Law Commons^™

A Positive View Of The Trajectory Of The Human Rights Movement, David Akerson

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In 1988, during the waning days of apartheid in South Africa, I was a young American lawyer working for South African Lawyers for Human Rights in Pretoria. On one occasion, I accompanied some of my African colleagues to a conference, the purpose of which was to begin visualizing post-apartheid South Africa. While the apartheid regime was still in power, it was clearly in hasty retreat, and it was equally clear that its days were numbered. The African majority would soon be taking over the reigns of power, and they were excited to begin visualizing what freedom and human rights might …

Hope, Despair, And Human Rights, James Pattison

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Joshua Kurlantzick's “The Downfall of Human Rights” in Newsweek makes for a sobering read. The major Western states, he argues, are no longer interested in the promotion of human rights, but are instead focused on rebuilding themselves after the global recession. Kurlantzick notes further that the Obama administration avoids strong criticism of China, Russia, and other human rights violators because of its desire to demarcate itself from the previous administration's moralizing democracy promotion. To add to Kurlantzick's case for the West's lack of concern about human rights, one could cite the recent and blatantly human rights-violating anti-terror laws of several …

Premature Judgment, Todd Landman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Just as Mark Twain said in 1897, “The report of my death was an exaggeration,” many commentators have prematurely reported the death of human rights. For example, in 1999, in The Theory and Reality of the Protection of International Human Rights , J. Shand Watson sees human rights as a “mere fiction” in light of a century of state-sponsored killing. One year later, Costas Douzinas, through an appeal to history, philosophy, and psychoanalysis proclaimed the “end of human rights.” It is thus no surprise that the article by Joshua Kurlantzick is yet another attempt to warn us that human rights …

They Did Authorize Torture, But..., David Cole

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

April 1, 2010: I’M Not Understanding Candace Chellew-Hodge, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “I’m not understanding Candace Chellew-Hodge“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Corporate Disconnect: The Blackwater Problem And The Fcpa Solution, Andre M. Penalver

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Adult Domestic Trafficking And The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, Lindsay Strauss

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

April Roundtable: Genocide And Us National Interests Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“How Genocide Became a National Security Threat” by Michael Abramowitz & Lawrence Woocher. Foreign Policy. February 26, 2010.

Do Drones Have A Silver Lining?, David Akerson

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Michael Abramowitz and Lawrence Woocher’s article, “How Genocide Became a National Security Threat,” flags an important milestone in American foreign policy, namely that mass atrocities might now be appropriately viewed as the national security threats that they are. The problem with translating this policy development into action is the next and not insignificant challenge. Aerial drones may be key to overcoming it.

Genocide Myopia: How Reframing Mass Atrocity Could Backfire, Sonia Cardenas

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The United States has long viewed genocide and mass atrocity as tragic, moral problems divorced from national interests. This may be changing under the Obama administration, with genocide and mass atrocity being reframed as problems to be solved pragmatically. Michael Abramowitz and Lawrence Woocher celebrate this “unprecedented breakthrough” in Foreign Policy, urging President Obama to follow up with specific measures: strategic military planning, interagency coordination, firm leadership, and concrete action on Darfur. Despite the promise of overcoming inaction and focusing on prevention, the new vision of genocide and mass atrocity Abramowitz and Woocher depict remains myopic. It is narrowly focused …

A Break From The Old Routine...., Todd Landman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Abramowitz and Woocher highlight a potentially significant shift in policy discourse in international relations with respect to humanitarianism and the prevention of genocide. For many years, the United States has suffered from the twin problems of the human rights “double standard” and “Catch-22.” On the one hand, particular countries have been seen as vital by the United States for intervention on humanitarian grounds even though many believed other geostrategic interests are at stake (e.g. Kosovo in 1999) and others have not (e.g. Rwanda in 1994). On the other hand, US intervention on humanitarian grounds can be criticized as heavy-handed or …

On Genocide And The National Interest, James Pattison

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In the second presidential debate, Barack Obama said, in response to a question about the crisis in Darfur, that “when genocide is happening, when ethnic cleansing is happening somewhere around the world and we stand idly by, that diminishes us. And so I do believe that we have to consider it as part of our interests, our national interests, in intervening where possible.” In a similar vein, Michael Abramowitz and Lawrence Woocher highlight how genocide is increasingly being seen as a security threat by the White House.

