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Full Volume 80: Issues In International Law And Military Operations

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Yamashita: Holding Military Leaders Accountable For Wartime Rape, Joshua H. Joseph

ExpressO

This note explores the current controversy over the proper international standard for punishing commanders whose subordinates have committed rape, and examines the interplay between the nature of rape, the underlying theories of command responsibility, and an international legal system that has failed to produce fruitful results. The note contends that the continued occurrence of rape in times of war results in large part from the international community’s reluctance to punish high-level military officials who neither physically perpetrated the crime, were not present at the crime scene, and did not necessarily order rape.

The note proposes a slight expansion of the …

New Heights Of Combat—Yesterday’S Scientific Fantasies, Today’S Technological Possibilities: Weaponisation Of Outer Space, Jackson N. Maogoto

ExpressO

This Article focuses on militarization and weaponization of space. Militarization of space occurred many decades ago. The contemporary concern is weaponization of space; that is, the introduction of new futuristic weapons into the space environment. The Article argues that the quantum leaps by China’s space program (set to outpace Russia’s cash strapped program) may herald the dawn of a new Cold War and a heated arms race with the United States as China seeks to underwrite its regional pre-eminence with military might. The Article highlights the fact that the international Space Law regime now has a new game in the …

Watching The Watchdogs: Holding The Un Accountable For International Humanitarian Law Violations Of The ‘Blue Helmets’, Jackson N. Maogoto

ExpressO

The political climate is ripe for the United Nations system to successfully and effectively provide global collective security. Now that relations have improved between the ‘East’ and ‘West’ the United Nations will indeed be able to broaden its role, and perhaps operate to its full capacity - to call into being the ‘New World Order,’ characterised by a Security Council able to respond swiftly and effectively to aggression and massive human rights violations through ‘police action’. However the significant and documented international humanitarian law violations by UN forces in the 1990s has raised the stakes. Thrice in the last decade …

The Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act And Its Implications For Private Military Companies, Dustin M. Tipling

ExpressO

Private Military Companies (PMCs) are civilian staffed corporations that provide military (and law enforcement) services, logistics, and support under contract to a government both inside and outside the country’s borders. Prior to Congress passing the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, U.S. courts lacked jurisdiction to prosecute civilians accompanying United States’ Armed Forces overseas. This article will specifically address how the United States exercises jurisdiction and prosecutes the civilian employees of PMCs in United States courts for crimes they have committed in foreign countries while working under contract to the United States government.

Presiding Over The Ex-President: A Look At Superior Responsibility In Light Of The Kosovo Indictment , Jackson N. Maogoto

ExpressO

Individual criminal responsibility, and command responsibility in particular, are important because, to deter human rights abuses, potential perpetrators must perceive prosecution as a possible consequence of their actions. Historically, the doctrine of command responsibility has been an important tool to hold accountable leaders who plan, participate in, or acquiesce in large-scale human rights abuses. The scope of the command responsibility doctrine remains one of the most important issues in prosecuting human rights atrocities. The scope of the doctrine determines the degree to which a leader can insulate himself from criminal culpability when the criminal acts were committed by others but …

War On The Enemy: Self-Defence And State-Sponsored Terrorism, Jackson N. Maogoto

ExpressO

In the international law system, internal mechanisms are the appropriate responses to terrorist acts through domestic criminal law. The weakness of domestic criminal law is however evident in the face of transnational terrorists groups whose scope spreads across many borders. The challenge is compounded when States actively or passively support terrorism. Though traditionally State responsibility has been the vehicle through which pressure is exerted on States sponsoring terrorism, the lethal capabilities of terrorists demonstrated by the September 11, 2001 attacks has fundamentally changed the landscape. The consequences of breaches arising out of a failure by a State to effectively curtail …

Contemporary Private Military Firms Under International Law: An Unregulated “Gold Rush”, Jackson N. Maogoto

ExpressO

The Article addresses the legal issues raised by the ascendance of contemporary Private Military Firms. This article has as its aim an exploration of the thorny legal issues raised by the commodification of force. It discusses the nature of the contemporary PMF noting that it bears vestiges of yester year mercenaries. It then grapples with their uncertain status under international law despite the fact that they potentially pose problems for state authority and the direct control of states over the use of force. At the heart of the argument is the reality that PMFs maintain the ability to inflict violence …

Litigating Child Recruitment Before The Special Court For Sierra Leone, Noah B. Novogrodsky

San Diego International Law Journal

In May 2004, the Special Court for Sierra Leone issued a landmark decision finding that an individual may be held criminally responsible for the offense of recruiting child soldiers into armed conflict. As a hybrid tribunal established by the United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone to try those who "bear the greatest responsibility" for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed during the country's civil war after November 1996, the Special Court is the first international criminal body to indict a person for the crime of recruiting and employing children in war. The decision in the case of …

The Sosa Decision, Jeffrey P. Saxon

ExpressO

The manner in which international law is applied by the domestic courts of the United States has been an issue without any definitive boundaries since 1789. It is unclear as to the type and extent of international law that could be brought as a cause of action inside the United States for events that occurred outside its borders. The landmark case of Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, decided by the Supreme Court in 2004, has changed the landscape in this area. This decision will alter the field of domestic enforcement of international law by making it exceedingly difficult for an non-citizen to …

Hostis Humani Generi: Piracy, Terrorism And A New International Law, Douglas R. Burgess Jr.

