International Law Commons^™

Vertical And Horizontal Perspectives On Rights Consciousness, David M. Engel

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

It has become commonplace to assert that rights consciousness is expanding globally and that individuals worldwide are demonstrating an increasing awareness of and insistence upon their legal entitlements. To marshal empirical support for such claims is, however, exceedingly complex. One important line of socio-legal research on rights consciousness adopts what might be called a "vertical" perspective, tracing the flow of legal forms and practices from prestigious and authoritative centers of cultural production to local settings, where they may be adopted, resisted, or transformed. Vertical perspectives on global rights consciousness have broadened and enriched the field of law and society by …

Dimensions Of Rights Consciousness, Carol J. Greenhouse

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Commenting on David Engel's Article, this Comment responds particularly to Engel's formulation of horizontal and vertical axes as a metaphor for the ways different analytical approaches to law and legal consciousness potentially yield *recombinant interpretive questions. Pursuing Engel's concerns with the embeddedness of local norms and social relations in state-based and global legal processes, this Comment suggests expanding the two dimensions of Engel's matrix to four, so as to highlight the relevance of social distance and temporality in the differing accounts of law he assays, and in appreciating their stakes. In so doing, this Comment situates Engel's essay as a …

Expanding The Horizons Of Horizontal Inquiry Into Rights Consciousness: An Engagement With David Engel, Michael W. Mccann

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This Comment interprets and reflects on the key features of David Engel's argument about the importance of balancing vertical models of rights diffusion with horizontal ethnographic studies of how rights consciousness develops out of practical experience in everyday social contexts. The primary focus is on endorsing the general argument and amplifying some understated or undeveloped dimensions of Engel's position. In particular, this reflection makes the case for: 1) expanding the range of subjects and contexts subjected to horizontal study, including especially greater attention to "haves" and elite actors; 2) studying subjects expected to have high rights consciousness as well as …

Against Wishful Scholarship: The Importance Of Engel, Duncan Mccargo

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

David Engel's Article on global consciousness' crystallizes a set of arguments he recently made in a number of publications, most notably in his coauthored book Tort, Custom, and Karma.2 To me, the main point of his argument is by no means limited to questions of law or globalism. Rather, he argues against the dominant mode of writing among scholars across a wide range of social science and related disciplines-a mode of writing that might best be termed "wishful scholarship." In wishful scholarship, the starting point of the author is the world as she or he wishes to see it, or …

The Human Right To Water: Will Its Fulfillment Contribute To Environmental Degradation?, Alezah Trigueros

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Human rights and environmental protection are two often overlapping bodies of law, each of which by their nature seeks to take priority over other applicable law. For this reason, these two bodies of law often find themselves in tension with one another. This Note aims to illustrate the tension between human rights and environmental protection in the context of the recent push for a codified human right to water. My thesis is that ideally these two bodies of law should balance each other out-a human right to water would be subject to environmental safeguards, and, likewise, conservation efforts would be …

Public Interest Litigation In India As A Paradigm For Developing Nations, Zachary Holladay

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Public interest litigation (PIL) in India can serve as a vehicle for creating and enforcing rights and is critical to the sustenance of democracy. PIL in India can address the needs of its citizens when legislative inertia afflicts the Indian National Congress. This Note discusses how PIL in India can serve as a model for other developing nations struggling with legislative inertia and can provide recourse to marginalized and disadvantaged communities. Furthermore, while PIL obscures the traditional boundaries of power in a liberal democratic polity, democracy is in fact strengthened by the expansion of standing to include any citizen who …

The Global Crackdown On Insider Trading: A Silver Lining To The "Great Reccession", Christopher P. Montagano

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

The wake of the Great Recession marked a period of increased enforcement of insider trading violations by nation-states and self-regulatory organizations overseeing stock markets around the world. Before discussing the heightened global enforcement of insider trading, this Note explains the development of insider trading regulation by focusing on U.S., EU, and China law. This Note argues that the heightened global enforcement of insider trading violations in the wake of the Great Recession is a sign of a shared perception by market regulators around the world that there is a need to restore market confidence. Strong enforcement of insider trading regulations …

Background Paper For Second Workshop On Contract Negotiation Support For Developing Host Countries, Vale Columbia Center On Sustainable International Investment, Humboldt-Viadrina School Of Governance

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

The Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI) and the Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance (HSVG) have initiated a process to discuss the desirability and feasibility of mechanisms to provide negotiation support for developing host countries in their negotiations with major investors.

At a first workshop held in October 2011, participants agreed on the need for an expansion of support for developing countries in their contract negotiations.

A second workshop was held at Columbia University in July 2012 that undertook a gap analysis between the existing sources of support for developing countries in relation to complex contracts and the countries’ needs for …

Toward A Situational Model For Regulating International Crimes, Andrew K. Woods

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The international criminal regime, as currently conceived, relies almost exclusively on the power of backward-looking criminal sanctions to deter future international crimes. This model reflects the dominant mid-century approach to crime control, which was essentially reactive. Since then, domestic criminal scholars and practitioners have developed and implemented new theories of crime control—theories notable for their promise of crime prevention through ex ante attention to community and environmental factors. Community policing crime prevention through environmental design, and related "situational" approaches to crime control have had a significant impact on the administration of domestic criminal law.

