In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

21 Jan

OK, that's not quite it, but still this story (weeks old I know) is somewhat surprising. UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Sudan last week flew a man indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court to a peace meeting in the flashpoint Abyei region, U.N. officials said on Tuesday. The mission, known as UNMIS, transported Ahmed Haroun, a Sudanese...

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21 Jan

Oklahoma's controversial constitutional amendment banning Oklahoma courts from relying on Islamic and international law has inspired as similar effort in Wyoming.  I think this whole effort is largely harmless, if misguided. Still, an interesting trend in the U.S. CASPER, Wyo. — Wyoming judges wouldn't be allowed to consider Islamic law or international law when making rulings, under a proposed state constitutional...

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21 Jan

I am sympathetic to the concern, expressed in this short article, about the threat that international agreements pose to state laws.  The American states, as I've argued here and here, need more autonomy in foreign affairs and in their interaction with international law, not less.  But I think free trade agreements like NAFTA are generally the least intrusive of those...

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21 Jan

I realize that discussing the international law aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is not exactly a new and fresh topic likely to inspire thoughtful and reasonable thinking, and yet I was struck by the aggressive tone of this NYT editorial from a representative of the Palestinian Authority. It is universally recognized that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, and that...

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17 Jan

I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed-- I, too, am America. ~Langston Hughes (1925) Langston Hughes wrote this just one generation before Martin Luther King. One...

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17 Jan

Oxford University Press has asked me to post the following announcement: Law Yearbooks from Oxford – Free Online Access until February 28th Since the start of January 2011 the law yearbooks from Oxford University Press, previously available only in print, have become available online as well. This includes all volumes since 1996 but not the most recent ones which only published in...

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15 Jan

In conversation with someone who, as a senior NGO executive in international development and food aid, is well situated to respond on the question of rising commodity prices for food globally.  I asked specifically about the Wall Street Journal news story a few days ago on this topic, which reported: Prices of corn and soybeans leapt 4% Wednesday and wheat gained 1%,...

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14 Jan

Global philanthropy is a topic that invites examination across disciplines, including law, ethics, economics, sociology, political science and more — particularly as activity in the field grows in a globalized world.  So I’d like to welcome a new volume of essays, Giving Well: The Ethics of Philanthropy, edited by Patricia Illingworth, Thomas Pogge, and Leif Wenar (Oxford 2011). Although the title is philanthropy generally, the essays in the book tend to emphasize global and cross border philanthropy, with all the attendant issues of cosmopolitanism, community, etc.  The contributors include major figures such as Jon Elster, Peter Singer, and Alex de Waal.  Like many readers, I  resist edited books, but this one is finely edited and the contributions fit together well.  It would make, for example, a useful book of readings in courses in international relations, law, economics, etc.  I think general readers would find it a coherent volume. I have a contribution in the volume, “Global Philanthropy and Global Governance: The Problematic Moral Legitimacy Relationship Between Global Civil Society and the United Nations.”  I’m afraid it is the outlier essay in the book with respect to the admirable coherence otherwise noted above — the one that least connects to the topic of philanthropy in a specific sense of philanthropists and their ethics.  It is an essay instead fundamentally about the role of NGOs in the global political space, and a challenge to some of the legitimating roles assumed even at this late date for NGOs.  I’ve been making this critique for a long time, of course. Cover flap description, below the fold.
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14 Jan

As the U.S. government continues to try to shut down WikiLeaks -- preferably, it seems, without having to actually charge Assange or the website with an actual crime -- it's important not to forget how much we've learned through WikiLeaks' efforts.  Here is a (partial) list created by Greg Mitchell, who has been keeping a daily log of all things...

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12 Jan

I received this notice from my friend Gary Born and thought it worth sharing. Sounds like a wonderful opportunity for any academic interested in international arbitration. My Pepperdine colleague Tom Stipanowich was the resident scholar last semester, and he could not say enough about the experience. Here's the formal announcement: The International Arbitration Group at Wilmer Cutler Pickering...

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12 Jan

Last week I noted the remarkable spectacle of the Guardian publishing an editorial that blamed WikiLeaks for releasing a State Department cable that had, in fact, been initially released by the Guardian itself.  At the time, my evidence of that fact was circumstantial, based on the time-dates provided by the Guardian and WikiLeaks websites.  But no longer -- eight days...

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