Law Commons^™

Global Income Inequality And The Potential For Global Democracy: A Functionalist Analysis, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

The thesis that I wish to develop in this chapter is that a functionalist view of the development of global institutions suggests that the structural inequalities in global income that were a primary cause of the global economic crisis of 2008, and that continue to endanger the world economy, have the potential to provide the political preconditions for a global regime that can help redress those inequalities. To do so, however, such a regime must empower the less economically well off through representation, and the regime itself must have the practical ability to influence global economic policy. Such a regime, …

Climate Change Geoengineering: Philosophical Perspectives, Legal Issues, And Governance Frameworks, William C. G. Burns, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

The international community is not taking the action necessary to avert dangerous increases in greenhouse gases. Facing a potentially bleak future, the question that confronts humanity is whether the best of bad alternatives may be to counter global warming through human-engineered climate interventions. In this book, eleven prominent authorities on climate change consider the legal, policy, and philosophical issues presented by geoengineering. The book asks: When, if ever, are decisions to embark on potentially risky climate modification projects justified? If such decisions can be justified, in a world without a central governing authority, who should authorize such projects and by …

Cutting The Gordian Knot: How And Why The United Nations Should Vest The International Court Of Justice With Referral Jurisdiction, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

The International Court of Justice — the global system's oldest and most venerable tribunal — has failed to meet its full potential. This is in large measure due to the requirement that the Court may only assert jurisdiction over states with their consent, which is often withheld. To help correct for this failure, this article proposes that the Court be given a referral jurisdiction. Referral jurisdiction would empower the Court to issue advisory opinions on interstate disputes without the requirement of state consent. Standing in the way of nonconsent-based jurisdiction, however, is the problem of the Gordian Knot: The world's …

A Global Parliament: Essays And Articles, Andrew L. Strauss, Richard A. Falk

School of Law Faculty Publications

Democracy is the guiding principle for fairly and peacefully making community decision at the local, provincial, and national levels of human society. In this compilation of works, Falk and Strauss argue for a practical approach to now finally extending democratic decision-making to the global system.

Climate Change Litigation: Opening The Door To The International Court Of Justice, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

In March 2003, I wrote an article for the Environmental Law Reporter surveying potential international judicial forums where victims of global warming could bring lawsuits. In the ensuing six years, numerous lawsuits have been brought in the United States and in other countries, and environmentalists can now celebrate their first significant victory. In April 2007, based upon its finding that greenhouse gases are pollutants under Section 202(a)(1) of the U.S. Clean Air Act, the Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA held that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases.

Though we are still in …

Considering Global Democracy: An Introduction To The Symposium 'Envisioning A More Democratic Global System', Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

This introduction to the symposium "Envisioning a More Democratic Global System," held at Widener University School of Law in the spring of 2006, provides a conceptual overview of symposium papers published in Volume 13:2 of the Widener Law Review. The papers fall into two groups. As a reference point for understanding how the democratization of the international system can occur, the first group examines the process of democratization at the national level. The second group of papers forward and assess specific proposals for democratizing the global system with a particular emphasis on the proposal for a global parliament.

Papers discussed …

Symposium: Envisioning A More Democratic Global System: On The First Branch Of Global Governance, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

For those interested in democratizing global governance, the threshold question of whether to pursue a popularly elected global parliament is often one of political feasibility. This article compares the potential achievability of four different strategic approaches to initiating a global parliament: Amendment of the United Nations Charter; Creation by the United Nations General Assembly as a Subsidiary Organ; Civil Society Organized Elections; And Interstate Treaty Process. The article concludes with a short discussion of how a global parliament could contribute to a more peaceful global order.

The Deeper Challenges Of Global Terrorism: A Democratizing Response, Andrew L. Strauss, Richard A. Falk

School of Law Faculty Publications

The audacious and gruesome terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, along with the military response, have been the defining political events of this new millennium. The most profound challenge directed at the international community, and to all of us, is to choose between two alternative visions. What we call the traditional statist response emphasizes 'national security' as the cornerstone of human security. Centralization of domestic authority, secrecy, militarism, nationalism, and an emphasis on unconditional citizen loyalty, to her or his state as the primary organizing feature of international politics are all attributes of this approach.

We …

Overcoming The Dysfunction Of The Bifurcated Global System: The Promise Of A Peoples Assembly, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

Richard Falk and I have proposed that the time is ripe for global civil society to take the lead and initiate a popularly representative Global Peoples Assembly (GPA).1 The tremendous growth in the commitment to, and practice of, democracy in domestic settings2 juxtaposed against globalization's large-scale transfer of political decision making to international institutions3 has made the almost complete lack of democracy at the international level the most glaring anomaly of the global system today.

Because states are unlikely to initiate the democratization of the international order, the task of beginning the drive for the first GPA necessarily falls to …

The Case For Utilizing The World Trade Organization As A Forum For Global Environmental Regulation, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

In his article "Environmental Policy in the New World Economy," Alan Miller discusses the environmental implications of globalization. Recognizing that the flow of international private capital to developing countries is far more significant than international development assistance, he questions how we can use public policy to maximize the positive environmental effects of private investment. Miller suggests the need to find strategies that utilize market forces to benefit the environment.

This article heeds Alan Miller's call by suggesting new approaches to thinking about the potential for the World Trade Organization (WTO) to play a positive environmental role.

In this article, my …

Where America Ends And The International Order Begins: Interpreting The Jurisdictional Reach Of The U.S. Constitution In Light Of A Proposed Hague Convention On Jurisdiction And Satisfaction Of Judgments, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

The recently concluded Hague Convention on Choice of Courts Agreements is the culmination of over a decade of negotiations. While the convention is very modest in what it attempts to accomplish, many observers see it as a first step toward achieving greater global uniformity of rules regarding jurisdiction and satisfactions of judgments. To the extent the United States Constitution governs the international ambit of United States jurisdiction in international cases, there is the potential for conflict between the Constitution and international treaty rules. A treaty found to be in conflict with the Constitution would likely be held invalid — at …

Beyond National Law: The Neglected Role Of The International Law Of Personal Jurisdiction In Domestic Courts, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

When one of the parties is foreign in civil personal jurisdiction cases, United States courts have assumed it appropriate to overlook international jurisdiction law and apply solely United States constitutional, statutory and common law doctrines related to jurisdiction. Courts in other countries likewise apply their own domestic doctrines of jurisdiction in international cases. Applying both positivist and normative methodologies, this article makes the theoretical case that the international law of personal jurisdiction should be applied in domestic courts.

A Global Paradigm Shattered: The Jurisdictional Nihilism Of The Supreme Court’S Abduction Decision In Alvarez-Machain, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

In the United States v. Alvarez Machain, the United States Supreme Court held that the United States could exercise criminal jurisdiction over a Mexican doctor who was abducted by agents of the American government from his office in Mexico and transported to the United States. As the Court's first international law decision after the end of the cold war, this case set the stage for how it would approach the domestic application of international law in the post cold war era. Despite the importance of the case, the Supreme Court failed to articulate the conceptual understanding of the relationship between …