International Law Commons^™

Supranational Diversity: Why Federal Courts Should Have Diversity Jurisdiction Over Cases Involving Supranational Organizations Like The European Union, John T. Dixon

Georgia Law Review

The federal diversity statute grants alienage jurisdiction
to "foreign citizens" and "foreign statutes," allowing them

to bring state-law claims against U.S. citizens in federal
'court. When the European Community (EC), an
intergovernmental organization of European states, sued
an American corporation for state-law violations, for the
first time a federal court had to determine whether the EC
qualified as a foreign state. The EC argued that it was
essentially a foreign state for the purposes of alienage
jurisdiction. Relying on the definition of foreign state in
the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (FSIA),
which the diversity statute references, the court …

Finding International Law, Part Ii: Our Fragmenting Legal Community, Harlan G. Cohen

Scholarly Works

Is there an “International Community?” This Article suggests that there is not, that the oft-discussed fragmentation of international law reveals that there are in fact multiple overlapping and competing international law communities, each with differing views on law and legitimacy.

This Article reaches this conclusion by taking a fresh look not only at the sources of fragmentation, but at the sources of international law itself. Building on earlier work rethinking international law’s sources and drawing insights from legal philosophy, compliance theory, and international relations, this Article takes a closer look at three areas that have challenged traditional interpretations of international …

Politics And Prosecutions, From Katherine Fite To Fatou Bensouda, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

Based on the Katherine B. Fite Lecture delivered at the 5th Annual International Humanitarian Law Dialogs in Chautauqua, New York, this essay examines the role that politics has played in the evolution of international criminal justice. It first establishes the frame of the lecture series and its relation to IntLawGrrls blog, a cosponsor of the IHL Dialogs. It then discusses the career of the series' namesake, Katherine B. Fite, a State Department lawyer who helped draft the Charter of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg and who was, in her own words, a "political observer" of the proceedings. The essay …

From Fragmentation To Constitutionalization, Harlan G. Cohen

Scholarly Works

This short essay, prepared for a panel on “The Impact of a Wider Dissemination of Human Rights Norms: Fragmentation or Unity?,” explores the connection between two popular, but seemingly contradictory discourses in international law: fragmentation and constitutionalization. After disentangling and categorizing the various types of fragmentation international law may be experiencing, the essay focuses in on one form in particular, the “fragmentation of the legal community.” This most radical version of fragmentation, the essay argues, has spurred a number of responses, many of which suggest the beginnings of a constitutional conflicts regime for international law. The essay ends by suggesting …

Global Public Goods, Governance Risk, And International Energy, Timothy L. Meyer

Scholarly Works

Scholars and commentators have long argued that issue linkages provide a way to increase cooperation on global public goods by increasing participation in global institutions, building consensus, and deterring free-riding. In this symposium article, I argue that the emphasis on the potential of issue linkages to facilitate cooperation in these ways has caused commentators to underestimate how common features of international legal institutions designed to accomplish these aims can actually undermine those institutions’ ability to facilitate cooperation. I focus on two features of institutional design that are intended to encourage participation in public goods institutions but can create the risk …

The Consequences Of A "War" Paradigm For Counterterrorism: What Impact On Basic Rights And Values?, Laurie R. Blank

Georgia Law Review

Policy makers have used the rhetoric of "war"
throughout the past century to describe a major
governmental or societal effort to combat an evil that
threatens society, national security or other communal

good. It is both a rhetorical tool and a resource
mobilization, and above all a coalescing of authority to
meet the challenge, whether poverty, drugs or-most
recently-terrorism. Soon after 9/11 made al Qaeda a
household word, the Bush Administration characterized
U.S. efforts to defeat al Qaeda as the "War on Terror."
Here, however, the terminology of "war" goes far beyond
rhetoric, resource re-allocation and centralizing of
authority. When …

