International Law Commons^™

Global Implementation Of Soda Taxes: Is There A Better Solution For Combatting Obesity?, Lauren Cedeno

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

As incidences of overweight and obese populations continue to increase around the world, countries are looking for ways to decrease the prevalence of this epidemic. Soda and SSB taxes have increased in prevalence as countries seek to address the health problems associated with consumption of soda and other sugary beverages. This Note explores the implementation of these taxes in Mexico, Europe, and the United States. In analyzing these taxes, this Note seeks to gain a greater understanding of whether these taxes have impacted overweight and obesity rates in the countries and municipalities that have enacted them. This Note argues that …

Looking To The United Kingdom To Overhaul New York State’S Paid Family Leave Law And Close The Global Gender Gap, John Pietruszka

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The World Economic Forum estimates that mitigating gender-based disparities in the area of economic participation could lead to substantial economic benefits for the global economy. However, the international system of sovereign states requires this effort be piecemeal, as each state must set priorities to achieve greater gender parity within its own economic, political, and cultural contexts. The United States, by virtue of being the largest economy in the world by nominal GDP, undoubtedly has one of the largest roles to play in the effort to mitigate this global problem. Nonetheless, it lags behind other nation-states in several key areas that …

Reverse Contributors? African State Parties, Icsid, And The Development Of International Investment Law, Olabisi D. Akinkugbe

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

International investment disputes involving African states before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) have generated significant critical inquiry. Yet, accounts of their contribution to the development of international investment law as a result of these dispute are limited. This article addresses this gap. It examines the contribution of some of the high-profile ICSID disputes involving African states to the development of international investment law. Notwithstanding the charges against African States in ICSID, I contend that the involvement of African States in ICSID Disputes has contributed to the development of international investment law. In particular, the jurisprudence that …

The Dialogic Aspect Of Soft Law In International Insolvency: Discord, Digression, And Development, John A. E. Pottow

Law & Economics Working Papers

Soft law is on the ascent in international insolvency, seeming now to occupy a preferred status over boring old conventions. An arguably constitutive aspect of soft law, which some contend provides a normative justification for international law generally, is its "dialogic" nature, by which I mean its intentional exposure to recursive norm contestation and iterative development: soft law starts a dialogue. The product of that dialogue, on a teleological view, may well be hard law. In the international insolvency realm, that pathway is through (soft) model domestic legislation that aspires toward enactment as municipal law. The happy story is that …

Ensuring Economic Viability And Sustainability Of Coffee Production, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Kaitlin Y. Cordes, James Rising, Perrine Toledano, Nicolas Maennling

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Coffee, the world’s favorite beverage, provides livelihoods for at least 60 million people across dozens of countries. Yet this beloved drink is experiencing a sustainability crisis. A sustained decline in world coffee prices has squeezed coffee producers, and thrown a tremendous number of producers below the global extreme poverty line. This report presents our research into sustainability within the coffee sector, including the results of our analytical and empirical modeling, and provides several recommendations.

Net Neutrality And The European Union’S Copyright Directive For The Digital Single Market, Nathan Guzé

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

The European Union’s Copyright Directive for the Digital Single Market should cause concern for net neutrality advocates. This article casts a critical gaze at Article 17 (previously Article 13) of this new Directive. It chronicles the Directive’s life: starting as a reaction to the perceived inadequate copyright protections provided by the previous Information Society Copyright Directive through to its then-present status circa May 2019. Next, net neutrality is defined, and its benefits and detriments are weighed to ultimately determine the policy is desirable. Article 17’s call for eliminating safe-harbor provisions for content hosts and its call for content filters signal …

A Wall Runs Through It: Comparing Mexican And Californian Legal Regimes In The California Floristic Province, Joseph E. Farewell

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

Habitats are often divided by international borders, leaving ecosystems in varying states of protection, development, and danger. The California Floristic Province, which traverses the United States-Mexico border, is one such example. This border, which divides a once-continuous ecological region, not only represents an international crossing, but also a shift in legal, land, and conservation regimes. These differences reveal particular vulnerabilities for California Floristic Province habitat on the Mexican side of the border region, showing that the ecosystem is in danger because of rapid real estate development pressures and unfavorable environmental laws. Accordingly, this note recommends three main changes to Mexican …

Population Law And Policy: From Control And Contraception To Equity And Equality, Victoria Mather

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fixing The Business Of Food: The Food Industry And The Sdg Challenge, Barilla Center For Food And Nutrition, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment, Sanda Chiara Lab

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

In collaboration with the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and the Santa Chiara Lab of the University of Siena, CCSI presented its first report on Fixing the Business of Food.

