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Reconceptualizing States Of Emergency Under International Human Rights Law: Theory, Legal Doctrine, And Politics, Scott P. Sheeran Jan 2013

Reconceptualizing States Of Emergency Under International Human Rights Law: Theory, Legal Doctrine, And Politics, Scott P. Sheeran

Michigan Journal of International Law

States of emergency are today one of the most serious challenges to the implementation of international human rights law (IHRL). They have become common practice and are associated with severe human rights violations as evidenced by the Arab Spring. The international jurisprudence on states of emergency is inconsistent and divergent, and what now constitutes a public emergency is ubiquitous. This trend is underpinned by excessive judicial deference and abdication of the legal review of states' often dubious claims of a state of emergency. The legal regime, as positively expressed in international human rights treaties, does not adequately reflect the underlying …


Identifying And Enforcing Back-End Electoral Rights In International Human Rights Law, Katherine A. Wagner Oct 2010

Identifying And Enforcing Back-End Electoral Rights In International Human Rights Law, Katherine A. Wagner

Michigan Journal of International Law

From Kenya to Afghanistan, Ukraine, the United States, Mexico, and Iran, no region or form of government has been immune from the unsettling effects of a contested election. The story is familiar, and, these days, hardly surprising: a state holds elections, losing candidates and their supporters claim fraud, people take to the streets, diplomats and heads of state equivocate, and everyone waits for the observers' reports. It is the last chapter of this story-the resolution-that remains unfamiliar and still holds the potential to surprise. The increasing focus on and importance of the resolution of contested elections, that resolution's link to …


Keynote Address, Jeffrey H. Smith Jan 2007

Keynote Address, Jeffrey H. Smith

Michigan Journal of International Law

This afternoon, I want to touch briefly on a number of issues rather than discuss one or two to death. I chose this approach because it seemed an appropriate way to open a conference. I also chose it because I hope I can convince you that intelligence and international law interact in a way that simultaneously strengthens the law and improves intelligence; that law matters, especially in time of war; and that both good intelligence and good law have one common core value: integrity. So that you will have a sense of the perspective that I bring to this, I …


Towards A Right To Privacy In Transnational Intelligence Networks, Francesca Bignami Jan 2007

Towards A Right To Privacy In Transnational Intelligence Networks, Francesca Bignami

Michigan Journal of International Law

Privacy is one of the most critical liberal rights to come under pressure from transnational intelligence gathering. This Article explores the many ways in which transnational intelligence networks intrude upon privacy and considers some of the possible forms of legal redress. Part II lays bare the different types of transnational intelligence networks that exist today. Part III begins the analysis of the privacy problem by examining the national level, where, over the past forty years, a legal framework has been developed to promote the right to privacy in domestic intelligence gathering. Part IV turns to the privacy problem transnationally, when …


Militating Democracy: Comparative Constitutional Perspectives, Ruti Teitel Jan 2007

Militating Democracy: Comparative Constitutional Perspectives, Ruti Teitel

Michigan Journal of International Law

Can constitutional review by judges save democracy? This Article identifies and discusses the rise of "militant constitutional democracy" by exploring diverse approaches to the role of constitutional and transnational judicial review in rights protection and the challenges that these approaches present to the workings of democracy, the possibilities of compromise, consensus, and conciliation in political life, and the challenge to other constitutional values as well. "Militant constitutional democracy" ought to be understood as belonging to transitional constitutionalism, associated with periods of political transformation that often demand closer judicial vigilance in the presence of fledgling and often fragile democratic institutions; it …


Anti-Terrorist Finance In The United Kingdom And United States, Laura K. Donohue Jan 2006

Anti-Terrorist Finance In The United Kingdom And United States, Laura K. Donohue

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article adopts a two-tiered approach: it provides a detailed, historical account of anti-terrorist finance initiatives in the United Kingdom and United States-two states driving global norms in this area. It then proceeds to a critique of these laws. The analysis assumes-and accepts-the goals of the two states in adopting these provisions. It questions how well the measures achieve their aim. Specifically, it highlights how the transfer of money laundering tools undermines the effectiveness of the states' counterterrorist efforts-flooding the systems with suspicious activity reports, driving money out of the regulated sector, and using inappropriate metrics to gauge success. This …


Transgovernmental Networks Vs. Democracy: The Case Of The European Information Privacy Network, Francesca Bignami Jan 2005

Transgovernmental Networks Vs. Democracy: The Case Of The European Information Privacy Network, Francesca Bignami

Michigan Journal of International Law

The perspective offered by this Article is twofold. The emergence of transgovernmental networks gives rise to two questions, one causal and the other normative. First, how do we explain transnational cooperation through networks? Why do governments and regulators choose to establish networks rather than retain virtually limitless discretion over policymaking, conditioned only by international legal obligations? Based on the author’s examination of the records of the intergovernmental negotiations on the Data Protection Directive, this Article concludes that one precondition for fettering national discretion through networks is common preferences among governments on the substance of the policy to be administered. Compared …


