Digital Commons Network^™

Era Of Accelerating Digital Convergence: Security, Surveillance, Data, Privacy, Big Tech, And Politics, John Taschner

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Brain-Computer-Interfacing & Respondeat Superior: Algorithmic Decisions, Manipulation, And Accountability In Armed Conflict, Salahudin Ali

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

This article examines the impact that brain-computer-interfacing platforms will have on the international law of armed conflict’s respondeat superior legal regime. Major Ali argues that the connection between the human brain and this nascent technology’s underlying technology of artificial intelligence and machine learning will serve as a disruptor to the traditional mental prerequisites required to impart culpability and liability on commanders for actions of their troops. Anticipating that BCI will become increasingly ubiquitous, Major Ali’s article offers frameworks for solution to BCI’s disruptive potential to the internal law of armed conflict.

Metaphors Of International Law, Harlan G. Cohen

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter explores international law in search of its hidden and not-so-hidden metaphors. In so doing, it discovers a world inhabited by states, where rules are mined or picked when ripe, where trade keeps boats forever afloat on rising tides. But is also unveils a world in which voices are silenced, inequality is ignored, and hands are washed of responsibility.

International law is built on metaphors. Metaphors provide a language to describe and convey the law’s operation, help international lawyers identify legal subjects and categorize situations in doctrinal categories, and provide normative justifications for the law. Exploring their operation at …

Autonomous Cyber Capabilities And The International Law Of Sovereignty And Intervention, Michael N. Schmitt

International Law Studies

This article explores the intersection of autonomous cyber capabilities and two primary rules of international law—the respect for the sovereignty of other States and the prohibition on coercive intervention into another State's internal or external affairs. Of all the rules of international law, these are the likeliest to be violated through employment of cyber capabilities, whether autonomous or not. This raises the question of whether a cyber operation that involves autonomous capabilities presents unique issues with respect to the application of the two rules. The article concludes that while there are numerous unsettled issues surrounding their application to cyber operations, …

Covert Deception, Strategic Fraud, And The Rule Of Prohibited Intervention (Originally Published As Part Of The Hoover Institution’S Aegis Series), Gary Corn

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Urban Warfare: Emerging Geopolitical Conundrum, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Urban warfare is as old as human history. It is becoming increasingly important in international political and military planning due to increasing global urbanization and the presence of megacities (urban areas with populations exceeding 10 million) in many global regions and being in areas of recent and potential military conflict. 2018 World Bank data notes that approximately 56% of the world's population lives in urban areas which is up from 34% in 1960. Many of these megacities, including New York City, Los Angeles, Sao Paulo, Mumbai, Shanghai, and Manila are adjacent to oceanic waters and vulnerable to trade and supply …

An International Attribution Mechanism For Hostile Cyber Operations, Yuval Shany, Michael N. Schmitt

International Law Studies

This article is the result of an international research project organized by the Federmann Cyber Security Research Center at Hebrew University to consider the feasibility of establishing an international attribution mechanism for hostile cyber operations, as well as the usefulness of such a body. The authors observe that, at present, states wielding significant cyber capability have little interest in creating such a mechanism. These states appear to be of the view that they can generate sufficient accountability and deterrence based on their independent technological capacity, access to expertise and to offensive (active defense) cyber tools, political clout, security alliances, and …

Talking Foreign Policy, Radio Broadcasts Sept. 25, 2014, Jan. 29 And Sept. 4, 2015, Feb. 5 And Oct. 7, 2016

The International Journal of Ethical Leadership

No abstract provided.

Talking Foreign Policy, Talking Foreign Policy Radio Broadcasts: Sept. 6, 2013 And Jan. 31, 2014

The International Journal of Ethical Leadership

No abstract provided.

