International Law Commons^™

Strengthening The Foundation For World Peace - A Case For Democratizing The United Nations, Jarvis J. Lagman Esq.

Jarvis J. Lagman Esq.

ABSTRACT Strengthening the Foundation for World Peace: A Case for Democratizing the United Nations By Jarvis J. Lagman, Esq. The objective of this treatise is to show how the democratization of the United Nations would strengthen the foundation for world peace by increasing its effectiveness as a transnational governmental institution, promoting the harmonization of how different political systems value political legitimacy and facilitating the diffusion of democratic culture in a manner that minimizes conflict with existing political hegemonies. The achievement of a sustainable world peace requires the global harmonization of political systems to recognize each individual’s right to self-determination. Given …

Workshop Democracy: Making Policy In Cote D'Ivoire, Max Levin

Max Levin

Development experts would benefit from a better understanding of how policy is made in developing countries. In this article, I describe how health policy is made in Cote d’Ivoire, from the perspective of a Westerner embedded in the Ministry of Health for 10 months. I provide a narrative of how one health system reform—performance-based financing—moved from policy idea to enacted reform. I describe the origins of the reform in Cote d’Ivoire, how the government came to support the reform, and then the mechanics of how the reform was enacted. I then present observations on how policymaking in Cote d’Ivoire differs …

Punishment For Unjust War: First International Court Decision Awarding Damages For Aggression, Allen E. Shoenberger

Allen E Shoenberger

The Decisions of the European Court of Human Rights Cyprus v. Turkey, both the merits decision in 2001 and the just satisfaction decision in 2014 establish important precedents in international law and stand as a caution to potential aggressor states.

Nuclear Chain Reaction: Why Economic Sanctions Are Not Worth The Public Costs, Nicholas C.W. Wolfe

Nicholas A Wolfe

International economic sanctions frequently violate human rights in targeted states and rarely achieve their objectives. However, many hail economic sanctions as an important nonviolent tool for coercing and persuading change. In November 2013, the Islamic Republic of Iran negotiated a temporary agreement with major world powers regarding Iran’s nuclear program. The United States’ media and politicians have repeatedly and incorrectly attributed Iran’s willingness to negotiate to the effectiveness of economic sanctions.

Politicians primarily focus on immediate domestic effects and enact sanctions without a thorough understanding of the long-term effects on the United States economy and the public within a targeted …

Governing For The Corporations: History And Analysis Of U.S. Promotion Of Foreign Investment, Michael R. Miller

Michael R Miller

This paper explores and analyzes U.S. government support for foreign investors, especially major oil companies.

Throughout the 20th Century the US government has repeatedly used its international political influence to benefit US corporate activities abroad. The US government and others assumed initially that this was in the larger interests of the United States because US companies would represent and promote the United States’ policy agenda.

However, US corporate activities abroad over the last century seem to indicate this assumption was flawed. In numerous examples, US corporations have either ignored or thwarted the stated interests of the US government. At first …

The Urban Situation: Cities’ Place In Decentralized Government Frameworks, Michael R. Miller

Michael R Miller

This article compares how several developing, emerging market, and former socialist countries' laws classify or rank city governments in relation both to other tiers of subnational government (e.g., state-, province-, and county-level governments) and to other cities. It primarily focuses on the laws of Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Egypt, Iran, Morocco, China, Vietnam, Philippines, Russia, Poland, and Kazakhstan.

The Ciudades Modelo Project: Testing The Legality Of Paul Romer’S Charter Cities Concept By Analyzing The Constitutionality Of The Honduran Zones For Employment And Economic Development, Michael R. Miller

Michael R Miller

Over the last several years, the Honduran government has been aggressively advancing a "model cities" project that it argues will provide options for its citizens to escape the extreme violence in their country without migrating to the U.S. The model cities, which are formally called "Zones for Employment and Economic Development" ("ZEDEs"), are purported to be autonomously governed areas that will attract foreign investment and compete for residents by establishing safer communities and better managed institutions governed by the rule of law.

