule of Law Backsliding in Poland
• Alexander Gilder, UN Peace Operations and the Role of the Local in (Re)Building the Rule of Law
• Brianne McGonigle Leyh, The Role of Universities and Law Schools in Documenting Serious International Crimes and Advancing the Rule of Law
• Aikaterini Tsampi, The Role of Civil Society in Monitoring the Executive in the Case-Law of the European Court of Human Rights: Recasting the Rule of Law

New Issue: Global Responsibility to Protect

The latest issue of Global Responsibility to Protect (Vol. 13, no. 4, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Juliette Paauwe & Jahaan Pittalwala, Cultural Destruction and Mass Atrocity Crimes: Strengthening Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage
• Robin Hering, What Is a Safe Area? Definition, Typology and Empirical Cases
• Jack Adam MacLennan, ‘No Ideas but in Things’: The Responsibility to Protect as Assemblage
• Outi Donovan, Trading Freedoms for Protection: Gender and Localised Protection in Libya

Conference: Thirty-Sixth Investment Treaty Forum Public Conference

The British Institute of International and Comparative Law will host in a hybrid format the Thirty-Sixth Investment Treaty Forum Public Conference on October 22, 2021. The theme is: "Time Limits in International Investment Law." The program is here.

New Issue: Swiss Review of International and European Law

The latest issue of the Swiss Review of International and European Law (Vol. 31, no. 3, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Samatha Besson, Du droit de civilisation européen au droit international des civilisations : instituer un monde des régions
• Ivan Ingravallo, An EU seat on the UN Security Council? The right moment has yet to come
• Sâ Benjamin Traoré & Patrick Ane-Ane Leta, La marge nationale d’appréciation dans la jurisprudence de la Cour africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples : entre effleurements et remises en cause

Ginsburg: Democracies and International Law

Tom Ginsburg (Univ. of Chicago - Law) has published Democracies and International Law (Cambridge Univ. Press 2021). Here's the abstract:

Democracies and authoritarian regimes have different approaches to international law, grounded in their different forms of government. As the balance of power between democracies and non-democracies shifts, it will have consequences for international legal order. Human rights may face severe challenges in years ahead, but citizens of democratic countries may still benefit from international legal cooperation in other areas. Ranging across several continents, this volume surveys the state of democracy-enhancing international law, and provides ideas for a way forward in the face of rising authoritarianism.

New Issue: International Community Law Review

The latest issue of the International Community Law Review (Vol. 23, nos. 2-3, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Nicolas Bernard, Taking Air Passenger Rights Seriously: The Case Against the Exclusivity of the Montreal Convention
• Gabriela A. Oanta, Access to Remedy in the European Union in Case of Breaches of Human Rights at Sea by Private Actors
• Frédéric Mégret, Activists on the High Seas: Reinventing International Law from the Mare Liberum?
• Sondre Torp Helmersen, China-Taiwan Threats of Force and the Paradox of the ‘Nuclear Weapons Principle’

Roundtable Discussion: The Historical Turn in International Economic Law

On October 12, 2021, the Ghent Legal History Institute and the Ghent Rolin-Jacquemyns Institute and Contextual Research in Law at the Free University of Brussels, in collaboration with the ESIL Interest Groups International Economic Law and History of International Law, will hold a roundtable discussion on "The Historical Turn in International Economic Law." The program is here. Registration is here.

Conference: Human Rights Due Diligence and Systemic Inequalities

On October 25-26, 2021, the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and the University of Copenhagen will hold an online conference on "Human Rights Due Diligence and Systemic Inequalities." Program and registration are here.

Gallant: International Criminal Jurisdiction: Whose Law Must We Obey?

