Digital Commons Network^™

The Role Of International, Regional, And Domestic Courts In Transitions Toward Peace And Security, Milena Sterio

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

Over the past several years, we have witnessed tremendous violations of international law in situations of conflict and mass violence by both state and non-state actors. In Myanmar, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have experienced severe persecution and have been forced to flee to the neighboring state of Bangladesh. In Sudan, military groups such as the Rapid Support Forces have been committing serious international crimes in the Darfur region and elsewhere. In Ukraine, Russian forces have targeted civilian objectives and have forcibly abducted children. And in Gaza, Israeli forces have been engaged in various violations of international law over the …

The Unspeakable Unspoken: Terrorist Imagery, Symbolic Expression And The Shifting Boundaries Of Free Speech, Ayşe Yağmur Tunçak

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

A simple fruit like a watermelon can convey many meanings: solidarity for some, terrorism sympathies for others. Among other things, increasing restrictions on speech drive individuals to the use of symbols for political expression, which may lead to legal controversies at the international level due to the untended complexity of symbolic speech in legal discussions. Unlike verbal communication, the meaning and communicative content of symbols are often indirect and open to interpretation. Thus, international human rights standards should rely on context-sensitive evaluations to prevent arbitrary limitations. Although the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), due to its subsidiary role, assumes …

Closing Remarks To The American Society Of International Law 2025 Midyear Meeting, Rt. Hon. Alex Chalk Kc

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Creeping Alliances In Foreign Policy Choices: A World Of Clusters And The Outline Of A Fragmented World Order, Kerem Gülay

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

International cooperation and conflict has long been studied through formal institutions, namely, membership in international organizations and participation in bilateral or multilateral treaties. This hardly grasps the informal and contingent relationships and the tacit and pragmatic alliances reflected in countries’ joint positions on multilateral issues. While most theories of alliances were preoccupied with why such formal alliances were formed, this article offers a reconceptualization of international cooperation based on empirical data. It proposes “creeping alliances,” tentatively defined as gradual and often informal cooperation that develops over time characterized by increasing mutual foreign policy alignment, to explain an undertheorized domain of …

State Complicity And The Threshold Of Knowledge: From Fragmentary Evidence To Evidentiary Saturation, Christina Bradic

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

The International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) 2007 judgment in Bosnia v. Serbia turned on evidentiary gaps. Although the ICJ recognized that genocide had been committed at Srebrenica, it declined to hold Serbia complicit, reasoning that the record did not prove awareness of genocidal purpose. Intelligence was piecemeal, contemporaneous witnesses were scarce, and the ICJ refused to infer knowledge absent direct proof.

Two decades later, the evidentiary environment looks radically different. In October 2024, ninety-nine American healthcare professionals who had volunteered in Gaza sent an open letter to the White House reporting that children with gunshot wounds to the head or …

The Doctor Won't See You Now: Legal Proscriptions For Medical Tourism Control And Regulation, Shenley W. Wish

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

The Medical Tourism industry has experienced remarkable growth in the past decade and is tracking to exceed that growth dramatically in the coming decade. With this rapid expansion, however, comes growing pains—predominantly lackluster patient safety. This Note examines the opportunities and challenges that would arise from regulating Medical Tourism through an international treaty, recognizing that an international treaty approach provides the most comprehensive and practically feasible solution for addressing complex cross-border constraints to create a safer global medical industry. (from the author)

Talking Foreign Policy: "Turning Points And Paradigm Shifts In U.S. Foreign Policy" June 23, 2025 Broadcast, Talking Foreign Policy

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Institutional Authority Without Ratification: Rethinking International Organizations’ Governance In The Post-Treaty Era, Izadora Coutinho

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

This Article examines the growing normative authority exercised by international organizations through informal governance mechanisms that operate without treaty ratification or formal consent. It argues that international law is undergoing structural transformation: global standards increasingly emerge from flexible, network-based arrangements rather than negotiated treaties. Using the OECD/G20 Global Anti-Base Erosion (GloBE) Rules as a case study, this Article illustrates how nonbinding instruments can generate de facto binding effects. Their adoption by numerous jurisdictions reflects systemic incentives, reputational pressures, and tax base erosion threats. While such mechanisms enhance flexibility and responsiveness, they also raise significant concerns about legitimacy, sovereignty, and accountability. …

