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Full-Text Articles in Law
Is Climate Change A Threat To International Peace And Security?, Mark Nevitt
Is Climate Change A Threat To International Peace And Security?, Mark Nevitt
Michigan Journal of International Law
The climate-security century is here. Both the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (“IPCC”) and the U.S. Fourth National Climate Assessment (“NCA”) recently sounded the alarm on climate change’s “super-wicked” and destabilizing security impacts. Scientists and security professionals alike reaffirm what we are witnessing with our own eyes: The earth is warming at a rapid rate; climate change affects international peace and security in complex ways; and the window for international climate action is slamming shut.
Moral Disarmament: Reviving A Legacy Of The Great War, James D. Fry, Saroj Nair
Moral Disarmament: Reviving A Legacy Of The Great War, James D. Fry, Saroj Nair
Michigan Journal of International Law
In short, this Article examines the concept of moral disarmament using a broad-spectrum definition of humanity rather than the traditional IHL perspective. Rather than referring to human rights that are impacted by armaments, this Article looks at methods through which human initiative can create a society that truly hungers for disarmament. In other words, this Article points out that the extent of change that society can bring about through education, intellectual cooperation, peace initiatives, international affairs awareness, and intercultural communication can be reflected in the economic growth, social growth, and development of states. The aim is to help the reader …
Rescuing Policy And Terror Victims: A Concerted Approach To The Ransom Dilemma, C. Elizabeth Bundy
Rescuing Policy And Terror Victims: A Concerted Approach To The Ransom Dilemma, C. Elizabeth Bundy
Michigan Journal of International Law
Part I of this Note will analyze the current framework governing hostage situations to determine the permissibility of ransom payments under international law. Part II will examine the two dominant positions that have developed among states and identify the justifications and shortcomings of each. Part III will conclude, firstly, that for states to develop a multilateral approach to hostage situations, they must take the lead within their respective domestic spheres and, secondly, that the option to negotiate for ransomed release should be preserved as an essential tool for confronting terrorist organizations.
All Other Breaches: State Practice And The Geneva Conventions’ Nebulous Class Of Less Discussed Prohibitions, Jesse Medlong
All Other Breaches: State Practice And The Geneva Conventions’ Nebulous Class Of Less Discussed Prohibitions, Jesse Medlong
Michigan Journal of International Law
With respect to the protections afforded by the Geneva Conventions, a great deal of ink has been spilled in recent years over the two-tiered system of tribunals employed by the United States in its prosecution of enemy combatants in the “war on terror.” Less discussed, though, is the wholly separate two-tiered system for sorting violators of the Geneva Conventions that emerges from the very text of those agreements. This stratification is a function of the Conventions’ distinction between those who commit “grave breaches” and those who merely commit “acts contrary to the provisions of the present convention” or “all other …
Targeting And The Concept Of Intent, Jens David Ohlin
Targeting And The Concept Of Intent, Jens David Ohlin
Michigan Journal of International Law
International law generally prohibits military forces from intentionally targeting civilians; this is the principle of distinction. In contrast, unintended collateral damage is permissible unless the anticipated civilian deaths outweigh the expected military advantage of the strike; this is the principle of proportionality. These cardinal targeting rules of international humanitarian law are generally assumed by military lawyers to be relatively well-settled. However, recent international tribunals applying this law in a string of little-noticed decisions have completely upended this understanding. Armed with criminal law principles from their own domestic systems — often civil law jurisdictions — prosecutors, judges and even scholars have …
Revisiting Extraterritoriality After Al-Skeini: The Echr And Its Lessons, Barbara Miltner
Revisiting Extraterritoriality After Al-Skeini: The Echr And Its Lessons, Barbara Miltner
Michigan Journal of International Law
On July 7, 2011, the European Court of Human Rights, sitting as a Grand Chamber, handed down two long-awaited judgments on the subject of the extraterritorial reach and scope of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In both Al-Skeini v. United Kingdom and Al-Jedda v. United Kingdom, the underlying issue was whether or not the United Kingdom was bound by its treaty obligations under the ECHR with regard to its military presence in Iraq. Al-Skeini involved the joined claims of six Iraqi nationals whose relatives were killed while allegedly under U.K. jurisdiction in Iraq; they claimed a lack of …
Asat-Isfaction: Customary International Law And The Regulation Of Anti-Satellite Weapons, David A. Koplow
Asat-Isfaction: Customary International Law And The Regulation Of Anti-Satellite Weapons, David A. Koplow
Michigan Journal of International Law
The argument in this Article proceeds through several steps. As background, Part I outlines the current and projected future human uses of outer space, emphasizing the plethora of civilian and military applications that now rely on satellites. The United States, especially, but other countries, too, are coming to depend on multiple space assets for the performance of a wide array of vital functions; the investment is huge, diverse, and growing, despite the costs and natural perils of operating in the harsh exoatmospheric environment.