Kenneth Gallant (Univ. of Arkansas - Law) has published International Criminal Jurisdiction: Whose Law Must We Obey? (Oxford Univ. Press 2021). Here's the abstract:

International Criminal Jurisdiction is a treatise for anyone conducting research into how domestic and international regimes create and enforce rules for personal and subject matter jurisdiction in transnational or international criminal cases. It is the only such treatise in English on this topic. Attorneys representing corporate executives in white collar criminal cases will be able to use this book to construct challenges to a foreign court's exercise of jurisdiction over those clients. Legal scholars wishing to critique foreign domestic courts for defying suppression treaties will find in this book information on how and why those courts are doing so. Law students will turn to this book for distinctions between international criminal tribunals and domestic courts in the exercise of personal jurisdiction over government officials. The book provides complete details on how domestic legislatures and the U.N. have created statutory and treaty-based rules expanding or even limiting courts' and tribunals' jurisdiction over certain crimes and certain categories of defendants. This research serves the book's function as a thorough guide to jurisdictional questions that arise when criminal acts or criminals cross borders. Questions include whether a defendant possesses standing to challenge an international tribunal's personal jurisdiction over him, what happens when a given domestic regime neglects to criminalize conduct prohibited by a new treaty, and why some domestic courts choose not to exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction.

New Issue: Global Society

The latest issue of Global Society (Vol. 35, no. 4, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Reconstructing the International Peace Architecture in the Asian Century
• Yuji Uesugi & Oliver P. Richmond, Reconstructing the International Peace Architecture in the Asian Century
• Yuji Uesugi & Oliver P. Richmond, The Western International Peace Architecture and the Emergence of the Eastphalian Peace
• Joanne Wallis, It’s the Little Things: The Role of International Interveners in the Social (re)Construction of the International Peace Architecture
• Dahlia Simangan, Reflexive Peacebuilding: Lessons from the Anthropocene Discourse
• Brendan M. Howe, Challenges to and Opportunities for International Organisation in East Asia
• Kwok Chung Wong, The Rise of China’s Developmental Peace: Can an Economic Approach to Peacebuilding Create Sustainable Peace?

New Issue: European Journal of International Security

The latest issue of the European Journal of International Security (Vol. 6, no. 4, November 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Oliver P. Richmond, The evolution of the international peace architecture
• Joseph M. Brown & Tanisha M. Fazal, #SorryNotSorry: Why states neither confirm nor deny responsibility for cyber operations
• Eleanor Gordon & Henrik Kjellmo Larsen, The violent inaction of the state and the camp as site of struggle: The perspectives of humanitarian actors in Moria Camp, Lesvos
• Kevork Oskanian, Securitisation gaps: Towards ideational understandings of state weakness
• Maya Dafinova, Whole of (coalition) government: Comparing Swedish and German experiences in Afghanistan
• Anna Longhini & Erin Zimmerman, Regional security dialogues in Europe and in Asia: The role of Track 1.5 forums in the practice of international security

Dothan: Three Paradigms of International Judicial Review

Shai Dothan (Univ. of Copenhagen - Law) has posted Three Paradigms of International Judicial Review (in The Most Impeded Branch?: Courts and Judicial Review in Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives, Christoph Bezemek & Yaniv Roznai eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

The forms of intervention of international courts in domestic affairs could be divided to three broad paradigms: (1) the Westphalian Paradigm (2) the Hierarchical Paradigm (3) the Network Paradigm. According to the Westphalian Paradigm, the role of international courts is to coordinate the interactions of sovereign states. According to the Hierarchical Paradigm, international courts initiate social change by issuing judgments that require states to amend their practices. Naturally, under this paradigm, courts are concerned about their ability to secure compliance with their judgments, but also about the legitimacy of their decisions and their ability to make good policy stipulations. According to the Network Paradigm, international courts are embedded within a vast web of actors with different interests. This chapter will survey the three different paradigms of international judicial review and demonstrate the unique considerations international courts need to take into account under every paradigm.

Tzouvala & Knox: International Law of State Responsibility and COVID-19: an Ideology Critique

Ntina Tzouvala (Australian National Univ. - Law) & Robert Knox (Univ. of Liverpool - Law & Social Justice) have posted International Law of State Responsibility and COVID-19: an Ideology Critique (Australian Yearbook of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

In its initial stages, the international legal discourse around COVID-19 focused heavily on two narrow questions: first, the international legality of lockdowns, and secondly whether China could be held legally responsible for the pandemic. In September 2020, Donald Trump called upon the UN to find China responsible for COVID-19. Similarly, Australia called for a fact finding mission over the question of China’s state responsibility. For its part China has rebuffed such claims, at one point seeming to place responsibility for the pandemic with the WHO or, more recently, with imported frozen food that allegedly triggered a super-spreader event at the Wuhan food market. These accusations are not simply of concern to a small number of government-employed international lawyers. The popular international law blog EJIL:Talk! announced in late 2020 that its most read post for the year was a piece by Peter Tzeng on the possibility of holding China internationally responsible for the pandemic. Tzeng’s piece was part of – and itself generated – a flurry of academic commentary on China’s potential legal responsibility.