Governing Economic Statecraft: Procedural Guardrails From State Practice, Wto Rules, Multilateral Trade, Dah-Wei Yih

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

National security exceptions have long been part of international trade law, but their use has expanded alongside the rise of economic statecraft. States now increasingly rely on geoeconomic tools such as sanctions, subsidies, tariffs, and investment and export controls to pursue geopolitical goals. This phenomenon, described by political scientists as “weaponized interdependence,” has blurred the boundary between economic policy and national security, thereby straining the integrity of WTO rules and the multilateral trading system.

Against this backdrop, how can states promote rule-of-law values such as transparency and predictability on the international plane as they implement geoeconomic policies?

This Article makes …

The Zaporizhzhia Gambit: Great Power Conflict, Nuclear Hostage-Taking, And The P5'S Accountability Crisis, Arete Tsoukalas

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

In a troubling precedent for modern warfare, Russian forces seized Europe’s largest nuclear facility, converting the delicate infrastructure of the Zaporizhzhia plant into a fortified military garrison rigged with explosives. Inside, Ukrainian engineers were reportedly held hostage, forced to operate the controls at gunpoint while enduring torture and the psychological terror of impending meltdown.¹ This is known as the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (“ZNPP”) Crisis.²

Within the reactor itself, the processes of producing nuclear energy cannot be abandoned, and constant custodianship is paramount.³ The intricacies and vulnerabilities of the fission process must be safeguarded, even during a …

The Right Of Access To The Court In The Practice Of The European Court Of Human Rights And Constitutional Courts In Europe, Filip Novaković

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

The right of access to a court is recognized as a fundamental component of the right to a fair trial under Article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”) and has emerged as a cornerstone of the European human rights system. Initially conceived as an implicit guarantee, the right has been progressively shaped by the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) and further developed through the practice of constitutional courts across Europe. This article examines the evolution of the right of access to courts, focusing on its scope, permissible limitations, and relationship to the broader …

Outsourcing Migration: A Comparative Analysis Of Border Externalization And The Future Of International Refugee Law, Shawn Yousefelahi

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

The contemporary international refugee protection regime is formally anchored in the principle of non-refoulement (the prohibition against forcibly returning refugees and asylum seekers to the territories where their fundamental rights would be threatened) and the right to seek asylum at or near territorial borders. These principles have been increasingly undermined by state practices that relocate border enforcement and asylum processing beyond their territorial borders. This Article examines how the United States, the European Union, and European states operationalize a global non-entrée regime through safe third country removals and border externalization agreements that purport to comply with international law while functionally …

Table Of Contents, Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Treating Social Media Corporations As Quasi-State Actors To Address The Use Of Artificial Intelligence In Content Moderation, Michael T. Tiu Jr.

Emory International Law Review

Corporations have become powerful actors in the international system. They have the potential to disrupt the protection of values that states have been performing for decades. One of these values–freedom of expression–has been the recipient of impact of emerging technologies owned by corporations. Social media platforms have become new governors of expression. Content moderation rules cause adverse impacts on freedom of expression. The vagueness of certain criteria and the inconsistency of their application have led to censorship of speech which would have been protected offline. This situation is exacerbated by the use of artificial intelligence in content moderation, owing to …

Lost, Never Found: Syria's National Commission For The Missing, Sara Jordan

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

This article discusses the enactment of Presidential Decree No. 19, enacted by interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, which established the National Commission for the Missing. This body was created in May 2025 and is tasked with researching missing and forcibly disappeared persons, including creating a national database, providing legal and humanitarian support to victims’ families, and documenting cases. The Commission’s findings, however, cannot be used in criminal trials, and the international community, including groups such as Amnesty International, has voiced concerns about its potential ineffectiveness. Following a brief history of conflict under the Assad regime, this article offers an analysis …

The Institutions Of Exceptions: Justification In Trade And Investment Treaties, Julian Arato

