It’s a pleasure to be able to comment on Pierre-Hugues Verdier’s excellent, if critical, article on networks. I respond as a defender: in my view, networks have notched some impressive achievements, and at their best, have become primary vehicles of international governance. From bank capital adequacy to mutual recognition on drug regulation to accounting standards, their list of...
I would first like to thank Opinio Juris for hosting this online symposium on my recent article, Transnational Regulatory Networks and Their Limits. Opinio Juris has quickly become an invaluable means of keeping up with current developments in international law, and I am delighted to have this opportunity to share my thoughts with you. In essence, the article sounds a cautionary...
The Yale Journal of International Law (YJIL) is pleased to continue its partnership with Opinio Juris in this third online symposium. Today, Friday, and Monday we will feature three Articles published by YJIL in Vol. 34-1, which is available for download here. Thank you very much to Peggy McGuinness and the other Opinio Juris bloggers for hosting and...
In the case of Moldova, the question will be whether the protests continue and, if so, their size. While Moldova's President Voronin is term-limited out of office, based on the recent parliamentary elections, the ruling Communist Party (headed by Voronin) will stay in power. The question is whether the protests will up-end the the political status quo. I'll write a longer analysis on...
Mary Ellen O'Connell (whose recent book The Power and the Purpose of International Law was the subject of one of our book discussions) has a post at Balkinization called "Who's Afraid of International Law?" that considers the fear-mongering by some in the media concerning international law. After briefly discussing the views of the Founders, she writes: So why does Glen Beck seem to fear international law? Why...
Ed Whelan responds to my post mostly through name-calling, labeling me an incoherent, liberal academic. Yet, no amount of ad hominem attack can obscure the basic weakness of his argument. He continues to worry that international elites will subvert the will of democratically elected leaders in the executive and legislative branches. But who exactly are these international elites and how...
(Update: It appears that the ship has been retaken, by the crew, according to the NYT. There have also been some reports that at least one pirate is in custody, or anyway control, of the crew. Here, then, is my question. If one of the (alleged) pirates has been taken into custody, what should legally follow? The US has been...
Last week, on April 1, the European Community (EC) signed onto the Hague Choice of Courts Convention. The treaty essentially seeks to replicate for covered commercial contracts a regime of judgment recognition in cases where parties exclusively agreed on a particular court for their disputes akin to the recognition of arbitral awards that occurs under the New York Convention. The EC signature is...
It is a rare thing indeed to find a published mediation decision involving a matter of such profound importance as the settlement of 9/11 litigation. Last month, Judge Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York published an order accepting the mediated settlement of 95 claims against the airlines for approximately $500 million. The order and accompanying mediator...
Homework, people, homework: Bangladesh may request the International Criminal Court to put on trial Pakistani forces for alleged war crimes, a top official said Tuesday. 'We will take the matter to the International Criminal Court and seek the trial of the members of the Pakistani occupation forces who committed crimes against humanity during our liberation war,' State Minister for Liberation War...
My long slow slide into complete disenchantment with the Obama administration continues. Comes now, via my two favorite national-security law bloggers, Glenn Greewald and Scott Horton, a truly terrifying tale in which a nameless and faceless Department of Defense committee attempts to put Clive Stafford Smith, one of the world's great human-rights lawyers, in jail for...
[ Laura Dickinson is Foundation Professor of Law, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University.] Recent attempts to criticize Harold Hongju Koh’s appointment to be the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State have gone from silly to absurd. Koh, currently the Dean and the Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor at Yale Law School, is one...