Of course, one could retort here that the combination of veto rights at the UN Security Council, the absence of obvious grounds for ICJ jurisdiction and the operation of sovereign immunity make the possibility of China (or any other state for that matter) facing proceedings over COVID-19 wildly implausible. Questions of proof – both in the light of non-cooperation but also sheer uncertainty – and causation make the suggestion that anyone will be held internationally responsible sound like a cruel joke. One would be tempted to dismiss, then, these discussions as being irrelevant, as the expressions of an out-of-touch profession on the part of lawyers and simple rhetoric on the part of states.

However, it is important to resist this ‘realist’ impulse. It cannot explain why these ‘impossible’ accusations have recurred with such frequency in the discourse around the pandemic. Indeed, from this perspective it is the sheer implausibility of these legal schemes that makes their popularity worth interrogating. Why, in such a practice-orientated field as law, does such an seemingly impracticalset of accusations recur? Our argument is that law, including international law, has many functions: it represses, it distributes resources, opportunities and violence, and it produces representations of our relationship with the world, or, in other words, it operates as an ideology. Our intervention is concerned with this latter, ideological function of law. In particular, we seek to detect and critique the specific representations about the relationship between states, capital, and global disaster that are implicitly articulated through discussions of state responsibility for the pandemic.

Conference: Alternative Approaches to International Organizations in International Law

On October 14-15, 2021, the Graduate Institute will host a hybrid conference on "Alternative Approaches to International Organizations in International Law." Program and registration are here.

Renglet & Smis: The Belgian Climate Case: A Step Forward in Invoking Human Rights Standards in Climate Litigation?

Charlotte Renglet (Vrije Universiteit Brussels) & Stefaan Smis (Vrije Universiteit Brussels) have posted an ASIL Insight on The Belgian Climate Case: A Step Forward in Invoking Human Rights Standards in Climate Litigation?

Bahri, Zhou, & Boklan: Rethinking, Repackaging, and Rescuing World Trade Law in the Post-Pandemic Era

Amrita Bahri (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México), Weihuan Zhou (Univ. of New South Wales - Law), & Daria Boklan (National Research Univ. Higher School of Economics - Law) have published Rethinking, Repackaging, and Rescuing World Trade Law in the Post-Pandemic Era (Hart Publishing 2021). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

This book explores the ways to 'rethink', 'repackage' and 'rescue' world trade law in the post-COVID-19 era. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as an important context, the book makes original and critical contributions to the growing debate over a range of emerging challenges and systemic issues that might change the landscape of world trade law in the years to come. The book asks: do these unprecedented times and challenges call for reengineering the world trading system and a further retreat from trade liberalisation?

The authors offer a rigorous and insightful analysis of whether and how the existing trade institutions and/or rules, including their latest developments, may provide room to deal with pandemic-induced trade-related issues, sustainable development goals, future crises and other existential threats to the multilateral trading system.

The book reinforces the importance of international cooperation and the pressing need to reinvigorate the world trading system. The pandemic has provided a unique opportunity for governments to rebuild the political will needed for such cooperation. One should never let a serious crisis go to waste.

Podcast Series: Lethal Autonomous Weapons: 10 Things We Want to Know

Paola Gaeta (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies) has launched a new podcast series titled Lethal Autonomous Weapons: 10 Things We Want to Know, which is part of research project on autonomous weapons and war crimes financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation and based at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. In this podcast, Professor Gaeta and the other members of the research team (Marta Bo, Alessandra Spadaro, and Abhimanyu George Jain) discuss with other experts the challenges and problems raised by autonomous weapons, covering issues such as the concept of autonomy in weapon systems, the compatibility of lethal autonomous weapons with the laws of war, the question of the attribution of responsibility in case of failures of autonomous weapons, whether these weapons are ethical, the respect for human rights when autonomous weapons are used in law enforcement operations, and the prospects for an international treaty regulating them. The podcast is available on various streaming platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Spotify. Episodes are released every other Wednesday.

