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18 Oct

Unrecognized, de facto, or contested states are terms commonly used in reference to secessionist entities that control territory, provide governance, receive certain popular support, persist over time, and seek widespread recognition of their proclaimed sovereignty – and yet fail to receive it. Despite existing and operating in the limbo world of non-recognition due to their disputed nature and origins, scholars working on the issue largely accept the use of the term state in addressing such entities, as they prima facie satisfy the Montevideo criteria of statehood under international law –...
18.10.23 | |

07 Feb

...economic juggernaut has been fueled by an opening of markets, globalization and booming free trade which has provided immense financial benefit to Chinese companies. The free market open rules trading system “led to the establishment of China as a major global exporter. As China’s economy has boomed, China has looked increasingly abroad for investment opportunities to both employ its cash hoard and provide long-term growth for its citizens. In China, many large companies are state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and are the most common form of entity that are involved investment. Chinese...
07.02.19 | |

29 Nov

challenges pertaining to the rules of evidence.    In addition to creating authentication and relevancy issues for courts to contend with, a particularly complicated evidentiary rule to adapt to the inclusion of this information at trial is hearsay. The term ‘hearsay’ refers to an out-of-court statement offered at trial to prove the truth of the matter asserted. Such statements are generally inadmissible—barring a series of convoluted exceptions that vary by judicial system. This determination is rooted in the policy interest of preserving truth at trial, as out-of-court statements do not allow...
29.11.21 | |

15 Feb

...a military campaign". Speaking purely in terms of what would be "ideal", I think your first suggestion is the better one: repeal the 2001 and 2002 AUMFs or explicitly state in the new AUMF that it, in some way, supersedes them. Begin, as much as possible, with a clean(ish) slate laying out new contraints on the use of military force in all U.S. operations. This won't entirely solve the problem presented by muddled realities on the ground, but I think it will represent a better solution (in terms of the...
15.02.15 | |

10 Jun

...and the right of the later ones to lay undersea cables and pipelines. M.A. Becker I agree with Jean Paul that a fixed undersea research base would not constitute an island under the definition. Article 121 requires that an island be “naturally formed” and “above water at high tide”. A manned deep-sea platform would not meet either requirement. But the UNCLOS provisions on marine scientific research may be more relevant to this discussion. For example, Article 241 states that “marine research scientific activities shall not constitute the legal basis for...
10.06.16 | |

15 Jul

...contains obligations for both public and private actors. Beyond these regulatory frameworks, research can help raise awareness of the kinds of actors and technologies that should be overseen. Papers like Understanding Private Surveillance Providers and Technologies andthe Global Surveillance Industry Report shed light on the sector’s complexity and fast evolving landscape. The Surveillance Watch highlights the growth of private surveillance providers that operate with little accountability. These companies may not be formally labelled as PMSCs, but the types of services that they provide should determine whether they fall within the...
15.07.25 | and |

05 Jul

...of certainty” that it is permitted to exercise jurisdiction before doing so: see here (para. 24). As the determination of jurisdiction “is of a legal nature” rather than“whether a given fact can or cannot be properly established”, the threshold of a “degree of certainty” is separate and distinct from evidential standards of proof. The Court either has jurisdiction or it does not. Collective recognition and self-determination neither determine Palestine’s Statehood nor the scope of her territorial claim The General Assembly cannot recognise Palestine as a “State” with a constitutive, definitive,...
05.07.19 | |

15 Jul

[Philip Alston, John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, describes his recently published article, Hobbling the Monitors: Should U.N. Human Rights Monitors be Accountable?. This post is part of the Second Harvard International Law Journal/Opinio Juris Symposium.] The critical issue I examine in this Article is whether a group of independent experts, or monitors, explicitly created to hold governments to account in terms of their human rights obligations, can be subjected to a strong accountability regime controlled by those same governments, without destroying the...
15.07.11 | |

13 Jan

...is preferable to war, cooperation is preferable to conflict and that all human beings are entitled to the protection of some basic rights. Those of us who believe that such an institution has served and will continue to serve the long-term interests of the United States (as well as the long-term interests of all actors in the international system) must work to ensure that the institution is capable of carrying out that mandate. That means paying attention to “little” things, such as fiscal corruption and incompetence within the bureaucracy, as...
13.01.05 | |

27 Sep

...phenomenon and the constitutional entrenchment thesis: (1) the 1960 military coup in Turkey, (2) the 1974 military coup in Portugal, and (3) the 2011 military coup in Egypt. Professor David Landau’s response to the article raises two important points. He notes that terms like “coup” and “revolution” are politically charged and that we might be better served by focusing on the various dimensions of democratic transitions, rather than on terminology. I sympathize with his concerns and agree that, in the long term, we should abandon value-laden terms such as “coup...
27.09.12 | |

10 Feb

...to recall the SS playing a part in it. Are we really supposed to believe that none of the snipers has ever seen a World War II movie? As an aside, our old friend David Bernstein has been all aflutter lately about a tiny number of bloggers using the term “Israel-Firsters” to describe American Jews who put Israel’s interests ahead of the United States’, because the term has an anti-Semitic history. So far, no word whether he has a problem with the Marines invoking the genocidal legacy of the SS…...
10.02.12 | |

06 Nov

...Obama’s timing here somewhat curious. Apparently he was waiting until after the mid-term elections to announce that he was seeking congressional approval. I have no idea why (as a matter of politics). If he had sought authorization before the election and received it, this would have strengthened his image as a foreign policy president dealing with the most pressing and emerging threats. Furthermore, thinking of this as a “new” war helps his image. If it is viewed as an “old” war, he is open to criticism that the situation was...
06.11.14 | |