In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

19 Mar

In my forthcoming book on US-UN relations (appearing this summer from Hoover Press), Living with the UN, I describe three different “modes” of the Security Council.  By this I mean ways in which the Security Council might function, for some given situation, in regards to international peace and security.  (An early version of this is found in this paper on the Security Council in a multipolar world at SSRN, and I will post a non-final-edited version of the chapter from the book to SSRN as well.)  The three modes are:
  • The Security Council as the “management committee of our fledgling collective security system.”  The phrase “management committee” comes from Kofi Annan, who used it repeatedly in his final months as Secretary General.  It refers to the Security Council as acting as a genuine “corporate” whole to make global determinations and take action regarding international security.
  • The Security Council as the “concert of the nations,” acting as the conduit great powers, or at least a sizable number of them, in concert toward some end that has at least some blessing or acquiescence or non-veto by the members of the Security Council.  The difference from the management committee is that the Council acts  functionally not as a “corporate” body but instead a group of great powers, an agglomeration and not an entity.
  • The Security Council as the “talking shop of the nations.”  In this mode, the Security Council is just that — a negotiating space for the great powers, in which one hopes they reach a modus vivendi with respect to themselves and others.
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18 Mar

My St. John's colleague Marc DeGirolami has a post up at Mirror of Justice summarizing today's European Court of Human Rights decision in Lautsi v. Italy.  The full decision is at the ECtHR's website here.  At issue in the case was the display of crucifixes in Italian public school classrooms. In 2009, the ECtHR ruled against Italy's display of the...

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18 Mar

Now that the supporters of a no-fly zone over Libya have got the legal authority they required  -- both international and domestic (I agree with Peter that the president does not need additional congressional authority to vote for and contribute to a UN SC action) -- what comes next? Despite herculean efforts by the punditry to analogize the situation in...

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18 Mar

Kal Raustiala asked that we post the following.  Sounds like an excellent initiative on ASIL's part. Call for Scholarly Papers The Inaugural ASIL Research Forum November 4-5, 2011 The American Society of International Law calls for submissions of scholarly paper proposals for the inaugural ASIL Research Forum to be held at UCLA Law School on November 4-5, 2011. The Research Forum is a new initiative...

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17 Mar

Bruce Ackerman and Oona Hathaway say yes; Jack Goldsmith, no.  I'm with Jack on this one.  Especially as authorized by the UN Security Council, there's solid precedent for proceeding without an advance congressional okay.  As Jack points out, Kosovo is probably the closest analogy in terms of the scope of the operation (a case in which authorizing legislation was voted...

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16 Mar

As of March 19, 220 academics have signed the letter.  (You can read the full list here.)  Well done, colleagues! Bruce Ackerman (Yale) and Yochai Benkler (Harvard) are circulating the following letter protesting the inhumane conditions of Bradley Manning's detention and asking for law professor support.  I have already signed, as have 103 other scholars.  I encourage our academic readers to...

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16 Mar

Alas, I won't be at ASIL this year, and apologies to everyone, as I will miss seeing folks.  But I did want to flag particularly the meeting that Kevin mentioned in his post, taking place on March 23, co-sponsored by my law school, Washington College of Law and ASIL's Lieber Society, on emerging issues in the law of armed conflict.  It...

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16 Mar

Now that it appears to have been resolved with the payment of "blood money" to the families of those killed by Davis, there may be some lessons here. First, the compensation element poses an interesting precedent.  Though presumably ex gratia and at least nominally made by Davis in his personal capacity, payment makes victims whole while avoiding the risk of politically...

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16 Mar

Here it is: My thanks to all of our readers who provided me feedback on earlier covers.  Note that the dust jacket now provides a short description of Ben Shahn and the painting; particular thanks to readers who suggested the description!  I hope you can read the text on your screen....

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15 Mar

I don't get to the East Coast of the U.S. very often these days, so I thought I'd mention that I will be in Boston and DC next week, in case any Opinio Juris readers want to meet up.  I will be giving a lecture on the Karadzic trial (with a bit of discussion afterward about the ICC and Libya)...

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