Samantar, Official Immunity And Federal Common Law, Peter B. Rutledge

Scholarly Works

This essay examines the theoretical underpinnings of the immunity of foreign government officials following the Supreme Court's recent decision in Samantar. Part of a forthcoming symposium with the Lewis and Clark Law Review, the paper tackles the federal common law in the Court's decision and, more broadly, international civil litigation. It criticizes the Court's unexamined assumption that its federal common law power extended to create an immunity that, at best, coexists only uncomfortably alongside the legislative framework of the FSIA. It explains the problematic implications of this assertion of federal common law, both for suits against foreign officials and for …

Georgia Journal Of International And Comparative Law Editorial Board, 2011-2012, Georgia Journal Of International And Comparative Law

Materials from All Student Organizations

No abstract provided.

Georgia Journal Of International And Comparative Law Editorial Board, 2010-2011, Georgia Journal Of International And Comparative Law

Materials from All Student Organizations

No abstract provided.

Power, Exit Costs, And Renegotiation In International Law, Timothy L. Meyer

Scholarly Works

Scholars have long understood that the instability of power has ramifications for compliance with international law. Scholars have not, however, focused on how states’ expectations about shifting power affect the initial design of international agreements. In this paper, I integrate shifting power into an analysis of the initial design of both the formal and substantive aspects of agreements. I argue that a state expecting to become more powerful over time incurs an opportunity cost by agreeing to formal provisions that raise the cost of exiting an agreement. Exit costs - which promote the stability of legal rules - have distributional …

From International Law To International Conflicts Of Law: The Fragmentation Of Legitimacy, Harlan G. Cohen

Scholarly Works

This short essay, published as part of the proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law, confronts the problem of fragmentation in international law. Based on a longer paper, it challenges not only fragmentation’s conventional treatment as a technical or doctrinal problem but the very notion that there is a single international law community with a single doctrine of sources. On the contrary, the paper argues, what the problem of fragmentation reveals is that a single international law community is being replaced by separate, overlapping legal communities with significantly different views on law and legitimacy.

Portraits Of Women At Nuremberg, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

This essay reflects ongoing research that investigates women who played roles in war crimes trials at Nuremberg, Germany, and situates those women within the context of social developments during the post-World War II era. Based on an autumn 2009 presentation at the Third International Humanitarian Law Dialogs, the essay builds upon the “Women at Nuremberg” series posted at IntLawGrrls blog. The essay mentions women who were defendants, journalists, or witnesses; however, it focuses on some of the women, mostly Americans, who served as prosecutors at Nuremberg.

The Sohn Collection Shines At Uga School Of Law, Thomson Reuters

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

An interview with Anne Burnett, foreign and international law librarian at the Alexander Campbell King Law Library, reveals a unique library collection from a former world scholar.

Medellin, Delegation And Conflicts (Of Law), Peter B. Rutledge

Scholarly Works

The case of Medellin v. Texas presented the Supreme Court with a recurring question that has bedeviled judges, legal scholars, and political scientists-what effect, if any, must a United States court give to the decision of an international tribunal, particularly where, during the relevant time, the United States was party to a treaty protocol that bound it to that tribunal's judgments. While the Supreme Court held that the International Court of Justice's ("ICJ") decision was not enforceable federal law, its decision reflected an important recognition that the issues presented in that case were not limited to the specific area of …

Historical American Perspectives On International Law, Harlan G. Cohen

Scholarly Works

The United States’ relationship with international law, although oft-discussed, is poorly understood. Depictions of the relationship are often little more than caricatures. Depending on when the caricature is drawn, the United States may be a longstanding “champion” of international law, an “exceptionalist” defender of American values, or a hypocritical opponent of international governance. Many traditional histories do little to complicate these views. Focused primarily on foreign affairs law and constitutional war powers, these histories highlight moments of tension between the United States and international law. Missing from these histories of American diplomacy and warcraft, foreign affairs caselaw and doctrinal development …