Confucius And The Chinese Legal Tradition, Chenglin Liu

Faculty Articles

More than two thousand years ago, Confucius transformed and perfected an institution for governing Chinese people, which has been religiously replicated by subsequent dynasties. Within the Confucian institution, the King, at the pinnacle of the pyramid, held absolute authority; regional lords were loyal to the King; and commoners were submissive to the privileged. Confucius held that peace and order could only be achieved when people acted according to their hierarchical worth assigned by the ruler. This article offers an overview of the transformation of Confucianism. It then examines competing schools of thought-Legalism and Taoism-and explains why Confucianism triumphed to become …

Climate Change, Race, And Migration, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Faculty Publications & Other Works

This article examines the relationship among climate change, racial subordination, and the capitalist world economy through the framework of racial capitalism. It argues that climate change is a logical consequence of an economic system based on extraction, accumulation through dispossession, and white supremacy. Climate change imposes disproportionate burdens on racialized communities all over the world, many of whom will be expelled from their homes in record numbers as the climate emergency intensifies. International law has been deeply complicit in the project of racial capitalism and is now being deployed to address climate change-induced displacement. This article evaluates the emerging legal …

Nations And Markets, Harlan G. Cohen

Scholarly Works

Economics and security seem increasingly intertwined. Citing national security, states subject foreign investments to new scrutiny, even unwinding mergers like the purchase of Grindr or the creation of TikTok. The provision of 5G has become a diplomatic battleground – Huawei at its center. Meanwhile, states invoke national security to excuse trade wars. The U.S. invoked the GATT national security exception to impose steel and aluminum tariffs, threatening more on automotive parts. Russia invoked that provision to justify its blockade of Ukraine, as did Saudi Arabia and the UAE to excuse theirs of Qatar. And with the spread of COVID-19, states …

The (Erroneous) Requirement For Human Judgment (And Error) In The Law Of Armed Conflict, Eric Talbot Jensen

Faculty Scholarship

One of the most intriguing and important discussions in international law today is the potential impact of emerging technologies on the law of armed conflict (LOAC), including weapons that incorporate machine learning and/or artificial intelligence. Because one of the likely characteristics of these advanced weapons would be the ability to make decisions implicating life and death on the battlefield, these discussions have highlighted a fundamental question concerning the LOAC: does the law regulating armed conflict require human input in selecting and engaging targets or can that decision be made without human input? This article analyzes views expressed by scholars and …

Strengthening The U.S.-Japan Alliance: Pathways For Bridging Law And Policy, Columbia Law School, 2020, Nobuhisa Ishizuka, Masahiro Kurosaki, Matthew C. Waxman

Faculty Scholarship

During the three years leading up to this year ’s 60th anniversary of the signing of the 1960 U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, a series of workshops were held under the joint sponsorship of Columbia Law School’s Center for Japanese Legal Studies and the National Defense Academy of Japan’s Center for Global Security. Bringing together experts in international law and political science primarily from the United States and Japan, the workshops examined how differing approaches to use of force and understandings of individual and collective self-defense in the two countries might adversely affect their alliance.

The workshop participants explored the underlying causes …

Attribution And Other Conditions Of Lawful Countermeasures To Cyber Misconduct, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Journal Articles

State cyber misconduct is on the rise, and it can be difficult to differentiate between malicious governmental cyber conduct and active cyber defense. Though some argue that cyberspace is a law-free zone, offensive cyberattacks are almost always unlawful regardless of their purpose. This Article contends that international law can provide for legal boundaries in cyberspace and analogizes cyber misconduct to government actions such as espionage. So long as conditions provided by international law (such as notice, necessity, and proportionality) are met, countermeasures to malicious cyber operations are generally lawful. Cases of urgency may be an exception to this general rule …

Finding Foreign Friends: National Self-Determination And Related Norms As Strategic Resources During The Biafran War For Independence, 1967–1970, Christopher Brucker