Re-Examining The Role Of Private Property In Market Democracies:Problematic Ideological Issues Raised By Land Registration, Joel M. Ngugi Jan 2004

Re-Examining The Role Of Private Property In Market Democracies:Problematic Ideological Issues Raised By Land Registration, Joel M. Ngugi

Michigan Journal of International Law

In the post-1989 world, the primacy of private property is taken for granted. The final fall of communism, it would seem, is an adequate commentary of the supremacy of private property arrangements in facilitating economic development. Debates pitting plan (with its associated appetite for communal or collective property) against market (with its avowed belief in private property) are now considered superfluous. As far as the "Western world" was concerned, it seemed that the task of persuading the rest of the world that private property is the key to efficient market performance and economic development had finally been accomplished. The only …


The Political Economy Of Rule Of Law Reform In Developing Countries, Ronald J. Daniels, Michael Trebilcock Jan 2004

The Political Economy Of Rule Of Law Reform In Developing Countries, Ronald J. Daniels, Michael Trebilcock

Michigan Journal of International Law

In this paper, the authors briefly review the recent experience with rule of law reform initiatives in Latin America, Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe, drawing on more detailed case studies by the authors. The authors are currently working on a similar case study on rule of law reform experiences in Asia.


Global Government Networks, Global Information Agencies, And Disaggregated Democracy, Anne-Marie Slaughter Jan 2003

Global Government Networks, Global Information Agencies, And Disaggregated Democracy, Anne-Marie Slaughter

Michigan Journal of International Law

This essay seeks to broaden our understanding of government networks by placing them in more historical context and by elaborating different types of government networks within and without traditional international institutions. After a brief overview of the literature on transgovernmentalism since the 1970s in Part I, Part H sets forth a typology of three different categories of government networks. Part III then seeks to pinpoint the specific accountability concerns associated with each type. Part IV offers one approach to answering some current accountability concerns by adapting the concept of "information agencies" from the European Union to the global level. This …


Articulating The Right To Democratic Governance In Africa, Nsongurua J. Udombana Jan 2003

Articulating The Right To Democratic Governance In Africa, Nsongurua J. Udombana

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article articulates the right to democratic governance in Africa, arguing that democratic entitlement ought to acquire, if indeed it already has not acquired, a degree of legitimacy in the continent. If democratic governance is a fundamental human right, which this Article asserts it is, it follows that any African State that denies its citizens the right to any of the elements of democratic entitlement-such as free and open elections-is violating a fundamental right, which should attract responsibility. The Article begins with an examination of the patrimonial State structure in Africa and its negative impact on governance. It is a …


Market Fundamentalism's New Fiasco: Globalization As Exhibit In The Case For A New Law And Economics, Steven A. Ramirez Jan 2003

Market Fundamentalism's New Fiasco: Globalization As Exhibit In The Case For A New Law And Economics, Steven A. Ramirez

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of Globalization and Its Discontents by Joseph E. Stiglitz


The Politics Of Human Rights: Beyond The Abolitionist Paradigm In Africa, Makau Wa Mutua Jan 1996

The Politics Of Human Rights: Beyond The Abolitionist Paradigm In Africa, Makau Wa Mutua

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of Protecting Human Rights in Africa: Strategies and Roles of Non-Governmental Organizations by Claude E. Welch


Towards Democracy In A New South Africa, Adrien Katherine Wing Jan 1995

Towards Democracy In A New South Africa, Adrien Katherine Wing

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of Constitutional Options for a Democratic South Africa: A Comparative Perspective by Ziyad Motala


The Ennobling Of Democracy: The Challenge Of The Postmodern Age, Fernando R. Tesón Jan 1993

The Ennobling Of Democracy: The Challenge Of The Postmodern Age, Fernando R. Tesón

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of the book by Thomas L. Pangle.


Participation And Litigation Rights Of Environmental Associations In Europe: Current Legal Situation And Practical Experience, David A. Wirth Jan 1993

Participation And Litigation Rights Of Environmental Associations In Europe: Current Legal Situation And Practical Experience, David A. Wirth

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of the book edited by Martin Führ and Gerhard Roller.


Demoncratic Institutions Of Industrial Relations: A Polish Perspective, Ludwik Florek Jan 1991

Demoncratic Institutions Of Industrial Relations: A Polish Perspective, Ludwik Florek

Michigan Journal of International Law

This essay addresses three issues. The author first describes the major features of the previous Polish industrial relations system which caused it to be undemocratic. He then presents arguments justifying the need for a democracy in industrial relations in Poland. Second, the indispensable premises and elements of three basic democratic institutions of industrial relations are identified: trade union freedom, collective bargaining and the right to strike. These elements were selected for analysis on the basis of international legal instruments, in particular, conventions of the International Labor Organization ("ILO"), as well as U.S. and West European labor legislation. The author then …