The document, part of a two-year effort, highlights the sustainable development challenge faced by the food industry. By proposing a Four Dimension framework, the report asks four overarching questions for companies in the food sector to address alignment with the SDGs:

1. Does the company contribute to healthy and sustainable dietary patterns through its products and strategy?
2. Are the company’s production processes economically, socially, …

Enforcement Mechanisms For International Standards Of Judicial Independence: The Role Of Government And Private Actors, Rachel Stopchinski

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

In 2017, the prevailing political party in Poland, Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwos6), proposed a series of radical legislative changes designed to strip the Polish judiciary of its independence. Though the European Union (EU) has extensively investigated this egregious attack on the rule of law, no concrete steps have been taken to impose sanctums on, or otherwise discipline, the Polish government for defying EU ideals. Despite the fundamental importance of judicial independence in maintaining the rule of law, there are presently no widely adopted international standards of judicial independence. Therefore, no guidelines are promulgated for governments to follow, and …

Financing The World Health Organization: What Lessons For Multilateralism?, Kristina Daugirdas, Gian Luca Burci

Articles

When it comes to financing the work of international organizations, voluntary contributions from both state and nonstate actors are growing in size and importance. The World Health Organization (WHO) is an extreme case from this perspective, with voluntary contributions - mostly earmarked for particular purposes - comprising more than 80 percent of its funds. Moreover, nonstate actors are by now supplying almost half of WHO’s funds, with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ranking as the second-highest contributor after the United States. A number of public-health and international relations scholars have expressed alarm over these trends, arguing that heavy reliance …

The Other Space Race: Some Law And Economics Of Celestial Resource Appropriation, Alexander W. Salter

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Forging Taiwan’S Legal Identity, Margaret K. Lewis

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The legal system in Taiwan is undergoing a transformation. Over a hundred years since the founding of the Republic of China and over thirty years since the end of martial law on Taiwan, a new legal identity is being forged. Public criticism of “dinosaur” judges and esoteric debates among law-trained elites have galvanized efforts to create a more inclusive discussion surrounding legal reforms. Taiwan is facing the challenge of moving from dinosaurs to dynamism. This Article argues that transparency, clarity, and participation both are animating principles of the current reform debate and are beginning to emerge as characteristics of Taiwan’s …

The Plight Of Georgia: Russian Occupation And The Energy Charter Treaty, Jennessa M. Lever

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

After the Five-Day Russo-Georgian War, Russia usurped Georgian separatist territories, including a stretch of the Baku-Supsa Pipeline which provides gas to Europe. The continued occupation by Russia endangers Georgian sovereignty, natural resources, and economic security and puts Europe’s gas security at risk. The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), through provisional application, provides a unique opportunity to assist Georgia’s battle for territorial integrity. This Note will examine the ECT’s ability to provide a pathway for Georgian economic and energy security by holding Russia accountable for violations of the ECT and removing Russia’s stronghold on the region.

The United Nations Compensation Commission: Mass Reparations Apotheosis, Gregory Townsend

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Malaysia Historical Salvors Revisited:, John P. Given

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Human Rights Law And The Investment Treaty Regime, Jesse Coleman, Kaitlin Y. Cordes, Lise Johnson

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

In its current form, the international investment treaty regime may stymie the business and human rights agenda in various ways. The regime may incentivize governments to favour the protection of investors over the protection of human rights. Investment treaty standards enforced through investor-state arbitration risk adversely affecting access to justice for project-affected rights holders. More broadly, the regime contributes to a system of global economic governance that elevates and rewards investors’ actions and expectations, irrespective of whether they have adhered to their responsibilities to respect human rights. Without comprehensive reform, investment treaties and investor-state arbitration will continue to interfere with …

The Revival Of Economic Nationalism And The Global Trading System, Daniel C.K. Chow, Ian M. Sheldon, William Mcguire