New England Journal of Public Policy

The study analyzes how the government of the Republic of Biafra used international norms to win foreign support during its 1967–1970 campaign to secede from Nigeria. Secession conflicts occur at the intersection of international and domestic politics. For independence movements, support from outside is crucial. But, as Bridget Coggins has asked, how can secession movements find “friends in high places”? International support for unilateral secession attempts is strictly prohibited. Domestic and international asymmetry are limiting secessionist foreign policy instruments to intangible means. Legitimacy is a central concept to illuminate the phenomenon. In international politics, legitimacy depends on the external perception …

How U.S. Government Policy Documents Are Addressing The Increasing National Security Implications Of Artificial Intelligence, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Artificial intelligence is affecting many areas of our lives and governmental policy. National security is one arena in which artificial intelligence is playing an increasingly important and controversial role. U.S. Government and military agencies are producing a steadily expanding corpus of publicly available literature on this topic. This literature documents how these agencies have this topic's national security implications historically and currently while also addressing potentially emerging national security issues where artificial intelligence will intersect with national security. This presentation demonstrates examples of the growing variety of publicly available national security artificial intelligence literature while also addressing the implications of …

Transnational State-Sponsored Cyber Economic Espionage: A Legal Quagmire, Brenda I. Rowe

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications (Archived)

Transnational state-sponsored cyber economic espionage poses a threat to the economy of developed countries whose industry is largely reliant on the value of information. In the face of rapid technological development facilitating cyber economic espionage from afar on a massive scale, the law has not developed apace to effectively address this problem. Applicable United States domestic laws have been ineffective in addressing the problem due to lack of enforcement jurisdiction, sovereign immunity, and inability to hold the state sponsor accountable. Customary international law principles offer little help in combatting the issue, as countermeasures are typically unavailable since espionage may not …

Blurred Lines: Social Media In Armed Conflict, Iphigenia Fisentzou

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Technological advancements have revolutionised the social interactions of global society and in turn, influenced the means and methods of warfare; increasing the involvement of civilians in hostilities, not only as victims, but also as participants. Together with the involvement of multiple state and non-state actors, civilian participation makes these modern conflicts all the more unpredictable, challenging the traditional notion of direct participation in hostilities established under international law.

The Future Of War: Cyber-Attacks And Aggression In International Law, Jamie Hogan

University Honors Theses

Cyber-attacks are becoming more advanced, and more dangerous, but can these simple lines of code be considered acts of war? My research looks at cyber-attacks through international law framework regarding jus ad bellum, the resort to war. After looking at cyber-attacks through this lens, it is possible to declare certain types of cyber-attacks as acts of aggression, and ultimately allow states to invoke their right of self-defense in response to these attacks. My research will then address the need for international law regulating these new weapons of war.

Nonstate Actors And International Law: Just War Theory Or The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights?, Jason Lee Mitchell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There is a debate taking place within the global war on terror (GWT), and its legal and moral parameters are established by two basic arguments. The first is that “Citizens who associate themselves with the military arm of the enemy government, and with its aid, guidance and direction enter this country bent on hostile acts are enemy belligerents within the meaning of the Hague Convention and the law of war” (Ex parte Quirin, 37). The second is that an “Enemy combatant” is a general category that subsumes two sub-categories: lawful and unlawful combatants. The conclusion as it currently stands is …

Presidential Factfinding, Shalev Roisman

Vanderbilt Law Review

The modern President possesses enormous power. She can use military force abroad without congressional authorization, impose economic sanctions on foreign powers, or enter into trade agreements with foreign states. She can do all this on her own, with little constraint. Or so it seems. In reality, these important powers, along with numerous more mundane ones, are all contingent on the President first making certain factual determinations. For example, to use force abroad, the President must first determine that the use of force is in the "national interest," perhaps that it will preserve "regional stability" or protect American lives. To impose …

International Law And Political Philosophy: Uncovering New Linkages, Steven R. Ratner