Dilemmas Of Modernity: Bolivian Encounters With Law And Liberalism (Book Review), Jan Hoffman French

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Recent scholarship on Bolivia has focused primarily on indigenous rights, multiculturalism, political and cultural issues surrounding the growing of coca, and the election of Evo Morales. Mark Goodale's project is different. By taking a "telescopic" view, Goodale steps away from ethnographic detail in a remote district of Bolivia to examine the sweep of "liberal legality" since independence in 1825. Setting the stage, Goodale takes the position that neither neoliberal economic policies of the 1980s nor the election of Morales are breaks with the past. Rather, the "patterns of intention" initiated with the early constitutions of the new republic, the ethos …

Prevalence, Societal Causes, And Trends In Corporal Punishment By Parents In World Perspective, Murray A. Straus

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.

Corporal Punishment And The Cultural Defense, Alison Dundes Renteln

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.

Challenges Of Twenty-First Century Conflicts: A Look At Direct Participation In Hostilities, Jamie A. Williamson

Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law

No abstract provided.

Reconsidering Reprisals, Michael A. Newton

Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law

No abstract provided.

European Approaches To Fighting Terrorism, Elies Van Sliedregt

Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law

No abstract provided.

March 16, 2010: The Dems Had Better Pass Healthcare Reform, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Dems Had Better Pass Healthcare Reform“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

March 12, 2010: “In God We Trust” Upheld By The Ninth Circuit, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “ “In God We Trust” Upheld by the Ninth Circuit“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Can The Icc Ever Get It Right?, Richard Burchill

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Nesrine Malik makes clear with her title, “The ICC’s Blunder on Sudan,” that something has gone amiss with the efforts of Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo to ensure the ICC statute is applied to those circumstances it was meant to address. But why is something amiss in this situation? The Prosecutor has a mandate and the legal regime for the ICC is relatively clear (at least procedurally); the crimes it covers can always be debated, but there is a degree of clarity present as to what acts are addressed; so what has gone wrong? The difficulty lies in expectations about justice and …

March Roundtable: Icc And Darfur Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“The ICC's Blunder on Sudan” by Nesrine Malik. The Guardian. February 4, 2010.

Confronting The Politics And Law Behind Battles Over The Icc’S Bashir Indictment, Anthony Chase

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Nesrine Malik points in the wrong direction in arguing that charges of genocide embarrass the ICC more than they do Omar al-Bashir. The embarrassment here should come from those, such as Malik, who snidely downplay the level of war crimes committed in Darfur, who discuss genocide as if it is a cultural rather than political matter (does Malik seriously think genocide ever has anything to do with a country’s cultural traditions, as she says in defending Sudan?), or who naively give credence to predictable political push-back from Sudan and its allies. The ICC faces serious legal and political obstacles, some …

Politics And The Law: Enforcing Judicial Integrity, Anna Talbot

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The ruling by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in early February concerning the arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir provoked controversy. The role of the Court has been called into question, with Nesrine Malik’s piece surmising that the ruling has shown that the Court is out of touch with political reality. She argues that the decision plays into the hands of authorities who are using it to their own political ends; that the charge of genocide is unjustified; and that the practicalities of enforcement undermine the Court.

The Sexual Offender Registration And Notification Act: No More Than "Statutory ‘Lip Service’ To Interstate Commerce", Lindsey B. Fetzer

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Bashir And The Icc, Kurt Mills

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Nesrine Malik argues that the International Criminal Court (ICC) made a mistake when it declared that it might charge Omar al Bashir with genocide, in addition to the existing charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. She argues that the court’s ruling will contribute to Bashir's propaganda efforts and that the current charges have had no appreciable effect. Given the extreme duplicity of Bashir and the other crimes he has quite clearly committed, it is unclear how the genocide charge would make a big difference.

February 27, 2010: One More Time With Yoo, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “One more time with Yoo“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

February 25, 2010: John Yoo And Nuremberg, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “John Yoo and Nuremberg“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

February 11, 2010: Economic Life Under Hallowed Secularism, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Economic Life Under Hallowed Secularism“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

February 7, 2010: The Crime Of John Yoo, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Crime of John Yoo“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.