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Queries From Querin: Guantanamo Tribunals And The Separation Of Powers Doctrine, Tanja Korpi

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Green Berets, Blue Berets... White Berets?: How & When Republics Participate In Humanitarian Military Intervention, Paul W. Kaufman

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Multi-Tiered Marriage: Ideas And Influences From New York And Louisiana To The International Community, Joel A. Nichols

ExpressO

This Article contends that American society needs to hold a genuine discussion about alternatives to current conceptions of marriage and family law jurisdiction. Specifically, the Article suggests that the civil government should consider ceding some of its jurisdictional authority over marriage and divorce law to religious communities that are competent and capable of adjudicating the marital rites and rights of their respective adherents. There is historical precedent and preliminary movement toward this end -- both within and without the United States -- which might serve as the framework for further discussions.

Within the United States, the relatively new covenant marriage …

Forced Pregnancy And The Icc, Milan Markovic

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

The Legality Of Governmental Responses To Terrorism And The Dichotomous Characterization Of Terrorists As Criminals Or Enemy Combatants, Gregory E. Maggs

ExpressO

This article argues that the United States and other nations ought to create specialized laws to regulate governmental responses to terrorism, rather than debating whether the current laws of war or the current rules of law enforcement should apply. These specialized laws would see terrorism as a problem that sometimes lies between traditional crime and traditional warfare, and would establish rules designed to address governmental responses to it.

Battered Nation Syndrome: Relaxing The Imminence Requirement Of Self-Defense In International Law, Michael Skopets

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Battered Nation Syndrome: Relaxing The Imminence Requirement Of Self-Defense In International Law, Michael Skopets

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Gender-Based War Crimes: Incidence And Effectiveness Of International Criminal Prosecution, Andrea R. Phelps

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Agreeing To Disagree: Cultural Relativism And The Difficulty Of Defining Terrorism In A Post-9/11 World, Sami Zeidan

UC Law SF International Law Review

Paradoxically, in a post-9/11 world where there is an unprecedented international joint response to counter-terrorism, there is still no universal, permanent and comprehensive definition of terrorism. This essay exposes the legal and political issues arising from the tension created between the universal agreement to coordinate counter-terrorism efforts on the one hand, and the proliferation of culturally relativistic definitions of terrorism on the other.

Filling The Void: Providing A Framework For The Legal Regulation Of The Military Companent Of The War On Terror Through Application Of Basic Principles Of The Law Of Armed Conflict, Professor Geoffrey S. Corn

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

In 1961, the Supreme Court of the United States held in Mapp v. Ohio' that the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution required imposition of the exclusionary rule for evidence improperly seized by State officials.

American Wartime Values In Historical Perspective: Full-Employment Mobilization Or Business As Usual, Timothy A. Canova

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

September 1 1th ushered in a period of existential doubt for many Americans, raising questions about why we are hated, what are our values, and what, if anything, should change.

Origins Of The Recent Wars Of Choice And Their Impact On U.S. Global Markets, Ismael Hossein-Zadeh

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

While they may have been immoral, external military operations of past empires often proved profitable and, therefore,justifiable on economic grounds.

Resurrecting "Romantics At War": International Self-Defense In The Shadow Of The Law Of War-Where Are The Borders?, Mohammed Saif-Alden Wattad

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

Rules relating to the use of force are among the traditional concerns of international law.

Isla Journal Of International And Comparative Law, Isla Journal Of International And Comparative Law

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

September 1 1th ushered in a period of existential doubt for many Americans, raising questions about why we are hated, what are our values, and what, if anything, should change.

Iraqi Civil Law: Its Sources, Substance, And Sundering, Dan E. Stigall

Florida State University Journal of Transnational Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The Western Response To 9/11, Philip Towle

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

It was politically and strategically unwise for the Bush administration to use the term "war on terror" after 9/11.

The U.S. Constitution And International Law: Finding The Balance, Christopher Linde

Florida State University Journal of Transnational Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The United States As A Democratic Ideal? International Lessons In Referendum Democracy, K.K. Duvivier

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Reports of how the United States works to spread democracy around the globe bombard the American public almost daily. Ironically, as principles of democratic governance expand worldwide, the United States, once the vanguard for citizen participation in government, has fallen behind. Although the U.S. system of government has evolved - average citizens now vote directly for their national representatives - the United States still stands as one of only three major industrialized countries in the world that has failed to allow its citizens to vote in a national referendum. Referendum democracy varies from representative democracy by allowing the public a …

World News, J.C. Sylvan, Cari Shiffman, Frank Pigott, Abigail Okrent

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.