Search: crossing lines
01 Oct On-the-Ground Intelligence Operations Backing Drone Strikes
...radio signals it collects, and gathering the voluminous intelligence necessary to prompt a single strike. Finally, perhaps for lawyers the most interesting observation in the New York Times piece, however, is the recognition – very wide recognition in the US across most political lines – that in fact drones are more discriminating and precise: [W]hile experts argue over the extent of the deaths of innocents when missiles fall on suspected terrorist compounds, there is broad agreement that the drones cause far fewer unintended deaths and produce far fewer refugees than...08 Jul Emerging Voices: A View from Early Modern Cultural Studies on Fragmentation and the Law of Nations
...powerfully articulates such insights as well. Disciplinary Fragmentation My first interest here, however, is not normative fragmentation but a different though related kind of fragmentation, namely disciplinary fragmentation, specifically the present disconnect between international law and humanistic disciplines like literature and history. Fortunately, disciplinary fragmentation has left rough, jagged edges, and while I’m visiting here I want to take the opportunity to celebrate the craggy coastlines where we can still find evidence of international law’s connections with the humanities. The present distance between international law and literary and cultural studies...
22 Jun An Opportunity to End Years of Impunity: Enforced Disappearance as a Continuous Gender-Based Crime
...adjudicated cases where the enforced disappearance concerned commenced prior to the ratification of the American Convention on Human Rights and the recognition of the competence of the Court by the State concerned (see, amongst others, the case Radilla Pacheco v. Mexico). Notably, the respondent State contended that the victim should be presumed dead, as he would have been more than 95 years old. The Inter-American Court rejected this argument, affirmed its competence and declared the State internationally responsible for several violations. Along the same lines, Principle 1 of the recently...28 Nov Foreign Relations Federalism: The Promise of Targeted Retaliation, in Alabama
I’ve been arguing for some time (here, here, and here, all pre-SSRN) that the globalized economy enables the world to directly discipline US states in the context of foreign relations and human rights, and that this in turn erases the need for a dormant federal foreign affairs power. The thumbnail version: in the old world, state-level foreign relations activity involved intolerable externalities to the extent international actors held the nation responsible for state-level misdeeds, along the lines of Hamilton’s “the peace of the Whole ought not be left to the...19 Sep Saif Does Not Appear in Tripoli — and Won’t Anytime Soon
...ever. Just check out the militia’s statements: “It is impossible to hand him over to Tripoli”, said a senior Zintani local official today under conditions of anonymity. “And you can put three red lines under the word ‘impossible’,” he added. The reason, he said, was because “Tripoli is under the control of outlaws”. He was believed to be referring to the alleged dominance of the Justice and Construction Party and the Muslim Brotherhood over the government and Congress and the large presence in the city of military units from Misrata...19 Apr Kony 2012: Diverging Trajectories: Social Media and #InternationalLaw
...and shared online, as Louise Mallinder’s indispensable ‘Amnesty Law Database‘ demonstrates. In reaction to increased specialization within the fields of IR and IL it has become popular to talk about inter-, multi- or cross-disciplinary engagement. Creating and expanding communication lines between IR and IL is undoubtedly a critical task. But, while necessary, it isn’t sufficient. Social media has created a world where students can and want to learn just as much, if not more, about IR and IL from blogs and other social media platforms. Of course, peer-reviewed academic papers...08 Mar Texas’ Last Stand on Medellin
...But even after this admission, this report suggests Texas has changed its position and will contest the authority of the President to order it to comply with the ICJ order. According to its spokesman, [Texas] respectfully believe[s] the executive determination exceeds the constitutional bounds for federal authority. The State of Texas believes no international court supersedes the laws of Texas or the laws of the United States. This statement (thanks to Carlos Vazquez for the heads up) suggests two lines of resistance (further suggested by Lederman’s pointer): (1) that the...09 Nov The Oxford Guide to Treaties Symposium: Starting a Conversation on Interpretation
...in special subject areas such as human rights or international trade, how to deal with time factors, whether particular considerations arise if international organisations are involved, whether there is a useful potential crossover from the originalist/constructionist debate in constitutional interpretation, and whether an evolutionary method of interpretation forms a distinct approach. The Guide takes up some of these issues but much of its consideration of the topic is set in the context of the VCLT provisions. Perhaps now is a good opportunity to take stock of new lines of investigation....27 Jul R2P RIP? Let’s Hope Not
...States, it cuts across partisan lines and unites foreign policy idealists, liberals and conservatives, left and right. The Hoover Institution’s Tod Lindberg, for example, has joined forces for many years with such foreign policy liberals as Lee Feinstein and others to craft and advocate a US foreign policy supportive of the concept. Precisely because I am extremely supportive of R2P, I have always been concerned about the evolution of R2P as a legal concept at the United Nations because, in diplomatic developments there, it seemed to take steps backwards from...20 Oct Guest Post: Bolivia’s First Triumph in The Hague
...is strong and clear, as this judgement follows a bad experience in the case about the maritime delimitation with Peru (solved by the ICJ in 2014). Moreover, to face the further proceedings on the merits, Chile´s legal team has to change its strategy based in the 1904 Treaty, which was specifically excluded from the discussion by the Court. In this regard is worth asking what were the arguments of the parties? And does Bolivia really have a good case? In the following lines I will try to address these two...