The Unresolved Equation Of Espionage And International Law, A. John Radsan
The Unresolved Equation Of Espionage And International Law, A. John Radsan
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Essay, in order to offer up something to that appetite, is divided into five parts. After this introduction, the author, A. John Radsan, describes a Hegelian impulse, the perpetual drive to find unity in disorder. That impulse, for better or worse, creates the train and the track for many of the academy's journeys. Radsan then defines what is meant by "intelligence activities" for purposes of this Essay, after which Radsan surveys the scholarship that existed before this symposium on the relationship between espionage and international law. As the number of pages written on this topic suggests, scholarship on espionage …
State Intelligence Gathering: Conflict Of Laws, Charles H.B. Garraway
State Intelligence Gathering: Conflict Of Laws, Charles H.B. Garraway
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Article begins with an examination of the development of the law of war (Part II) and human rights law (Part III) before looking at the differing legal categories of armed conflict (Part IV). It then examines the applicability of human rights law in situations of armed conflict (Part V) and the increasing complexity of defining violence, whether as armed conflict or otherwise (Part VI). The Article proceeds with an examination of the overlap between the law of war and human rights law (Part VII) and the risk of divergence that this overlap causes (Part VIII). Finally, it seeks to …
Averting Catastrophe: Why The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Is Losing Its Deterrence Capacity And How To Restore It, Orde F. Kittrie
Averting Catastrophe: Why The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Is Losing Its Deterrence Capacity And How To Restore It, Orde F. Kittrie
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Article analyzes from a legal perspective the responses of the international community, and especially the Security Council, to the examples of nuclear proliferation outlined in this Article and the impact of those responses on the vitality of the nuclear nonproliferation regime. In doing so, the Article identifies and focuses on two key, interrelated themes. The first theme is the effect on these responses of the NPT's remarkably weak mechanisms for detecting violations of NPT obligations. The second theme is the frequent strong reluctance of the international community, including the Security Council, to impose serious sanctions for proliferation activity when …
Individual And State Responsibility For Intelligence Gathering, Dieter Fleck
Individual And State Responsibility For Intelligence Gathering, Dieter Fleck
Michigan Journal of International Law
It is the purpose of this contribution to examine relevant norms and principles for assessing acts of intelligence gathering under international law (Part I), evaluate legal problems of attribution of such acts (Part II), and, where governments commit wrongful acts, look into circumstances precluding their wrongfulness (Part III). Based on these considerations, legal consequences for criminal accountability (Part IV) and reparation (Part V) will be discussed. Finally, some conclusions may be drawn (Part VI).
Illegal Peace?: An Inquiry Into The Legality Of Power-Sharing With Warlords And Rebels In Africa, Jeremy I. Levitt
Illegal Peace?: An Inquiry Into The Legality Of Power-Sharing With Warlords And Rebels In Africa, Jeremy I. Levitt
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Article represents the first conscientious attempt to address these questions, present a conceptual framework for examining the legal and political efficacy of coercing democratically constituted governments into sharing power, and define a lawful basis or approach to sharing power when governments are confronted with the aforementioned scenario. The Article is polemical and questions the dominant logic that political power-sharing is lawful, legitimate, and unequivocally serves the public good, arguing that power-sharing deals that ignore controlling rules are unlawful and not viable.
