Law Commons^™

The Roots Of Collapse: Imposing Constitutional Governance, Catherine Baylin Duryea

Faculty Publications

The foundational assumption of constitutional governance poses a conundrum for contemporary state-builders: a constitution heavily influenced by foreigners does not represent the views of the governed. Can a modern state-building effort foster democratic institutions when the new government reflects foreign? Nowhere was this tension more apparent than in Afghanistan, where the United States and the United Nations were heavily involved in drafting the 2004 Constitution. They shaped the process from the initial framework to the final, frenzied approval. Foreigners were engaged at both the procedural level—determining how the negotiations would occur and who would participate—and at the substantive level—providing input …

Mobilizing Universalism: The Origins Of Human Rights, Catherine Baylin Duryea

Faculty Publications

Human rights law claims to be universal, setting rights apart from paradigms based on shared religion, culture, or nationality. This claim of universality was a significant factor in the proliferation of human rights NGOs in the 1970s and remains an important source of legitimacy. The universality of human rights has been challenged and contested since they were first discussed at the United Nations (UN). Today, much of the debate centers around the origins of human rights-particularly whether they arose out of Western traditions or whether they have more global roots. For too long, discussions about universality have ignored the practice …

New Technologies And Old Treaties, Bryant Walker Smith

Faculty Publications

Every road vehicle must have a driver able to control it while in motion. These requirements, explicit in two important conventions on road traffic, have an uncertain relationship to the automated motor vehicles that are currently under development—often colloquially called “self-driving” or “driverless.” The immediate legal and policy questions are straightforward: Are these requirements consistent with automated driving and, if not, how should the inconsistency be resolved? More subtle questions go directly to international law’s role in a world that artificial intelligence is helping to rapidly change: In a showdown between a promising new technology and an entrenched treaty regime, …

How International Human Rights Transformed The U.S. Constitution, David Sloss

Faculty Publications

Adoption of the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights created a new international norm prohibiting racial discrimination. That anti-discrimination norm had been a part of the paper Constitution in the United States since adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment. However, it did not become a part of the living Constitution until the Fourteenth Amendment was subjected to the magnetic pull of international human rights law. Adoption of the Charter sparked a chain of events culminating in the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which heralded the end of apartheid in the United States. Many Americans …

Legitimizing International Criminal Justice: The Importance Of Process Control, Nancy Amoury Combs

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

International Institutions, Michael P. Scharf, John Knox, Michelle Mulvena, Chris Potter, Tracy Sund

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Musical Chairs: The Dissolution Of States And Membership In The United Nations, Michael P. Scharf

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Theory And Practice Of Regional Organization Intervention In Civil Wars, Christopher J. Borgen

Faculty Publications

The United Nations' reach in peacekeeping is fast outdistancing its grasp. Spread across seventeen countries, the U.N.’s over 80,000 civilian and military personnel monitor cease-fires, protect aid convoys, and separate warring parties. As the U.N. extends its arms, financial resources seem to slip through its fingers like grains of sand. In short, the U.N. lacks the resources to continue increasing its peacekeeping responsibilities.

In An Agenda for Peace (Agenda), Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali proposes that part of the solution to the economic problems of the U.N. lies in reconsidering how regional organizations interact with the U.N., a suggestion which revisits a …