Michigan Journal of International Law

International economic law binds states in the interest of liberalizing markets, including in cross-border trade in goods and services (trade) and capital (investment). The treaty regimes for both trade and investment do this by disciplining states through legal rules, while preserving a modicum of governmental authority over domestic policy. The preservation of policy space in these regimes usually involves a process of exceptions-based justification – through formal exceptions clauses in most trade treaties and some investment agreements, and also through informal exceptions-style reasoning by adjudicators in the investment treaty regime more generally. This “exceptions paradigm” of justification has worked well …

Settlers In Syria: Turkey’S Population Transfers And The Geneva Conventions, Eugene Kontorovich, Erielle Azerrad

Emory International Law Review

This Article is the first work of legal scholarship to examine Turkish population transfers in northern Syria, which constitute perhaps the most aggressive movement of settler populations into occupied territory in current times. In particular, it examines the lawfulness of such movements under Article 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits an occupying power from “deport[ing] or transfer[ring] parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”  In a series of major military operations beginning in 2018, Turkey has seized nearly 3,000 square miles of territory in two sectors in northern Syria and established control. While it …

Corporate Culpability And The Tragedy Of The Commons: Extraction And Enforcement Schemes In Brazil And Nigeria, Jane Ijeoma Onuoha

Emory International Law Review

Natural resources that were abundant decades ago are now at an all-time low. Meanwhile, corporations continue to benefit from using the Earth and its resources for their profit. Rather than enforcing established legal frameworks designed to protect the environment and human rights, governments often allow corruption, control, and competition to create opportunities for gain through complicity. In countries like the Federative Republic of Brazil and in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the effects of inaction are taking a toll on the natural resources that each country relies on. Multinational corporations are not held accountable for their corrupt and illegal extractive …

The Criminalization Of Black Friendship, Kinship And Belonging, Reakash Walters

Dalhousie Law Journal

This paper posits that the Canadian state's attempt to target organized crime through the Criminal Code's criminal organization provisions has led to the criminalization of everyday expressions of Black life, including the criminalization of Black friendship. The statutory architecture of the regime incentivizes criminal legal actors with limited contiguity to Black culture to conflate bids for connection, association, and friendship within Black communities as gang activity.

Before the criminal organization provisions were enacted, Canada had no legacy of directly criminalizing organized crime. Localized violence in Quebec during the mid-1990s led to rushed amendments to the Criminal Code to target biker …

Reforma Alutsista Dan Sumber Daya Alam: Menjawab Tantangan Hukum Internasional Dan Perdamaian Dunia, Wildan Azkal Fikri, Rohadhatul Aisy

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

This study departs from the paradox of the failure to achieve world peace despite the existence of an established international legal regime. It addresses three main objectives: (1) identifying the key factors that undermine world peace; (2) analyzing the failure factors of international law to realize global peace; and (3) formulating a responsive international legal architecture to future peace agendas. The study employs a critical descriptive method with a socio-legal (non-doctrinal) approach, drawing on the analytical frameworks of neorealism, great powers oligarchy, and Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL). The qualitative analysis is conducted by examining power relations, the …

The Law And Ai As An “Apex Collaborator”: Legal Frameworks For Optimized Cooperation, David S. Filippi, Bill Tomlinson, Andrew W. Torrance

FIU Law Review

Law fundamentally exists to enable human cooperation, providing frameworks for everything from basic contracts to complex international agreements. As artificial intelligence systems grow more sophisticated, they may enable new ways that collaborative activity can occur. We posit the possibility of a new kind of AI entity: the “Apex Collaborator,” a computational system with capabilities for cooperation and partnership that are superior, in at least some ways, to those of humans. Just as apex predators shape the ecosystems in which they live through predation, Apex Collaborators would shape human-AI networks through their ability to enhance peaceful coexistence, collective problem-solving, and shared …

The Making Of Egyptian Cotton: An Alternative Narrative Between Empire And Global Capital, Dina I. Waked

FIU Law Review

Egyptian cotton has become a celebrated brand. Referring to cotton as “Egyptian” signals a certain quality, luxury, and durability. Egyptian cotton has, thus, become its own trademark, a signifier of value, and a symbol of national heritage. This image is carefully curated. It is now protected under a licensing scheme of branding and marketing that assures that fraudulently claimed “Egyptian cotton” does not benefit from the added value this geographic location ascribes to it. The Egyptian Cotton Association was thus created 2005 to license and accredit the brand. Part of the curation of the brand image is a historical narrative …

The Future Of Crypto-Asset Regulation Under Wto Law, Ines Willemyns

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

No abstract provided.