Legal "Black Hole"? Extraterritorial State Action And International Treaty Law On Civil And Political Rights, Ralph Wilde
Legal "Black Hole"? Extraterritorial State Action And International Treaty Law On Civil And Political Rights, Ralph Wilde
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Article considers the significant role that extraterritorial activity is playing in the post-9/11 foreign policy of some States and the idea that this activity somehow takes place "outside" the law or, at least, outside an arena where legal norms apply as a matter of course rather than only when and to the extent that the State involved decides these norms will apply. It begins in Section II by mapping out the extraterritorial state activities conducted since 9/11, covering activities with a personalized object-such as the military action taken in Afghanistan against Al Qaeda-and activities with a spatial (territorial) object-such …
Sexual Slavery And The International Criminal Court: Advancing International Law, Valerie Oosterveld
Sexual Slavery And The International Criminal Court: Advancing International Law, Valerie Oosterveld
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Article explores the advancement of the international crime of sexual slavery, from its initial inclusion in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court through further development in the delineation of the ICC's Elements of Crime document. This Article begins with a detailed exploration of the negotiation process that led to the inclusion of the crime of sexual slavery in the Rome Statute. The first Section describes the decision to include both sexual slavery and enforced prostitution as crimes, as well as the debate on listing sexual slavery as a crime separate from that of enslavement. Next, the Section …
The New Chemical Weapons Convention And Export Controls: Towards Greater Multilateralism, Urs A. Cipolat
The New Chemical Weapons Convention And Export Controls: Towards Greater Multilateralism, Urs A. Cipolat
Michigan Journal of International Law
The article is structured in five parts. Section I gives an overview of the history of the CWC. Section II focuses on the CWC' s material scope. This discussion is important in order to determine the items that will fall under an eventual export control obligation. Section III presents the main obligations under the CWC, while Section IV deals exclusively with the specific obligations pertaining to export controls. The implementation of these specific obligations-which, for the purposes of this article, are referred to as transfer rules-is the focus of Section V.
Footprints Of Death: Cluster Bombs As Indiscriminate Weapons Under International Humanitarian Law, Virgil Wiebe
Footprints Of Death: Cluster Bombs As Indiscriminate Weapons Under International Humanitarian Law, Virgil Wiebe
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Article applies these principles of discrimination to the real, rather than idealized, use and characteristics of cluster bombs. Briefly stated, these principles call upon parties to an armed conflict to distinguish between civilians and combatants and to weigh the military advantages of a particular weapon or type of attack against the harm it will do to civilians and civilian objects. This Article also considers briefly the global problem of cluster munitions and examines fundamental components of the discrimination principle as they apply to cluster bombs. As three specific case studies, it analyzes the use of cluster bombs by breakaway …
The International Legal Implications Of "Non-Lethal" Weapons, David P. Fidler
The International Legal Implications Of "Non-Lethal" Weapons, David P. Fidler
Michigan Journal of International Law
In this Article, the author attempts a comprehensive international legal analysis of "non-lethal" weapons to raise awareness about how many international legal issues they create and about the complexity of analyzing the international legality of the development and use of these weapons. In short, the emergence of "non-lethal" weapons does not rescue international law from its crisis in connection with controlling war. Indeed, in some respects, the coming of "non-lethal" weapons threatens to deepen that crisis in new and disturbing ways.
Clear And Present Danger: Enforcing The International Ban On Biological And Chemical Weapons Through Sanctions, Use Of Force, And Criminalization, Michael P. Scharf
Clear And Present Danger: Enforcing The International Ban On Biological And Chemical Weapons Through Sanctions, Use Of Force, And Criminalization, Michael P. Scharf
Michigan Journal of International Law
Currently there are two means of enforcing the international prohibition of chemical and biological weapons. First, the international community can induce compliance through imposition of sanctions, such as trade embargoes, freezing of assets and diplomatic isolation. Second, when sanctions fail, States can individually or collectively respond to the threat of chemical or biological weapons by using military force. After exploring the potential strengths and weaknesses of these approaches, this article examines the desirability of supplementing them with a third approach based on the criminal prosecution of persons responsible for the production, stockpiling, transfer, or use of chemical and biological weapons.