Call for Input to Database of Articles on Unilateral Sanctions

The United Nations is establishing a database of academic articles, dissertations and research papers relating to the legal status, humanitarian impact and other aspects of unilateral sanctions, with the aim of facilitating future research on the subject. Authors and others are invited to submit relevant works in any language, with the following information as appropriate: citations, links to published works, and any additional information such as a description or key words. Authorization for putting materials online for the purpose of the database is also requested. The project, an initiative of the UN Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, Alena Douhan, is an outgrowth of an Expert Consultation on “The Notion, Characteristics, Legal Status and Targets of Unilateral Sanctions” held in Geneva earlier this year. The report from that meeting is here. Submissions should be sent by email to [email protected] with “Sanctions Reference Instrument Submission” in the subject line.

Longobardo: The Duties of Occupying Powers in Relation to the Prevention and Control of Contagious Diseases Through the Interplay between International Humanitarian Law and the Right to Health

Marco Longobardo (Univ. of Westminster - Law) has posted The Duties of Occupying Powers in Relation to the Prevention and Control of Contagious Diseases Through the Interplay between International Humanitarian Law and the Right to Health (Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This article explores the rules governing the prevention and control of contagious diseases in occupied territory under international law. Although the article refers to the ongoing Covid19 pandemic, its scope is broader and encompasses instances of state practice that have occurred over the last two centuries. After a careful analysis of the relevant treaties and episodes of state practice, the article concludes that occupying powers have duties under international humanitarian law and international human rights law to prevent and control contagious diseases, through cooperation with the local authorities and bringing the necessary medical supplies in the occupied territory. The article stresses that taking these measures, including facilitating the supply of vaccines, is a duty under international law rather than an arbitrary act of international solidarity.

Symposium: The 1972 Stockholm Declaration at 50: Reflecting on a Half-Century of International Environmental Law

On October 8, 2021, the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law will hold an online symposium on "The 1972 Stockholm Declaration at 50: Reflecting on a Half-Century of International Environmental Law." Program and registration are here.

New Issue: Vereinte Nationen

The latest issue of Vereinte Nationen (Vol. 69, no. 4, 2021). Contents include:

• Schwerpunkt: Wir, die indigenen Völker in den Vereinten Nationen
• Theodor Rathgeber, Großer Fortschritt für die Rechte indigener Völker
• Regina Sonk, Indigene Sprachen – ein Menschenrecht
• Eliane Fernandes Ferreira, Gefahr für die Schwächsten
• Im Diskurs
• Lars Brozus & Marianne Beisheim, Standpunkt | Deutschland in den UN: regelbasiert, partizipativ, vorausschauend
• Stefan Schmitz, Vielfalt bewahren
• Maik Schmerbauch, Die UN historisch erforschen: Einblicke in ihr Archivwesen
• André Härtel & Martin Hock, Standpunkt | Bergkarabach: alter Konflikt, neue Lehren

Call for Papers/Appel à contributions: 17th Annual Conference of the European Society of International Law/17ème Conférence Annuelle de la Société Européenne de Droit International

The European Society of International Law has issued a call for papers for its 17th Annual Conference, which will take place September 1-3, 2022, in Utrecht. The theme is: "In/Ex-Clusiveness of International Law." The call is here (English/Français).

Bond: Global Intersectionality and Contemporary Human Rights

Johanna Bond (Washington & Lee Univ. - Law) has published Global Intersectionality and Contemporary Human Rights (Oxford Univ. Press 2021). Here's the abstract:

Global Intersectionality and Contemporary Human Rights argues for an expansive definition of human rights, one that encompasses the harm caused by multiple, intersecting forms of subordination. Intersectionality theory posits that aspects of identity, such as race and gender, are mutually constitutive and intersect to create unique experiences of discrimination and subordination. Perpetrators of sexual violence in armed conflict, of example, often target women based on both gender and ethnicity. Human rights remedies that fail to capture the intersectional nature of human rights violations do not offer comprehensive redress to victims.