Soft Law As Delegation, Timothy L. Meyer

Scholarly Works

This article examines one of the most important trends in international legal governance since the end of the Second World War: the rise of "soft law," or legally non-binding instruments. Scholars studying the design of international agreements have long puzzled over why states use soft law. The decision to make an agreement or obligation legally binding is within the control of the states negotiating the content of the legal obligations. Basic contract theory predicts that parties to a contract would want their agreement to be as credible as possible, to ensure optimal incentives to perform. It is therefore odd that …

Untangling The Right To Self-Representation In The International Criminal Tribunal For The Former Yugoslavia, Rachel K. Jones

Georgia Law Review

The Statutes of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia provide that a defendant has the right to defend himself in person. The bounds of this right, however, are nebulous. There have been few self- representation cases at the ICTY, but what has emerged in these cases is an ongoing conflict between the defendant's right to self-representation and the desire for a "fair and expeditious" trial. On one hand, the pro se right is extremely personal because the defendant is the only person who bears the consequences of losing at trial. On the other hand,high profile defendants are often …

Can International Law Work? A Constructivist Expansion, Harlan G. Cohen

Scholarly Works

An increasing number of scholars have begun to apply rational choice methodologies to the study of international law. Earlier rational choice scholarship voicing skepticism about international law’s true force has since been followed by sophisticated rational choice defenses of international law. This review essay focuses on Andrew Guzman’s recent book HOW INTERNATIONAL LAW WORKS: A RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY (2008), one of the best of those defenses. In that book, Guzman develops an elegant and sophisticated account of 'reputation' and the role it can play in encouraging rational compliance with international law. Based on this account, Guzman makes a powerful case …

International Common Law: The Soft Law Of International Tribunals, Timothy L. Meyer, Andrew T. Guzman

Scholarly Works

Rising legalization in the international community has lead to greater use of international tribunals and soft law. This paper explores the intersection of these instruments. The decision of an international tribunal interprets binding legal obligations but is not itself legally binding except, in some instances, as between the parties. The broader, and often more important function of a tribunal's decision - its influence on state behavior beyond the particular case and its impact on perceptions regarding legal obligations - is best characterized as a form of soft law.

Despite its inability to bind states, a tribunal can influence state behavior …

Georgia Journal Of International And Comparative Law Editorial And Managing Boards 2008-2009, Georgia Journal Of International And Comparative Law

Materials from All Student Organizations

No abstract provided.

No. 6 - 30th Anniversary Issue, Henry Kissinger, James Baker, Warren Christopher, Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, Lee Hamilton, Daniel R. Fung, Diana Wallis

Occasional Papers Series

With this issue of the Occasional Papers, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Dean Rusk Center, which bears the name of the late School of Law faculty member who served as secretary of state under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 until 1969.

Our purpose in hosting the conference and lectures published in this volume was to provide a forum for developing the comprehensive new focus necessary to met the American foreign policy demands of the 21st century. In so doing, it is our intent that the advice and counsel of the …

Due Process Rights Before Eu Agencies: The Rights Of Defense, David E. Shipley

Scholarly Works

This Article discusses the procedural safeguards that have been recognized in the EU and the parallels between procedural due process in the United States and the rights of defense in the EU. It compares these respective rights and safeguards and explains how U.S. and EU procedures for agency adjudications are converging. Part II sets out the fundamental principles of American due process and EU right to be heard jurisprudence. Part III provides a detailed analysis of the rights of defense in the EU and highlights how this bundle of rights parallels the rights to notice and opportunity to be heard …

International Decision: Munaf V. Geren, Harlan G. Cohen

Scholarly Works

This International Decision case comment, the final version of which will be published in Volume 102, No. 4, of the American Journal of International Law (forthcoming), examines the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Munaf v. Geren, a case arising out of U.S. operations in Iraq and allegations of potential torture in Iraqi custody. In that decision, a unanimous Supreme Court held that the federal courts have jurisdiction under the habeas corpus statute to hear claims brought by American citizens held overseas by American forces "operating subject to an American chain of command, even when those forces are acting as a …

States, Markets, And Gatekeepers: Public-Private Regulatory Regimes In An Era Of Economic Globalization, Christopher M. Bruner

Scholarly Works

This paper illuminates the spectrum of international economic regimes through discussion of an under-theorized regulatory structure in which traditional distinctions between state and market, public and private power, hard and soft law, and international and domestic policy realms, essentially collapse - the public-private gatekeeper.