The ZEDEs trace their origin to a concept formulated by development economist Paul Romer, who proposed the idea …

The National Historic Preservation Act: Preserving History, Impacting Foreign Relations?, Mark P. Nevitt

Mark P Nevitt

The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) is a remarkable statutory success story, properly lauded for protecting American historic properties since its passage in 1966. But there is another, more intricate story to the NHPA. Congress added a unique extraterritoriality provision to the NHPA, implementing U.S. obligations under the World Heritage Convention (WHC), a treaty that protects properties of cultural and natural heritage worldwide. This provision requires federal agencies to take into account the effect of any undertaking outside the United States on the applicable nation’s equivalent National Register. Its proper scope and jurisdiction were unclear–until recently.A federal district court ruled …

The Law And Economics Of Microfinance, Katherine Helen Mary Hunt

Katherine Helen Mary Hunt

Financial inclusion may be jargon which appeals to international donors and academics, but the strategic implementation in developing countries is often based on international du jour priorities, such as microfinance. The topic of microfinance is highly debated in the academic literature, although little empirical work has been published. Further, no literature to date has considered microfinance from a law and economics perspective. This paper seeks to contribute to the gap in the literature by considering how microfinance has evolved to address the credit market failure, and how microfinance regulation should be designed to promote long term financial inclusion via financially …

Essential Facilities Doctrine And China’S Anti-Monopoly Law, Yong Huang, Elizabeth Xiao-Ru Wang, Xin Roger Zhang

Elizabeth Xiao-Ru Wang

No abstract provided.

Plead Guilty, Without Bargaining: Learning From China’S “Summary Procedure” Before Enacting Indonesia’S “Special Procedure” In Criminal Procedure., Choky Risda Ramadhan Mr.

Choky Risda Ramadhan Mr.

Because Indonesian courts are increasingly overrun with criminal cases, Indonesian lawmakers recently introduced a criminal procedure bill to include “special procedure” (jalur khusus), a procedure that allows defendants to plead guilty in order to increase efficiency. Unlike plea-bargaining in the U.S., this procedure more resembles China’s “summary procedure,” which is solely conducted by a judge, not negotiated independently by prosecutors and defendants. Before enacting the provision of special procedure, however, Indonesian lawmakers should learn from China’s successes and failures implementing summary procedure. While this procedure resulted in increased efficiency in China, it did not provide for defense counsel, and …

"That Gear Stick Is Not Your Husband's P----." Why The Dissent In Vance V. Ball State University Got It Right, And A Comparison Of The Law Of Employer Vicarious Liability For Sexual Harassment In The United States And South Africa, Justin A. Behravesh

Justin A. Behravesh

This article provides unique critical analysis of the United States Supreme Court's June 2013 decision of Vance v. Ball State University, by comparing that decision to recent South African common law and statutory developments. I argue that Vance's redefinition of what constitutes a "supervisor" for purposes of vicarious liability will have devastating effect on working women in the United States. Ultimately using South African law as a model framework, I conclude that the factors that should trigger vicarious liability should be based on policy concerns, not arbitrary definitions of what constitutes a "supervisor."

Balancing The Scales: Adhuc Sub Judice Li Est Or Trial By Media, Casey J. Cooper

Casey J Cooper

The right to freedom of expression and free press is recognized under almost all major human rights instruments and domestic legal systems—common and civil—in the world. However, what do you do when a fundamental right conflicts with another equally fundamental right, like the right to a fair trial? In the United States, the freedom of speech, encompassing the freedom of the press, goes nearly unfettered: the case is not the same for other common law countries. In light of cultural and historic facts, institutional factors, modern realities, and case-law, this Article contends that current American jurisprudence does not take into …

Suspicious Rights: Pealing Back The Principle Of Separation, Jihan A. Kahssay

Jihan A Kahssay

No abstract provided.

The Cost Of Doing Business In Asia: A Comparative Legal Study Of Environmental Regulations In The Emerging Markets Of Thailand, Malaysia, And Indonesia, Brooke R. Padgett

Brooke R. Padgett

Abstract: This article explores whether voluntary standards, customary law, or more binding bilateral investment treaties are best for corporations, the emerging markets of Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, and the environment itself. While corporations, markets, and the environment facially seem to have divergent priorities, environmental disasters are more costly after the fact than they are to prevent so in reality their priorities may not be so different after all. Some of the potential issues the paper will examine and address are big picture macro level such as fairness to future generations, intergenerational rights; the actual cost through questions of polluter pays, …

Does Customary International Law Obligate States To Extradite Or Prosecute Individuals Accused Of Committing Crimes Against Humanity?, Eveylon Cw Mack

