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A No-Excuse Approach To Transitional Justice: Reparations As Tools Of Extraordinary Justice, David C. Gray Aug 2009

A No-Excuse Approach To Transitional Justice: Reparations As Tools Of Extraordinary Justice, David C. Gray

David C. Gray

It is sometimes the case that a debate goes off the rails so early that riders assume the rough country around them is the natural backdrop for their travels. That is certainly true in the debate over reparations in transitions to democracy. Reparations traditionally are understood as material or symbolic awards to victims of an abusive regime granted outside of a legal process. While some reparations claims succeed—such as those made by Americans of Japanese decent interned during World War II and those made by European Jews against Germany after World War II—most do not. The principal culprits in these …


Rule-Skepticism, "Strategery," And The Limits Of International Law, David Gray Aug 2009

Rule-Skepticism, "Strategery," And The Limits Of International Law, David Gray

David C. Gray

This is a review essay of Eric Posner and Jack Goldsmith's fascinating book, The Limits of International Law. In the essay I provide an exegesis of the core argument of the book, which is that the conduct of states in fields occupied by international law is more powerfully described by game theory than by law talk. In particular, the authors argue that state conduct traditionally described in terms of obedience and violation is actually determined by self-interest modified by the strategic conditions of identifiable games; principally coincidence games, coordination games, coercion games, and iterated prisoner dilemmas. In the essay I …


Book Review: The Iraq War And International Law, Maxwell O. Chibundu Jun 2009

Book Review: The Iraq War And International Law, Maxwell O. Chibundu

Maxwell O. Chibundu

A review of The Iraq War and International Law edited by Phil Shiner and Andrew Williams. Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2008.


International Law As Democratic Law, Andrew Strauss Feb 2009

International Law As Democratic Law, Andrew Strauss

Andrew L. Strauss

No abstract provided.


Who Is The "Human" In Human Rights? The Claims Of Culture And Religion, Peter G. Danchin Dec 2008

Who Is The "Human" In Human Rights? The Claims Of Culture And Religion, Peter G. Danchin

Peter G. Danchin

Modern critiques of international human rights law force us to confront at least two conceptual puzzles in the area of the claims of culture and religion. The first concerns the two concepts, often run together, of the secular (or secularism) and freedom, and the question of how rights—e.g. the right to freedom of conscience and religion—mediate between these purportedly universal or objective positions and the imagined subjective claims of particular religious or cultural norms. The second concerns the question of what we mean by “human equality” and how this idea relates to deeply-situated issues of collective identity and culture. Such …


Soft Law As Delegation, Timothy L. Meyer Dec 2008

Soft Law As Delegation, Timothy L. Meyer

Timothy Meyer

This article examines one of the most important trends in international legal governance since the end of the Cold War: the rise of “soft law,” or legally non-binding instruments that are given legal effect through domestic law or internationally binding agreements such as treaties. Scholars studying the design of international agreements have long puzzled over why states use soft law. The decision to make an agreement or obligation legally binding is within the control of the states negotiating the content of the legal obligations. Basic contract theory predicts that parties to a contract would want their agreement to be as …


How International Law Works: A Response To Commentators, Andrew T. Guzman Dec 2008

How International Law Works: A Response To Commentators, Andrew T. Guzman

Andrew T Guzman

This is a response to the discussion of commentators in a symposium on my book, How International Law Works.


How International Law Works: Introduction, Andrew T. Guzman Dec 2008

How International Law Works: Introduction, Andrew T. Guzman

Andrew T Guzman

This comment serves as the introduction to a symposium on my book, How International Law Works.