This title explores the influence of intersectionality theory on human rights in the modern era and traces the evolution of intersectionality as a theoretical framework in the United States and around the world. It draws upon feminist theory and human rights jurisprudence to argue that scholars and activists have under-utilized intersectionality theory in the global discourse of human rights. As the central intergovernmental organization charged with the protection of human rights, the United Nations has been slow to embrace the insights gained from intersectionality theory. This work argues that the United Nations and other human rights organizations must more actively embrace intersectionality as an analytical framework in order to fully address the complexity of human rights violations around the world.

New Issue: Questions of International Law

The latest issue of Questions of International Law / Questioni di Diritto Internazionale (no. 84, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Climate-security-global-issue-v-regional-responses
• Introduced by Beatrice Bonafé and Maurizio Arcari
• Laura Pineschi, Conflict prevention and climate change in the MINUSMA mandate under Resolution 2423 (2018): Mission impossible?
• Louis Balmond, Les organisations internationales régionales africaines face à l’impact du changement climatique sur les conflits et le cas particulier du Sahel

Townsend: Decoding the Proposed European Union Artificial Intelligence Act

Bev Townsend (Univ. of York) has posted an ASIL Insight on Decoding the Proposed European Union Artificial Intelligence Act.

New Issue: Global Studies Quarterly

The latest issue of the Global Studies Quarterly (Vol. 1, no. 3, September 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Special Forum: Women, Peace and Security Twenty Years On: Implementation, Innovation and Operation
• Vanessa F Newby & Alanna O'Malley, Introduction: WPS 20 Years On: Where Are the Women Now?
• Lucy B Hall, Logics of Gender, Peace, and Security: Theorizing Gender and Protection at the Intersections of State and Civil Society
• Phyu Phyu Oo & Sara E Davies, Access to Whose Justice? Survivor-Centered Justice for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Northern Shan State
• Hannah Davies, Nationality versus Gender? The Administrative Politics of Gender Parity in the United Nations and the Implementation of SCR1325
• Cristina G Stefan, Opportunity for Gendering the Responsibility to Protect Agenda at the United Nations?
• Szilvia Csevár, Voices in the Background: Environmental Degradation and Climate Change as Driving Forces of Violence Against Indigenous Women
• Research Articles
• Nicole Wegner, Ritual, Rhythms, and the Discomforting Endurance of Militarism: Affective Methodologies and Ethico-Political Challenges
• Amit Julka, Gendered Honor: How Mass Common Sense Shaped India's Foreign Policy in Jammu and Kashmir, 1947–1950
• Froilan T Malit, Jr & Gerasimos Tsourapas, Weapons of the Weak? South–South Migration and Power Politics in the Philippines–GCC Corridor
• George Kyris & Bruno Luciano, Collective Recognition and Regional Parliaments: Navigating Statehood Conflict
• Matthew N Timmerman, Tough Enough: How Domestic Pressure to Use Force Affects Leaders Differently
• Elizaveta Gaufman, Eating Identity: Theorizing the Everyday Foreign Policy Assemblage
• Mark Copelovitch & Stephanie Rickard, Partisan Technocrats: How Leaders Matter in International Organizations
• Roxani Krystalli, Elizabeth Hoffecker, Kendra Leith, & Kim Wilson, Taking the Research Experience Seriously: A Framework for Reflexive Applied Research in Development
• Alexandria J Innes, Refugees or Illegal Immigrants: The Problem of the Group in Refugee Protection
• Jessica Kirk & Matt McDonald, The Politics of Exceptionalism: Securitization and COVID-19
• Enrique Restoy & Stefan Elbe, Drilling Down in Norm Diffusion: Norm Domestication, “Glocal” Power, and Community-Based Organizations in Global Health
• Eleonora Mattiacci, How Nuclear Issue Salience Shapes Counterproliferation
• Research Notes
• Leonie Holthaus, Practice Theory and the Opening Up of International Organizations