Eveylon CW Mack

The effort to establish a Convention on Crimes Against Humanity (CAH) has gained support at the U.N. International Law Commission. Proponents of a CAH Convention assert that the lack of a treaty addressing inter-State cooperation promotes impunity for international crimes that are particularly egregious and are prohibited as norms recognized as jus cogens. In order to avoid safe havens for those who commit CAH, many CAH Convention proponents advocate for inclusion of an obligation to extradite or prosecute an offender that turns up in a State party’s territory. They assert that the inclusion of such an obligation is particularly important …

“A Pointless Legal Revolution? Constitutional Supremacy And Eu Membership In Spain, 1978-2014”, Antonio-Carlos Pereira-Menaut

antonio-carlos pereira-menaut

This topic belongs to history. After Franco’s death (1975) Spain embarked on a ‘legal revolution’ that, if pressed to its extremes, could be hardly compatible with European integration. Understandably, the Spaniards throve to create not just a new constitution but also a whole new legal order, with the following traits:

First, legal monism, and pyramid-like shape. Second, every legally relevant thing should be traceable back to the Constitution, that would legitimate and pervade all laws, by-laws, decrees, orders, administrative acts and judicial rulings. Ideally, every law, act or verdict would be but a development of the Constitution. Third, the border …

Preventing Cold War: Militarization In The Southernmost Continent And The Antarctic Treaty System's Fading Effectiveness, Dillon A. Redding

Dillon A Redding

This note argues that the preservation of Antarctica for peaceful research and internationally cooperative activity as envisioned originally by the Antarctic Treaty in 1961 has gone unrealized amid growing international interest in the strategic advantages offered by Antarctica, including the possibility of large swathes of mineral deposits and optimal locations for satellite stations. Part 1 describes the motivations behind the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) and outlines the relevant provisions of the Antarctic Treaty. Part 2 examines the military advantages to a state presence in Antarctica and the ways in which the ATS allows for such a presence to be carried …

Cuba And China: A Comparative Study Of Digital Oppression, Katharine M. Villalobos

Katharine M. Villalobos

The Digital Age has introduced a new form of expression that totalitarian states are struggling to silence. With social sharing websites like Twitter and Youtube, political dissidents living under oppressive governments can expose governmental abuse to web-users worldwide in a matter of seconds. However, while digital media has proved more difficult to control than traditional, non-electronic media, dictatorships like Cuba and China are resolved to prevent its inhabitants from freely using and expressing themselves on the Internet—even if that means violating their obligations as signatories of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

Both Cuba and China are …

Contract Resurrected! Contract Formation: Common Law ~ Ucc ~ Cisg, Sarah H. Jenkins

Sarah H Jenkins

Contract Resurrected!

After the promulgation of the Restatement (Second) of the Law of Contracts with its expanded theory of Section 90, quasi-contract and promissory estoppel were hailed as the only theories needed for recovery. Contract was dead! This was the dominant prospective regarding the continued efficacy of contract and contract law. The contract theorists were wrong. The mushrooming global interdependency among nations demands legal rules and principles to govern exchanges between businesses and reaffirms the value of contract as a juridical tool. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods as a recent promulgation reaffirms the …

Taming The "Feral Beast": Cautionary Lessons From British Press Reform, Lili Levi

Lili Levi

Abstract: As technology undermines the economic model supporting traditional newspapers, power shifts from the watchdog press to those it watches. Worldwide calls for increased press “responsibility” are one result. Pending British press reform provides a troubling example with far-ranging implications for freedom of the press. Under the guise of modest press self-regulation, the U.K. is currently poised to upend 300 years of press freedom via the recently-approved Royal Charter for Self-Regulation of the Press. The Royal Charter was adopted in response to the moral panic engendered by Britain’s tabloid phone-hacking scandal. An example of 20^th Century regulation poorly fitted …

The Abolition Of The Mandatory Death Penalty In The Commonwealth: Recent Developments From India And Bangladesh, Andrew Novak

Andrew Novak

India and Bangladesh are following the Commonwealth-wide trend toward discretionary death penalty regimes and away from the common law mandatory death penalty. This case note analyzes three recent decisions of the Supreme Court of India and the Bangladesh Appellate Division invalidating mandatory death sentences.