Uncharted Waters: Barriers To Ocean Carbon Removal In The High Seas Under Unclos And The Bbnj, Connor Stevens

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

No abstract provided.

The Intertemporal Law Doctrine’S Application To The Acquisition Of Colonies In The Americas, Kent Mcneil

All Papers

The intertemporal doctrine provides that international disputes have to be resolved in accordance with the international law that existed at the time the events giving rise to the dispute took place, not at the time the matter is adjudicated.1 It is thought to be impermissible to apply current standards to events that occurred in the past when different legal principles and rules were the norm. This doctrine applies as much to acquisition of colonies as to other international issues.2 So in order to determine whether a European nation acquired sovereignty over an overseas territory, it is necessary to determine and …

International Law, The Courts, And The Political Branches Of Singapore: Painting A Complete Picture, Benjamin Joshua Ong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In line with Singapore's vision of the separation of powers, the courts' duty is primarily to give effect to domestic law; the political branches take the lead in engaging with international law. A study of Singapore's interface with international law would therefore be incomplete were it to consider only the courts' role and not the political branches' model of international law as primarily a guarantor of Singapore's sovereignty and standing as a participant on the international stage. The political branches have been circumspect in engaging with international law in other areas, such as human rights, preferring a specifically Singaporean vision …

‘Salami Slicing’ And Issue Estoppel: Foreign Decisions On The Governing Law, Adeline Chong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Whether an issue estoppel arises over foreign decisions on the governing law of the claim has not been directly considered by an English court, but decisions in other jurisdictions show that this question is increasingly being raised in litigation. Is there identity of issue if the two courts apply different choice of law rules? The answer turns on whether a broad or narrow framing of the issue is adopted. It is suggested that, absent an issue which is subject to forum international public policy, forum overriding mandatory rules or which is one that the forum court retains the prerogative to …

Rethinking Legal Models For Aligning U.S.-African Trade And The Afcfta, Katrin Kuhlmann

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The U.S.-African trade relationship has become increasingly volatile and conditional, with significant implications for supply chains, trade corridors, and regional and global markets. This relationship has historically been based on a unilateral, preferential legal approach through a trade preference programme – the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) – under which individual countries petition for eligibility to receive duty-free treatment. AGOA expired in September 2025 in the midst of U.S. tariffs, but in early 2026 the programme was retroactively reauthorised through December 2026, with further application subject to “modernisation” and alignment with the “America First” policy. While many see reauthorisation …

International Law Duties Not To Recognize, Not To Assist, And To Cooperate Against Peremptory Norms (Jus Cogens) Violations,, Diane A. Desierto

Journal Articles

Peremptory norms (jus cogens) are the highest norms of international law. When these norms are violated, all States and international organizations have, at a minimum, three international legal duties to discharge while the violation is occurring: (1) the duty of non-recognition, where no State or international organization should recognize the situation caused by the violation; (2) the duty of non-assistance, where no State or international organization should render any aid or assistance to maintain this situation caused by the violation; and (3) the duty of cooperation, where all States and international organizations should cooperate to bring the violation to an …

The Internet And The Lost Law Of Transit, Vivek Krishnamurthy

Publications

For centuries, the law of transit has specified when states must permit foreign persons and goods to traverse their territory on journeys beginning and ending beyond their borders. Transit is a right — not a privilege — that tempers territorial sovereignty. Though largely forgotten today, the right to transit springs from states’ responsibilities to the international community when their territory hosts infrastructure of global utility.

Yet the internet stands as a striking exception to this tradition. Despite its importance, no doctrine of transit constrains states’ power to block or disrupt internet traffic that merely passes through their territory. This is …