The Potential Contribution Of The Chemical Weapons Convention To Combatting Terrorism, Cecil Hunt
The Potential Contribution Of The Chemical Weapons Convention To Combatting Terrorism, Cecil Hunt
Michigan Journal of International Law
This paper includes an identification and brief assessment of features of the CWC that could be helpful in dealing with the danger of use of chemical weapons in terrorist activity. They are presented under six headings which should be viewed as theses. For some of these theses this paper can offer little support, but points, instead, to missed opportunities and to the need for further efforts.
Tadić, The Anonymous Witness And The Sources Of International Procedural Law, Natasha A. Affolder
Tadić, The Anonymous Witness And The Sources Of International Procedural Law, Natasha A. Affolder
Michigan Journal of International Law
This article explores the Trial Chamber's decision to allow the use of anonymous testimony as a protective measure in the wake of the final judgment in the Tadić trial. This initial decision, granting the prosecutor's request for protective measures including the withholding of four witnesses' identities from the accused, formed a precedent upon which later rulings for protective measures relied, both throughout the Tadić case and in subsequent cases before the International Tribunal.
The Fractured Soul Of The Dayton Peace Agreement: A Legal Analysis, Fionnuala Ni Aolain
The Fractured Soul Of The Dayton Peace Agreement: A Legal Analysis, Fionnuala Ni Aolain
Michigan Journal of International Law
This essay examines the substantial bilateral relationships between the domestic and international legal systems that have had enormous effects on the perception and efficacy of the local legal order. In particular, it charts the effect of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on local legal culture and the potential for greater liaison and support between local and international legal entities. This essay also notes the extent to which overlapping and confused mandates by a myriad of international organizations, many of which exercise legal functions, have been unresponsive to or dismissive of localized capacity.
Reappraising Policy Objections To Humanitarian Intervention, Dino Kritsiotis
Reappraising Policy Objections To Humanitarian Intervention, Dino Kritsiotis
Michigan Journal of International Law
This article's purpose is not to search for particular conclusions as to the substantive merit or the present legal status of the right of humanitarian intervention as defined and in view of this seeming tension between recent practice and established principle. Its governing concern, rather, lies with: fundamental principles of analysis and method; the formal sources of public international law consulted in the examination of the validity of humanitarian intervention; how normative determinations are reached in the first place; and the techniques which are adopted in navigating our course to these ends.
The Right To Return Under International Law Following Mass Dislocation: The Bosnia Precedent?, Eric Rosand
The Right To Return Under International Law Following Mass Dislocation: The Bosnia Precedent?, Eric Rosand
Michigan Journal of International Law
On the night of May 2, 1997, some twenty-five abandoned Serb houses were set on fire in the Croat-controlled municipality of Drvar, part of the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was clear from all the circumstances that Croats organized the arson of houses in Drvar to obstruct the return of the original Serb residents to the area. Croat authorities then made a concerted effort to resettle displaced Croats in Drvar in order to solidify a stretch of "ethnically-pure" territory adjacent to the Republic of Croatia. These displaced Bosnian Serbs are just a few of the estimated 2.3 million …
The Role Of The United Nations Security Council In African Peace Management: Some Porposals, A. Peter Mutharika
The Role Of The United Nations Security Council In African Peace Management: Some Porposals, A. Peter Mutharika
Michigan Journal of International Law
The United Nations global peace management scheme is based on certain fundamental assumptions that require serious reexamination as we enter the twenty-first century. Fundamental to the 1945 vision of global peace management was the prevention of a third world war through collective action by the great powers. Structurally, this was to be achieved by a system of great power governance through the mechanism of the Security Council. While the Charter confers on the Security Council "primary responsibility" for the maintenance of international peace and security, executive decision-making is reserved for the great powers through permanent membership and the veto power. …