Andrew Novak is an adjunct professor of law at American University Washington College of Law, and an adjunct professor of criminology, law, and society at George Mason University. He is the author of The Global Decline of the Mandatory Death Penalty: Comparative Jurisprudence and Legislative Reform in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean (Ashgate 2014) and The …

“Friend To The Martyr, A Friend To The Woman Of Shame”: Thinking About The Law, Shame And Humiliation, Michael L. Perlin, Naomi Weinstein

Michael L Perlin

The need to pay attention to the law‘s capacity to allow for, to encourage, or (in some cases) to remediate humiliation, or humiliating or shaming behavior has increased exponentially as we begin to also take more seriously international human rights mandates, especially – although certainly not exclusively – in the context of the recently-ratified United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a Convention that calls for “respect for inherent dignity,” and characterizes "discrimination against any person on the basis of disability [as] a violation of the inherent dignity and worth of the human person...."

Humiliation and shaming, …

The Eu’S Accession To The European Convention On Human Rights: An International Law Perspective, Jed Odermatt

Jed Odermatt

Article 6(2) of the Treaty on European Union establishes that the Union “shall accede to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.” In early 2013, negotiators of the 47 Council of Europe member states and the European Union finalised a draft Accession Agreement that would allow the EU to accede to Convention. Taking this draft Accession Agreement as a starting point, this paper examines the issues and challenges that EU accession poses from an international law perspective. Much of the literature on the EU accession has focused on the effect that this process will have …

The Evolution Of The Digital Millennium Copyright Act; Changing Interpretations Of The Dmca And Future Implications For Copyright Holders, Hillary A. Henderson

Hillary A Henderson

Copyright law rewards an artificial monopoly to individual authors for their creations. This reward is based on the belief that, by granting authors the exclusive right to reproduce their works, they receive an incentive and means to create, which in turn advances the welfare of the general public by “promoting the progress of science and useful arts.” Copyright protection subsists . . . in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or …

The Right To An Exclusively Religious Education – The Ultra-Orthodox Community In Israel In Comparative Perspective, Gila Stopler

Gila Stopler

The ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Israel has its own separate education system which is funded by the state and in which boys are given an exclusively religious education with almost no exposure to secular subjects or to civic education. At the same time that the Israeli Supreme Court was scheduled to rule that the state may not continue to fund ultra-Orthodox private schools that do not teach the national core curriculum the Israeli parliament passed the Unique Cultural Educational Institutions Act which upholds the right of the ultra–Orthodox community to give their boys an exclusively religious education funded by the …

Enforcement In A Regime Complex, Sergio Puig

Sergio Puig

Today’s international business environment is fundamentally different than that of fifty years ago. Traditional trade meant selling into one nation goods that were made in another; now trade is mostly about making things in multiple countries and selling them everywhere. Yet the two main branches of public international law that address international business—international trade law and international investment law—have their providence and continue to be viewed as two discrete, separate systems. Through case studies, this Article explores how trade and investment are converging, and the resulting difficulties governments and private interests face when international rules are enforced. The tasks of …

"To Kill A Cleric?: The Al-Awlaki Case And The Chaplaincy Exception Under The Laws Of War", K Benson

K Benson

Anwar al-Awlaki was the first American citizen to be targeted for extrajudicial assassination by the Obama administration. While scholarly attention has focused on legality of his killing under domestic law, his status as a chaplain under International Humanitarian Law (IHL) has gone unexamined. The possibility that Anwar al-Awlaki may have been a protected person as a chaplain has profound ramifications for the legality of his killing and for the conduct of the war on terror more generally. As the definition of a "Chaplain" under IHL is under-developed at best and vague at worst, ideologues such as Mr. al-Awlaki operate in …

Protecting Workers As A Matter Of Principle: A Latin American View Of U.S. Work Law (With S. Gamonal C.), César Rosado Marzán

César F. Rosado Marzán

Scholars have noted that judicial conservatism has eroded labor and employment law (hereinafter referred to as “work law”) in the U.S. and elsewhere. The Roberts Court has kept in line with such conservatism, perhaps with sharpened audacity, deciding a number of key work law cases in the favor of employers. Moreover, the current seemingly pro-employer judicial hue over recent work law cases comes at the heels of recent legal scholarship calling for a rethinking of the “idea of labor law,” the demise of the standard employment contract, and an upsurge in labor precarity. Work law, which has always been under …