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Full-Text Articles in Law
Can The Liberal Order Be Sustained? Nations, Network Effects, And The Erosion Of Global Institutions, Bryan H. Druzin
Can The Liberal Order Be Sustained? Nations, Network Effects, And The Erosion Of Global Institutions, Bryan H. Druzin
Michigan Journal of International Law
A growing retreat from multilateralism is threatening to upend the institutions that underpin the liberal international order. This article applies network theory to this crisis in global governance, arguing that policymakers can strengthen these institutions by leveraging network effect pressures. Network effects arise when networks of actors—say language speakers or users of a social media platform—interact and the value one user derives from the network increases as other users join the network (e.g., the more people who speak your language, the more useful it is because there are more people with whom you can communicate). Crucially, network effect pressures produce …
Customary International Law: An Instrument Choice Perspective, Laurence R. Helfer, Ingrid B. Wuerth
Customary International Law: An Instrument Choice Perspective, Laurence R. Helfer, Ingrid B. Wuerth
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Article proceeds as follows. Part II begins by considering custom’s design features, which the authors distinguish from the canonical elements of custom (state practice and opinio juris) and the individual doctrines associated with CIL. Specifically, they contend that, as an ideal-type, custom is non-negotiated, unwritten, and universal, three characteristics that distinguish CIL from both treaties and soft law, which are almost always negotiated, written, and rarely universal either in formation or application. These design features help to explain some of custom’s peculiar doctrinal characteristics, and they cut across the doctrinal divide which is said to distinguish “traditional” and …
Shared Responsibility In International Law: A Conceptual Framework, Andre Nollkaemper, Dov Jacobs
Shared Responsibility In International Law: A Conceptual Framework, Andre Nollkaemper, Dov Jacobs
Michigan Journal of International Law
In this Article we explore the phenomenon of shared international responsibility among multiple actors that contribute to harmful outcomes that international law seeks to prevent. We examine the foundations and manifestations of shared responsibility, explain why international law has had difficulty in grasping its complexity, and set forth a conceptual framework that allows us to better understand and study the phenomenon. Such a framework provides a basis for further development of principles of international law that correspond to the needs of an era characterized by joint and coordinated, rather than independent, action.
Save Our Sharks: Using International Fisheries Law Within Regional Fisheries Management Organizations To Improve Shark Conservation, Stijn Van Osch
Save Our Sharks: Using International Fisheries Law Within Regional Fisheries Management Organizations To Improve Shark Conservation, Stijn Van Osch
Michigan Journal of International Law
Like many fish, sharks are facing unprecedented overfishing. They have been targeted both directly for their fins and caught accidentally (bycaught) in, for instance, tuna fisheries. This has led to collapsing stocks around the world. Overfishing has led to what has been termed a mass extinction among ocean species, and sharks are no exception-they are in fact especially vulnerable. As a result, many species of sharks are now listed on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This problem can only be tackled through coordinated, cooperative action by all states. This Note explores one avenue …
Introduction, Steven R. Ratner
Introduction, Steven R. Ratner
Michigan Journal of International Law
The articles in this symposium issue of the Michigan Journal of International Law represent the product of a historic and path-breaking conference held at the University of Michigan Law School in February 2007. The two-day meeting brought together an extraordinary array of scholars and practitioners to examine closely the relevance of international law for the gathering of intelligence by states. Although this long-neglected topic has gained increased relevance since the use of more controversial intelligence-gathering methods by the United States as part of its "global war on terror," many of the legal issues are as old as the craft of …
Towards A Right To Privacy In Transnational Intelligence Networks, Francesca Bignami
Towards A Right To Privacy In Transnational Intelligence Networks, Francesca Bignami
Michigan Journal of International Law
Privacy is one of the most critical liberal rights to come under pressure from transnational intelligence gathering. This Article explores the many ways in which transnational intelligence networks intrude upon privacy and considers some of the possible forms of legal redress. Part II lays bare the different types of transnational intelligence networks that exist today. Part III begins the analysis of the privacy problem by examining the national level, where, over the past forty years, a legal framework has been developed to promote the right to privacy in domestic intelligence gathering. Part IV turns to the privacy problem transnationally, when …
Development Finance: Beyond Budgetary "Official Development Assistance", Anthony Clunies-Ross
Development Finance: Beyond Budgetary "Official Development Assistance", Anthony Clunies-Ross
Michigan Journal of International Law
Budgetary appropriations by rich-country governments constitute the standard method of providing external funds for welfare and growth in developing countries. This source seems likely, however, to prove inadequate to meet the estimated external finance needed to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
Game Theory And Customary International Law: A Response To Professors Goldsmith And Posner, Mark A. Chinen
Game Theory And Customary International Law: A Response To Professors Goldsmith And Posner, Mark A. Chinen
Michigan Journal of International Law
In a pair of recent articles, Professors Jack Goldsmith and Eric Posner have used game theoretic principles to challenge the positivist account of customary international law. Their writings join other early attempts to apply game theory to the international law sources. The author has two purposes in this Article. The first is to evaluate game theory's potential for yielding greater insight into customary international law and international law more generally. The second is to respond to the conclusions about customary international law drawn by Professors Goldsmith and Posner.
Further Thoughts On Customary International Law, Jack L. Goldsmith, Eric A. Posner
Further Thoughts On Customary International Law, Jack L. Goldsmith, Eric A. Posner
Michigan Journal of International Law
In two earlier articles, the tools of game theory were used to sketch a positive theoretical account of customary international law ("CIL"). This theory rejected as question-begging the usual explanations of CIL based on legality, morality, opinio juris, and related concepts. It was argued instead that CIL emerges from nations' pursuit of self-interested policies on the international stage. This approach helps explain many overlooked features of CIL, including how CIL originates and changes, why the content of CIL tracks the interest of powerful nations, and why nations change their views of CIL when their interests change. Finally, the practices …
Enforcement And The Evolution Of Cooperation, George W. Downs
Enforcement And The Evolution Of Cooperation, George W. Downs
Michigan Journal of International Law
The purpose of this article is to broadly characterize the political economy or institutionalist theory of enforcement and to present data that is at least a first step toward evaluating the managerial and transformationalist critiques. The first section will present a short, schematic summary of the role of enforcement as it is currently viewed in the "new institutions" or political economy literature in international relations. While doubtless familiar to many readers, this is an important point of departure. A notable portion of the debate about the role of enforcement continues to stem from differences in terminology and from the fact …