Cardozo Law Review

The election of Donald ]. Trump to the U.S. Presidency coincided with the United States adopting an "America First" policy in trade. This policy reflects an underlying theory of economic nationalism that is fundamentally at odds with the current approach of the multilateral trading system established by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the World Trade Organization (GATT/WTO). The current multilateral system is based on a "positive sum game" theory, i.e., the view that cooperative trade concessions can increase the volume of trade for all nations involved and result in reciprocal and mutual benefits. A large body of …

If Not Now, When? Us Tax Treaties With Latin America After Tcja, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Law & Economics Working Papers

Since the 1990s, the US tax treaty network has expanded to include most large developing countries. However, there remains a glaring exception: The US only has two tax treaties in Latin America (Mexico and Venezuela), and one pending tax treaty (Chile). The traditional explanation for why the US has no treaty with, for example, Argentina or Brazil is the US refusal since 1957 to grant tax sparing credits to developing countries. Before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA), this explanation was wrong, because the combination of deferral and cross-crediting meant that tax holidays in a source country …

Does Customary International Tax Law Exist?, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Law & Economics Working Papers

Customary international law is law that “results from a general and consistent practice of states followed by them from a sense of legal obligation.” “International agreements create law for states parties thereto and may lead to the creation of customary international law when such agreements are intended for adherence by states generally and are in fact widely accepted.” Does customary international law (CIL) exist in tax? There are over 3,000 bilateral tax treaties, and they are about 80% identical to each other, but do they create CIL that binds in the absence of a binding treaty, like for example the …

Explaining China's Legal Flexibility: History And The Institutional Imperative, Justin W. Evans

Pace International Law Review

China’s legal system appears to harbor a major tension, or even a paradox. Certainty in law facilitates economic progress, which most observers agree the Communist Party requires to maintain its power—yet the Party has opted for a flexible legal system that often impedes predictability. Prior studies explain China’s legal system as a product of certain constraints and as an expedient that allows for policy adjustments. These factors undoubtedly are at work but do not fully explain the rationale for a legal design seemingly at odds with the Party’s economic goals. To obtain a fuller view, it is necessary to consult …

Given Today's New Wave Of Protectionsim, Is Antitrust Law The Last Hope For Preserving A Free Global Economy Or Another Nail In Free Trade's Coffin?, Allison Murray

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Venezuela Undermines Gold Miner Crystallex's Attempts To Recover On Its Icsid Award, Sam Wesson

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cost-Benefit Analysis And Human Rights, William J. Aceves

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Article considers whether cost-benefit analysis can provide the human rights movement with the answers it seeks. It offers an instrumentalist and empirical approach to complement the normative arguments that are most often used by the human rights movement. If human rights could be fully monetized, states could consider the full range of benefits that arise from protecting rights and the costs that occur when rights are violated. This approach could provide states with a more accurate methodology for making decisions that affect human rights. In fact, protecting human rights may prove to be costeffective, particularly when second order …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Unravelling China's Gradual Approach To Equity Crowdfunding Regulation, Chen Li, Yu Qianqian

American University Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Precedent And Dialogue In Investment Treaty Arbitration, Richard C. Chen

Faculty Publications

Since the turn of the century, investment treaty arbitration (ITA) tribunals have begun citing past decisions with increasing frequency. They do so despite the absence of any formal doctrine of stare decisis and the presence of structural obstacles to the use of precedent in this context. Scholarship in this area has focused on explaining the rise of this de facto doctrine of precedent and evaluating the merits of the practice. Few have grappled with more practical questions about how precedent should operate in this unique sphere, but even a cursory examination of ITA decisions would reveal that some order and …

Public Regulation And Private Enforcement In A Global Economy: Strategies For Managing Conflict, Hannah L. Buxbaum

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Peacekeeping Operations In West Africa: Mechanisms Of Cooperation Between The United Nations And Ecowas With The Case Studies Concerning The Crises In Liberia And The Gambia, Serigne Cheikh Modou Kara Cisse

Dissertations and Theses

The African continent has significantly suffered from a great number of civil wars and armed conflicts since the beginning of the independence era in late 1960s. On May 28, 1975, the creation of a regional The African continent has significantly suffered from a great number of civil wars and armed conflicts since organization in West Africa called the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) took place. The intent was to achieve "collective self-sufficiency" for its member states by building a full economic and trading union. In the late 1990s, the maintenance of peace and security in the region was …