I apologize for arriving late to the party; I have only just had a chance to read Professor Ring's fascinating article completely through. There are many reasons why I would come to this article already predisposed to like it - I started out life as an international tax lawyer, for example, and I am also an unapologetic defender within the...
Both Professor Brooks and Professor Christians have identified important strands and tensions in the consideration of international tax, sovereignty, global relations among states, and universal commitments to humanity. Just reading their comments inspires me to continue researching these questions. Their observations tap into two significant unresolved issues of international tax and international relations: (1) How should the reality of politics,...
[Professor Allison Christians is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School] Professor Ring frames sovereignty as responsive to the basic relationship between people and government and thereby attempts to redeem the concept from its current status as “rhetorical camouflage” in tax policy debate. Her analysis presents a timely and important contribution and reflects the growing attention among...
[Professor Kimberley Brooks is H. Heward Stikeman Chair in the Law of Taxation at McGill University] Diane Ring’s piece is, to borrow an analogy from Al Purdy, one of Canada’s finest and most popular poets, like a good jazz combo: it has a dominant unifying idea, tells a number of stories simultaneously, keeps a firm hand on the underlying themes, and...
[Professor Diane Ring is Professor of Law at Boston College Law School] The international tax problems of today are typically beyond the scope of a single nation to solve. However, the prospect of multinational problem solving, often under the auspices of an international organization, unleashes objections grounded in sovereignty. Despite widespread reliance on sovereignty arguments, little attention has been directed at...
I appreciate the remarks of Ken, Greg, and Anne. Just a few quick thoughts by way of response. First, I like the way Greg and Anne describe the teleology of the Nobel Peace Prize. I think that is an accurate way to put it. There are undeniable themes that wax and wane in the history of...
(Update, responding to Roger above: Let me stress that I have zero knowledge about Nobel Prizes apart from what I describe from my own experience below. I don't mean to generalize about them, although it sounds that way in part below. If there is any generalization that comes out of the experiences I mention below, it is about the nature...
[Professor Gregory Gordon is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of North Dakota School of Law. Anne Kjelling is Head Librarian at the Norwegian Nobel Institute.] We would like to thank Professor Roger Alford, the Virginia Journal of International Law and Opinio Juris for inviting us to participate in this online symposium. Professor Alford is to be congratulated on his...
Everyone knows about the Nobel Peace Prize, but virtually no one studies it. We all assume that Nobel Laureates are influential, but seldom do we try to gauge that influence. My article does both, arguing that Nobel Peace Prize Laureates have been influential norm entrepreneurs who have dramatically shaped the face of modern international law. The foundation...
[Professor David Kyle is Associate Professor of Sociology at University of California, Davis] Professor James Hathaway has adeptly exposed the Janus-faced agendas of the Trafficking and Smuggling Protocols, revealing a human rights deficit as the sum effect of these transnational codes. At the core of his argument lies an assertion that stricter border controls and legal constraints on labor migrants and...
[Professor James Hathaway is Dean and William Hearn Chair of Law at the Melbourne Law School] It is doubtful that the advent of the Trafficking Protocol deserves anything approaching the nearly unanimous support it has received from those committed to the promotion of international human rights. To the contrary, the Trafficking Protocol has enabled governments to hive off a tiny part...
This weekend the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Martti Ahtisaari for his role as an international mediator assisting in the resolution of international conflicts. The press release emphasized that throughout Ahtisaari's life he has worked for peace and reconciliation, with particular emphasis on his work in Namibia, Indonesia, Kosovo, and Iraq. Compared to last year's prize to...
