Digital Commons Network^™

Water Governance In Haiti: An Assessment Of Laws And Institutional Capacities, Ryan Stoa

Ryan B. Stoa

The Republic of Haiti struggles to sustainably manage its water resources. Public health is compromised by low levels of water supply, sanitation, and hygiene, and water resources are often contaminated and unsustainably allocated. While poor governance is often blamed for these shortcomings, the laws and institutions regulating water resources in Haiti are poorly understood, especially by the international community. This study brings together and analyzes Haitian water laws, assesses institutional capacities, and provides a case study of water management in northern Haiti in order to provide a more complete picture of the sector. Funded by the Inter-American Development Bank as …

Incentivizing Corporate America To Eradicate Transnational Bribery Worldwide: Federal Transparency And Voluntary Disclosure Under The Foreign Corrupt Practice Act, Peter Reilly

Peter R. Reilly

In 1977, it was discovered that hundreds of U.S. companies had spent hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to improve business overseas. In response, Congress passed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), thereby making it illegal to bribe foreign officials to obtain a business advantage. A major tension has emerged between the federal agencies charged with enforcing the FCPA (i.e., the DOJ and SEC), and the corporate entities trying to stay within the legal and regulatory bounds of the statute. Specifically, while the government appears to be trying to maximize discretion and flexibility in carrying out its enforcement duties, …

The Administrative Law Of Global Private-Public Regulation: The Case Of Forestry, Errol E. Meidinger

Errol Meidinger

An important ensemble of transnational, transgovernmental regulatory institutions has emerged in the forestry sector over the past decade. These forest certification programmes set global standards for proper forest management and apply them through institutionalized licensing and inspection programmes. Similar programmes are appearing in other sectors. Developed largely by environmental NGOs and industry associations rather than governments, forest certification programmes are nominally voluntary, but are becoming increasingly mandatory in practice. They are also gradually linking with government regulatory and management programmes in various ways, while remaining in tension both with each other and with government programmes. The overall regulatory system is …

Beyond Westphalia: Competitive Legalization In Emerging Transnational Regulatory Systems, Errol E. Meidinger

Errol Meidinger

Published as Chapter 7 in Law and Legalization in Transnational Relations, Christian Brütsch & Dirk Lehmkuhl, eds.

This paper analyzes several emerging transnational regulatory systems that engage, but are not centered on state legal systems. Driven primarily by civil society organizations, the new regulatory systems use conventional technical standard setting and certification techniques to establish market-leveraged, social and environmental regulatory programs. These programs resemble state regulatory programs in many important respects, and are increasingly legalized. Individual sectors generally have multiple regulatory programs that compete with, but also mimic and reinforce each other. While forestry is the most developed example, similar …

Limits To The Independent Anti-Corruption Commission Model Of Corruption Reform: Lessons From Indonesia, Leslie Gielow Jacobs, Benjamin B. Wagner

Leslie Gielow Jacobs

No abstract provided.

Retooling Law Enforcement To Investigate And Prosecute Entrenched Corruption: Key Criminal Procedure Reforms For Indonesia And Other Nations, Leslie Gielow Jacobs, Benjamin B. Wagner

Leslie Gielow Jacobs

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, …

Taking Responsibility For Climate Change-Related Displacement: Article 8 Of The European Convention On Human Rights And The Proportionality Of Expelling ‘Climate Refugees’, Matthew Scott

Matthew Scott

Climate change is already contributing to the displacement of millions of people worldwide by increasing the frequency and intensity of adverse weather events. Faced with a ‘protection gap’ in the international legal framework, proposals for responding to the phenomenon overwhelmingly rely on the State to act, with limited discussion of the potential to develop the scope of protection through litigation. Recognising the potential for litigation to address immediate protection needs whilst also developing the scope of protection more broadly, this discussion paper advances an interpretation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights that would require a ‘fair …

Climate Change, Forests, And International Law: Redd's Descent Into Irrelevance, Annecoos Wiersema

Annecoos Wiersema

Forestry activities account for over 17% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Since 2005, parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change have been negotiating a mechanism known as REDD – Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation – to provide an incentive for developing countries to reduce carbon emissions and limit deforestation at the same time. Many believe this mechanism will not only mitigate climate change but will also provide biodiversity and forests with the hard international law regime that has so far been missing. These commentators assume REDD will develop into this kind of hard international law regime. They …

The Implementation Gap: What Causes Laws To Succeed Or Fail?, David Barnhizer

David Barnhizer

It is important to go behind the “paper systems” many countries and private sector actors have created to manufacture the appearance of commitments to responsible economic activity, environmental protection and social justice. This produces the need to penetrate the veils that mask governments’ “apparent compliance” with the terms of sustainable development, and to be honest about the inability of voluntary codes of practice to shape the behavior of business and government. Implementation requires effective systems to carry out the law and policy mandates. Laws and policies are often poorly designed or deliberately sabotaged in their creation, but in many instances …

Innovations In Governance: A Functional Typology Of Private Governance Institutions, Tracey M. Roberts