Is The Law Of War Really Law? War And Law Since 1945, Alfred P. Rubin
Is The Law Of War Really Law? War And Law Since 1945, Alfred P. Rubin
Michigan Journal of International Law
Review of Law and War Since 1945 by Geoffrey Best
An Analysis Of The Oslo Ii Agreement In Light Of The Expectations Of Shimon Peres And Mahmoud Abbas, Justus R. Weiner
An Analysis Of The Oslo Ii Agreement In Light Of The Expectations Of Shimon Peres And Mahmoud Abbas, Justus R. Weiner
Michigan Journal of International Law
Review of Battling for Peace: A Memoir by Shimon Peres, and by Mahmoud Abbas
The Grave Breaches System And The Armed Conflict In The Former Yugoslavia, Oren Gross
The Grave Breaches System And The Armed Conflict In The Former Yugoslavia, Oren Gross
Michigan Journal of International Law
The system of grave breaches, established in the Conventions, is the focal point of the enforcement mechanism of international humanitarian law in general and of the Conventions in particular. It is therefore surprising that very little has been written to date about this system. This article is intended to fill that gap by discussing the repression -the prohibition, prosecution, and adjudication - of grave breaches of the Conventions. The article's main purpose is to chart and map the basic contours of the terrain of an area which despite its vast significance has not been adequately and systematically explored. It is …
Advancing The Law Of Weapons Control - Comparative Approaches To Strengthen Nuclear Non-Proliferation, David S. Gualtieri, Barry Kellman, Kenneth E. Apt, Edward A. Tanzman
Advancing The Law Of Weapons Control - Comparative Approaches To Strengthen Nuclear Non-Proliferation, David S. Gualtieri, Barry Kellman, Kenneth E. Apt, Edward A. Tanzman
Michigan Journal of International Law
This article analyzes in-depth the SAGSI recommendation that more effective safeguards draw upon "the elements (including the managed access provisions) contained in Part X of the Verification Annex to the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.” SAGSI found that the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) offers approaches for verification and investigation that may be adaptable to the NPT.
A Memorial For Bosnia: Framework Of Legal Arguments Concerning The Lawfulness Of The Maintenance Of The United Nations Security Council's Arms Embargo On Bosnia And Herzegovina, Craig Scott, Abid Qureshi, Jasminka Kalajdzic, Francis Chang, Paul Michell, Peter Copeland
A Memorial For Bosnia: Framework Of Legal Arguments Concerning The Lawfulness Of The Maintenance Of The United Nations Security Council's Arms Embargo On Bosnia And Herzegovina, Craig Scott, Abid Qureshi, Jasminka Kalajdzic, Francis Chang, Paul Michell, Peter Copeland
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Memorial seeks to present a framework of legal arguments with respect to the validity and legal effects of an arms embargo imposed by United Nations Security Council Resolution 713 in September 1991 on the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Yugoslavia), before its dissolution, and since treated as being in force with respect to the new states that have succeeded Yugoslavia. More particularly, the Memorial addresses the legality of maintaining (or, at least, having maintained during the crucial time period) the arms embargo in force, either de jure or de facto, against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnia) …
Article 51: Limits On Self-Defense?, Thomas K. Plofchan Jr.
Article 51: Limits On Self-Defense?, Thomas K. Plofchan Jr.
Michigan Journal of International Law
This article's two-pronged analysis has three distinct parts. Part I lays out the controversy of Article 51 interpretation as applied to the recent Gulf Crisis. Part II examines the legal guidance for interpreting the U.N. Charter, the Charter's travaux preparatoires, and specifically the work of the committees and subcommittees responsible for drafting and amending articles that fully incorporate the right of self-defense into the Charter. This Part develops conclusions on Article 51 that may be applied to the context of the recent Gulf Crisis. This Part also contrasts the Article 51 right of collective self-defense with the right of …