My general view is that critical book reviews are much more interesting than positive ones (unless it is of my own book, that is). And so I read with great interest George Mason Law Professor Jeremy Rabkin's takedown of Kathryn Sikkink's new book "The Justice Cascade: How Human Rights Prosecutions are Changing World Politics." The Sikkink book argues, through an...
Opinio Juris and EJIL: Talk! are happy to announce that over the next few days we will both be hosting a discussion of Marko Milanovic’s recently published book: Extraterritorial Application of Human Rights Treaties: Law, Principles and Policy (Oxford Univ Press). Marko's book examines the question when a State owes human rights obligations under a treaty to persons located outside...
It's official -- or almost is, to be completely accurate. Mark Kersten first reported the news at Justice in Conflict, and a Reuters story has now confirmed it. On December 12, Fatou Bensouda will become the next ICC Prosecutor: An informal meeting of ICC members will be held in New York on Thursday to discuss the appointment, said Liechtenstein's U.N....
My colleague Greg McNeal has just posted on SSRN an article on collateral damage and targeted killing. It is getting rave reviews, with Ben Wittes calling it an "extraordinary article" that "should be required reading for anyone participating in the many debates surrounding targeted killing" and our own Ken Anderson calling it "essential reading ...
I'm looking forward to our joint symposium on Marko's impressive book on extraterritorial treaty application. But before that begins, I wanted to flag a new opportunity for those looking to get international experience outside the United States. The Fulbright Program is inaugurating a new 'Public Policy Fellowship' for academic year 2012-2013. Here's how they described it to me: The Fulbright Public...
Well, not really today, but it was about twenty years ago that what we now call (incorrectly, at times) the "frozen conflicts"-- the separatist conflicts in Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Moldova-- weren't frozen but were actually brushfire wars before settling into stalemates. Long-time readers of this blog may remember my interest in these conflicts, starting with the ongoing conflict in Moldova...
Reading about the disintegrating relationship between the United States and Pakistan, I was struck by former Utah Governor, U.S. Ambassador to China, and Presidential-hopeful Jon Huntsman’s take on the situation. As reported in the New York Times: Asked on “Fox News Sunday” how he would respond in such a situation, Jon M. Huntsman Jr., President Obama’s former ambassador to China...
So talks on a new cluster bomb treaty have collapsed due to the refusal of countries party to the 2008 Cluster Bomb Convention to sign on to a less restrictive treaty that would have included the U.S, Russia, China, India and other key military powers. The draft treaty was vigorously promoted by the United States and had the backing of other...
The ICC has announced that the Assembly of States Parties has eliminated Andrew Cayley and Robert Petit from consideration as Moreno-Ocampo's replacement: The Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court (“the Assembly”) will hold its tenth session at the United Nation Headquarters in New York from 12 to 21 December 2011. The tenth session will be marked...
The High Court of Kenya has held that the government has an obligation to arrest Bashir if he sets foot on Kenyan territory: The Kenyan High Court ruling was the result of a case that the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) brought against Kenya's attorney general and internal security minster in 2010. "The courts have said that Kenya has an...
The imminent collapse of the eurozone (and maybe the global financial markets as well) makes for terrifying reading. It also is one reminder of how the success of regional and international legal institutions has depended on the general health of the global economy (and of wealthy states in Europe, North America, and East Asia). Three stories from today, both big...
I've been arguing for some time (here, here, and here, all pre-SSRN) that the globalized economy enables the world to directly discipline US states in the context of foreign relations and human rights, and that this in turn erases the need for a dormant federal foreign affairs power. The thumbnail version: in the old world, state-level foreign relations activity involved intolerable...
