In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Books

21 Oct

Part I set out the fundamentals of the debate, explaining that a key part of the contextualist critique of Orford’s view of legal history centres on the difference between doing history of international law and using history in international law. This is where the two sides get stuck, because Orford presents the TWAIL critique as “correctives to problems with earlier...

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21 Oct

I am a big fan of Başak Etkin and Kostia Gorobets’ Borderline Jurisprudence podcast. I am also very interested in the intersection between law and history. Since Borderline Jurisprudence’s latest episode featured a discussion with Anne Orford on her latest book, International Law & the Politics of History(hereinafter ILPH), I could not resist to offer some comments. Anne Orford is, without a doubt, one of...

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15 Jul

[Chiara Redaelli is a Research Fellow at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and a Visiting Professor at the Faculté Libre de Droit, Université Catholique de Lille.] I would like to begin by thanking Opinio Juris, its editors, and in particular Alonso Gurmendi and Jessica Dorsey for organising and hosting this symposium. I would also like to express my gratitude to John Hursh, Brad Roth, Luca Ferro, Erin Pobjie, Laura Iñigo, and...

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15 Jul

My friend Chiara Redaelli has produced an impressive volume, thoroughly analysing the topic of intervention in civil wars. As others in this symposium have already pointed out, it is usually difficult to offer comments on what one mostly agrees with. In this post, therefore, apart from congratulating Chiara for a fantastic book, I wanted to add to the conversation by briefly telling the story of...

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14 Jul

[Laura Íñigo Álvarez is a postdoctoral researcher and a lecturer in international law at Nova School of Law (Universidade Nova de Lisboa). She is the author of Towards a Regime of Responsibility of Armed Groups in International Law (Intersentia, 2020)]. Dr. Redaelli’s book, Intervention in Civil Wars: Effectiveness, Legitimacy and Human Rights, constitutes one of the most comprehensive studies on the question about intervention in civil wars...

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14 Jul

[Erin Pobjie is a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, Germany. She is a member of the International Law Association’s Committee on the Use of Force: Military Assistance on Request, and co-convener of the European Society of International Law’s Interest Group on Peace and Security.] Introduction Individuals are victims of war, but until now have not...

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13 Jul

[Luca Ferro is a post-doctoral researcher at the Ghent Rolin-Jaequemyns International Law Institute (GRILI) of Ghent University, and a member of the ILA Committee on the Use of Force: Military Assistance on Request.] An embarrassing confession at the start of this review: I cannot remember the last time I read a book on international law from (digital) cover to cover, instead of scanning through it and...

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13 Jul

[Brad R. Roth is a Professor of Political Science and Law at Wayne State University in Detroit. He is the author of Governmental Illegitimacy in International Law and Sovereign Equality and Moral Disagreement and co-editor of Democracy and International Law, Supreme Law of the Land? Debating the Contemporary Effects of Treaties within the United States Legal System, and Democratic Governance and International Law.] Chiara Redaelli’s meticulously researched book on Intervention in Civil Wars is...

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12 Jul

[John Hursh is a lawyer, writer, and researcher focusing on the use of force, human rights, and international humanitarian law. He served as Director of Research at the Stockton Center for International Law and Editor-in-Chief of International Law Studies at the U.S. Naval War College from 2017 to 2020.] “It can be difficult to write something interesting about something one agrees with.” So wrote Timothy Waters when reviewing Mark Drumbl’s...

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12 Jul

This week, we are excited to host a symposium on Chiara Redaelli's Intervention in Civil Wars: Effectiveness, Legitimacy and Human Rights. Scholars and practitioners who will be contributing include: John Hursh, Brad Roth, Luca Ferro, Erin Pobjie, Laura Iñigo and our own Alonso Gurmendi and will close with a rejoinder from Chiara herself From the publisher: This book investigates the extent to which...

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28 Jun

[Iain Scobbie is the Chair in International Law at the University of Manchester. This post is a contribution in our recent symposium on Ensuring Respect for International Humanitarian Law.] The understanding and implications of common Article 1 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions have undergone a transformation since its inception.  The volume edited by Eve Massingham and Annabel McConnachie, ‘Ensuring Respect for...

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18 Jun

[Ingo Venzke is Professor for International Law and Social Justice at the University of Amsterdam and Director of the Amsterdam Center for International Law (ACIL).] Our edited volume has asked a question that is deceptive in its simplicity: Could international law have been otherwise? One could expect the answer to be a resounding ‘yes’, given that no serious account is nowadays...

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