Tracey M Roberts

Communities are increasingly looking to private governance institutions, rather than formal government, to set public policy and to manage the environmental and social impacts of globalization. Private governance institutions, sets of rules and structures for governing without government, remain undertheorized despite an expanding literature. Questions remain about why they have arisen, what functions they serve, and whether they are effective. This article advances that literature in several ways. First, the article outlines the inherent limitations of the conventional taxonomy, which groups these institutions based on the identity of their constituent organizations (business interests, civil society, and government entities and their …

Global Climate Governance To Enhance Biodiversity & Well-Being: Integrating Non-State Networks And Public International Law In Tropical Forests, Andrew Long

Andrew Long

Environmental governance frequently represents a leading edge of global regulation. The climate regime even continues to create new modes of regulation despite a negotiation impasse. These new initiatives, like existing legal approaches to environmental challenges, too often embrace a fragmented view of issue areas that fails to reflect fundamental connections between the objects of regulation. The shortcomings of a state-driven international issue-by-issue approach to global environmental governance have long been obvious in some areas (such as tropical forests), and are becoming ever clearer in others (most notably climate change). Therefore, private networks play an increasingly important role in global environmental …

The United States – Korea Free Trade Agreement:, Y.S. Lee

Y.S. Lee

The U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, currently awaiting ratification of legislatures of both countries, is known to be the most significant bilateral trade agreement since the conclusion of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Both governments have promoted the U.S.-Korea FTA as the trade agreement that will enhance trade between the two countries and promote economic prosperity. The article critically reviews the inherent features of the U.S.-Korea FTA and examines whether the FTA is expected to promote the promised economic prosperity.

A Viable "Sweatshop Free" Model? The Ilo's Better Factories Program And Labor Rights In Cambodia's Garment Industry, John A. Hall

John A. Hall

The International Labour Organization's (ILO' s) innovative program, Better Factories Cambodia ("Better Factories"), represents one of the more important attempts made by the international community to promote labor rights in a developing nation. The lessons Better Factories offers are significant for all stakeholders in the global labor market and suggest at least the outline of a practical blueprint for the future promotion of international labor standards globally. While the ILO's program in Cambodia has achieved notable success in reaching specific criteria, future ILO efforts elsewhere must be adjusted to reflect lessons learned in the Better Factories model. Specifically, future programs …

The International Tropical Timber Organization And Conservationist Forestry Norms: A Bridge Too Far, Gerry J. Nagtzaam

Gerry J Nagtzaam

This article explores the attempts to create an global tropical timber regime and examines its underlying competing environmental norms of exploitation, conservation and preservation. It outlines a history of forestry exploitation over time and tracks the stilted development of a global tropical timber regime. It further examines the development of the International Tropical Timber Agreement and its concomitant Organisation. Legro’s test of the robustness of a norm is applied to the tropical timber regime to determine when and why, and through whose agency, normative change has not been effected within the International Tropical Timber Organisation where conservationist norms have failed …

Reducing Emissions From Deforestation In Developing Countries: International And National Governance (Case Study Of Indonesia), Nathaniel Mangunsong

Nathaniel Mangunsong

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Bali in December 2007 resulted in a landmark decision on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries (RED). This scheme promises an option of reducing deforestation as well as promoting carbon credit as an alternative income-generating activity within forest countries. However, there are still some challenges and issues that must be resolved before there can be successful implementation of this scheme such as the issues of leakage and permanence. These issues need to be addressed through establishing strong international and national governance. On the international level, there is a need …

Retooling Law Enforcement To Investigate And Prosecute Entrenched Corruption: Key Criminal Procedure Reforms For Indonesia And Other Nations, Leslie Gielow Jacobs, Benjamin B. Wagner

Leslie Gielow Jacobs

Public corruption is THE development issue of the twenty-first century. Players in the global campaign agree that criminal law enforcement is an essential cornerstone in a comprehensive strategy to fight the entrenched public corruption that plagues so many developing countries. But while much progress has been made in amending national laws to define the necessary corruption crimes, very little legislative attention has been paid to updating the procedural tools that police and prosecutors need to succeed. In this Article, we address this critical deficiency. Using insights gained from inside the United States Department of Justice and the Attorney General’s Office …

Mr. Smith Goes To Nairobi: The Unwritten Role Of Local Actors Within International Environmental Law, Caleb W. Christopher

Caleb W Christopher

This article first describes the existing participatory landscape of international environmental law. Local or regional governments, under a traditional federal model of domestic environmental law, are often responsible for undertaking some degree of discretionary enforcement of national policy. In addition, a variety of other tools, including citizen suits, public hearings and rulemaking comment, afford local communities with some degree of direct participation. However, under traditional international law, local communities often lack meaningful participatory mechanisms. Local government’s role includes very limited regulatory abilities and international business solicitation. Local communities may have a limited role during public comment periods of environmental impact …

Is International Trade Really Making Developing Countries Dirtier And Developed Countries Richer?, Maria Vittoria C. Carminati Garbino

Maria Vittoria C Carminati Garbino

The current assumption in most of the literature surrounding international trade and environmental law is that these two areas are at odds with each other. This strong belief that development and the environment are a zero-sum game has led some to believe that developing countries in search for prosperity cannot have trade as well as environmental protection. However, emerging studies as well as a review of actual case-law indicates that this is not necessarily true. This Comment illustrates how developing countries have been able to navigate their way between development and sustainability, thus creating cracks in the otherwise seamless assumption …