Specifically, I examine striking similarities between global bond markets and e-commerce markets through comparison of entities regulating admission to them - the dominant credit rating agencies (Standard & Poor's and Moody's), and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Following anexamination of the development of these markets and the global regulatory power exercised by …

A Post-Kyoto Framework For Climate Change, Daniel M. Bodansky

Presentations and Speeches

No abstract provided.

The Report Of The Secretaries Of State: Bipartisan Advice To The Next Administration, Henry Kissinger, Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, Warren Christopher, James Baker

Conferences and Symposia to 2010

On March 27, former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger, James Baker III, Warren Christopher, Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell gathered in Athens to discuss current U.S. foreign policy with the goal of providing advice and counsel to the next presidential administration. The session was moderated by Terence Smith, of “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” before an audience of more than 2,000. Sponsored by the Dean Rusk Center, in partnership with the Southern Center for International Studies, the two hour roundtable, titled “The Report of the Secretaries of State: Bipartisan Advice to the Next Administration,” has been edited for broadcast on …

The Course Of True Human Rights Progress Never Did Run Smooth, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

As the United States moves toward the inauguration in January 2009 of a new President, greater attention is paid to what the country might do to restore and reinforce its traditional role as a leader in the promotion of human rights. This essay warns against any assumption that innovation alone will assure greater enforcement of rights; its points of reference are not only the current administration, but also one long past, that of President John F. Kennedy. Rather than jump to embrace new, global concepts like responsibility to protect, therefore, it argues for careful pursuit of local change. It then …

Discovery, Judicial Assistance And Arbitration: A New Tool For Cases Involving U.S. Entities?, Peter B. Rutledge

Scholarly Works

Limited discovery is one of the regularly cited advantages of international arbitration, as opposed to international litigation, particularly in contrast to litigation in the US. courts. Recent decisions by US. courts, however, have threatened to upend this comparative advantage. Invoking a little known US. law, 28 U.S.C. section 1782, these courts have permitted parties in an arbitration to petition for subpoenas issued by US. courts against their adversaries or third parties. Bucking the trend in the academic literature, which largely supports this development, this article opposes reading section 1782 to authorize subpoenas in support of an arbitration. Not only does …

Culture, Sovereignty, And Hollywood: Unesco And The Future Of Trade In Cultural Products, Christopher M. Bruner

Scholarly Works

On October 20, 2005, the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization (UNESCO) adopted a treaty - by a vote of 148-2, with 4 abstentions - that legitimates domestic legal measures aimed at the protection of local producers of cultural activities, goods and services. Opposed by the United States and Israel, the Convention represents a major diplomatic victory for Canada and France - its principal proponents - and a major blow to Hollywood and the United States, audiovisual products being among America's most lucrative exports. Both Canada and France, like many countries around the world, have long …

Don't Be Left Out In The Cold: An Argument For Advancing American Interests In The Arctic Outside The Ambits Of The United Nations Convention On The Law Of The Sea, Jason W. Howard

Georgia Law Review

In the world of fast-depleting fossil fuel reserves, any area promising new sources of oil and natural gas will be valuable to the nation controlling it. The Arctic Circle could be such an area. Recognizing this, in August 2007, while gathering scientific data, a submarine placed a titanium Russian flag on the Arctic seafloor in a symbolic statement of Russia's claim to the area. As Russia and other nations prepare their claims under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, the United States, because it has not yet ratified the treaty, is left to defend its interest outside …