This Article evaluates the implications of …

Forums For International Economic Adjudication: Threads In Fragments, Francis N. Botchway

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The article challenges the notion of fragmentation in international law, arguing that the proliferation of international adjudicatory bodies, such as the ICJ, WTO DSB, and ECJ, does not lead to fragmentation but instead fosters integration and coherence in international jurisprudence. It highlights the alignment of procedures, shared sources of law, and interpretative approaches among these bodies, demonstrating that institutional diversity enhances efficiency and enriches international law rather than causing discord. The article emphasizes the role of these institutions in addressing complex legal issues, ensuring legal certainty, and promoting transparency and inclusivity in global dispute resolution.

Legal Lock-Picking: An Analysis Of Anti-Circumvention Law In The United States And Brazil, Skyler Sourifman

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The note examines the contrasting approaches of the U.S. and Brazil in their anticircumvention laws under copyright regimes. It highlights how the U.S. DMCA strictly prohibits circumvention, while Brazil's proposal allows exceptions for fair use, interoperability, and public domain access. The analysis critiques the DMCA for its broad provisions that have led to inconsistent court rulings, such as in RealNetworks v. Streambox and Universal City Studios v. Corley, which have stifled competition and free expression. Conversely, Brazil's approach aligns with the Access to Knowledge movement, emphasizing a balanced copyright system. The note suggests that recent U.S. exemptions, like those …

Opportunistic Discipline: Using Eurasian Integration To Improve Sanctions Against Belarus, Ilya Zlatkin

Law Student Publications

This comment does not condemn or condone the Lukashenko regime's policies. Instead, it evaluates the effectiveness of the U.S. sanctions and provides some feasible alternatives. Also, this comment avoids normative arguments against sanctions, concentrating more on the probable economic and political effects. Part II supplies background information on the political developments within Belarus since the Soviet Union's collapse, including prior sanctions that the West imposed. Part III explains why the United States can legally institute sanctions. Parts IV and V discuss how American sanctions facilitate appropriation of significant Belarusian state assets by Russia and China, respectively. Part VI posits that …

The Right To Silence In The Hague International Criminal Courts, Mark Berger

Faculty Works

The War Crimes Tribunals and the International Criminal Court were established as international judicial institutions charged with the task of prosecuting individuals responsible for committing such human rights offenses as genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, and violations of the laws or customs of war. These judicial bodies function in much the same way as domestic criminal courts and as such they have had to balance the institutional goal of prosecuting human rights offenders with the need to respect appropriate limits on the exercise of their authority. This article explores how that balance has been …

Proposal For An International Convention On Online Gambling, Marketa Trimble

Scholarly Works

The proposal, which will be published as a chapter in a volume from the Internet Gaming Regulation Symposium co-organized by the William S. Boyd School of Law of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in May 2012, presents the outline of an international convention ('Convention') that will facilitate cooperation among countries in enforcement of their online gambling regulations while allowing the countries to maintain their individual legal approaches to online gambling. Countries continue to vary in their approaches - some permit and regulate, and others prohibit online gambling, and even countries that permit and regulate online gambling approach the issue …

Cisg Translation Issues: Reducing Legal Babelism, Claire M. Germain

UF Law Faculty Publications

The CISG (Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods) has remarkably facilitated commercial transactions across boundaries and different legal systems. This article, to be published as a Book Chapter, discusses some possible difficulties caused by using different languages, or words which might be interpreted differently, and some solutions and ways to deal with these difficulties. Three kinds of issues have appeared: the first has to do with drafting issues, and the peculiar problem of the six official languages of the Convention. The second set of issues deals with the interpretation of the Convention and the so-called homeward trend. …

The Russian Federation Joins The Oecd Convention Against Bribery, Andrew B. Spalding

Law Faculty Publications

On April 17, 2012, the Russian Federation joined the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Officials in International Business Transactions (“the Convention”).[1] This is but the latest example of a recent trend among the major emerging markets toward criminalizing the bribing of foreign officials. This Insight will place Russia’s accession in context of the broader effort to establish a global anti-bribery regime.

The American Duality: Exceptionalism Or Exemptionalism?, Courtney Muniz

Communication Studies

Discusses how the ethnocentric tendencies found within American exceptionalism translate into U.S. foreign policy.

“Seeking Justice, Strategically”, Joel R. Pruce

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In his opinion piece, Ian Paisley takes to task the International Criminal Court (ICC) for, as he sees it, intervening in domestic processes of reconciliation at the expense of long-term prospects for peace. The "peace versus justice" paradox is not a new one and Paisley expresses a common criticism of justice mechanisms as disruptive of post-conflict, societal healing and the overwhelming hurdle of governing in the aftermath of violence. Missing from his analysis is a broader understanding of trends in international justice and accountability, of which the ICC is only one component. While the ICC is certainly not immune from …

American Indian Water Right Settlements, Darcy Bushnell

Publications

No abstract provided.

“Slippery Slopes: On Why We Need The Icc”, Matthew S. Weinert

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Peace, reconciliation, and restorative justice: these are the albatrosses that international criminal law (ICL) must (unfairly) bear. Ian Paisley, MP from Northern Ireland and former United Nations and European Union peace envoy, echoes in a New York Times op-ed contribution the aspirations heaped onto the International Criminal Court (ICC). In March, the ICC convicted Thomas Lubanga for war crimes and the conscription of children as soldiers; justice has been done, Paisley claims. Yet the ICC was "intended as an instrument of peace," and "there is no peace" in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). On this ground he concludes, …