Articles

The legal regime regulating cross-border investment gives key rights to foreign investors and places significant duties on states hosting that investment. It also raises distinctive moral questions due to its potential to constrain a state’s ability to manage its economy and protect its people. Yet international investment law remains virtually untouched as a subject of philosophical inquiry. The questions of international political morality surrounding investment rules can be mapped through the lens of two critiques of the law – that it systemically takes advantage of the global South and that it constrains the policy choices of states hosting investment. Each …

The Popular But Unlawful Armed Reprisal, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Ohio Northern University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Attribution Problem And Cyber Armed Attacks, Lorraine Finlay, Christian Payne

Law Papers and Journal Articles

In late 2018, the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security suggested that “cyber-attacks now exceed the risk of physical attacks.” Yet the law has not kept pace with this reality. In particular, identifying who is responsible for a cyberattack makes it difficult to regulate this conduct. A state often cannot practically respond to a threat unless it knows from where the threat emanates and potentially who is responsible. Attribution of cyber conduct is critical from a legal perspective because the unlawful act must be attributable to another state for state responsibility to be engaged.

This essay provides an overview of this …

The Persecution Of Stones: War Crimes, Law's Autonomy And The Co-Optation Of Cultural Heritage, Timothy W. Waters

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In 1567, a bridge was built over a river in Bosnia-a bridge widely seen as a work of great beauty. In 1993, it was destroyed in a war. What did its destruction mean? Was it a crime-and which one? An assault on culture-and whose? Between 2004 and 2017, a trial held in The Hague sought to answer these questions. The way it did-the assumptions and categories the prosecutors and judges deployed, the choices they made-tells us something important about how law operates and how it appropriates other bodies of knowledge, whether in a now-obscure Balkan conflict or on the battlefields …

Why Should Law And Policy Makers Understand Extremist Beliefs? The Islamic State (Isis) As A Case Study: Past, Present, And Future, Ali Rod Khadem

Lewis & Clark Law Review

The overarching argument in this Article is that inadequate comprehension of extremist doctrines undermines efforts in law and policy. Selecting the Islamic State (ISIS) as a case study, this Article attempts to resolve three legal and policy dilemmas by exposing internal ISIS doctrine (i.e. by considering the perspectives of the movement itself). This focus on ISIS is justified, for despite the movement’s recent territorial decline, it is precisely its doctrine and ideology that will persist and enable the rise of 2.0 and 3.0 movements modeled after the prototype. In considering ISIS, the aim here is to demonstrate the general need …

What Is International Trade Law For?, Harlan G. Cohen

Faculty Scholarship

Events of the past few years, including the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom and the demise of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and election of Donald Trump as President in the United States, have reignited debates about the global trade regime. In particular, many have begun to question whether the trade regime has done enough for those who feel left behind by globalization. While some have held fast to the view that redistribution of trade’s gains is primarily a matter of domestic policy, others have suggested tweaks to the international trade agreements aimed at better spreading the wealth.

But what if …

What Is International Trade Law For?, Harlan G. Cohen

Scholarly Works

Events of the past few years, including the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom and the demise of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and election of Donald Trump as President in the United States, have reignited debates about the global trade regime. In particular, many have begun to question whether the trade regime has done enough for those who feel left behind by globalization. While some have held fast to the view that redistribution of trade’s gains is primarily a matter of domestic policy, others have suggested tweaks to the international trade agreements aimed at better spreading the wealth.

But what if …

Reflections On The Christchurch Massacre: Incorporating A Critique Of Islamophobia And Twail, Cyra Akila Choudhury

Faculty Publications

On March 15, 2019 in Christchurch, New Zealand, a white supremacist entered a mosque full of worshippers and gunned down over 50 people. He was welcomed into the house of worship as Muslim immigrants and converts were about to start their Friday prayers. News of the attack spread quickly across the globe. Social media news feeds and online sources provided near-instantaneous updates. There were calls to prioritize the lives and stories of the victims and survivors. Although there were calls not to glorify or even humanize the shooter, people understandably professed interest in his writings and his motivation. Once it …