Search: crossing lines
14 Jun Steinberg and Zasloff on Power and International Law
...in the last century. While views of the relationship between power and international law are diverse, and many approaches straddle heuristic lines, they can be grouped into four intellectual movements: classical legal thought; realism (of which there are three variants); law matters (sociological, rationalist-institutionalist, and liberal views); and constructivism. Each major intellectual movement may be seen as a reaction to the ideas that preceded it, and each may be better understood in the context of international developments contemporaneous with their emergence. In recent years, each major movement has evolved to...
07 May Reassuring the Inviolability of Diplomatic Premises: Worrying Trends from Ecuador to Syria
...property. In the days leading up to the raid, Mexico’s foreign relations secretariat decried the build-up of Ecuadorian police forces outside the embassy. Afterwards, Ecuador described Mexico’s conferral of asylum to Glas as an abuse of privileges and immunities, entitling Ecuador to apprehend the asylee. Tehran Hostages (1980) is the leading ICJ case on inviolability. In it, the Court characterizes diplomatic law as a self-contained regime which outlines both the obligations of the receiving state with respect to diplomatic missions, and the means by which they can respond to abuses...18 May Book Discussion “Outsourcing War and Peace”: Contractor Accountability as a Barrier to SOFAs
...on high-level political issues. However, persons close to the negotiations on both sides have confirmed that the most contentious single issue related to the treatment of civilians and civilian contractors. The Pentagon viewed both DOD civilians and contractors as an essential part of the force deployed; accordingly the United States insisted that both be covered by immunity provisions under the SOFA. The Iraqis replied that they were essentially prepared to enter into a SOFA along the lines of those that the United States had concluded in the years following World...17 Jan Asia, International Law and International Institutions: A Comment
...of historical, material and cultural factors possibly account for Asian nations refusing to become party to the 1951 Convention even as they have shown willingness to respect the status and rights of refugees. These factors may be worth studying in a bid to understand and explain the Asian approach to international law. It may also help to identify the reasons for the lack of a regional human rights convention on the lines that have been adopted in Africa, Europe, and Latin America. What however explains the absence of a regional...17 Sep In Free Trade Move, Honduras Privatizes Three Cities, Extremely (A New Kind of Company Town?)
...to Mauritius and then to the UK Privy Council (according to this earlier report). This strikes me as the leading edge of a potentially huge development, in which private actors more formally get their own pieces of turf and the lines between sovereign entities further blur. This is by no means to necessarily to celebrate the development (science fiction suggests this dystopian destination). But it does deepen the challenge to received doctrine, and it will require legal innovation to situate the new, private city-state in the world of international law....
21 Aug Covid-19 and the Right to Water: The Impact of Handwashing Guidance in Atolls with Limited Running Water
...access to clean washing water (far less potable water) remains a challenge. Covid-19 has exposed existing fault lines in ways that shine a light on the implications of inadequate water supplies. Atolls, Handwashing and Climate Change What has gone relatively unexamined is the impact of climate change on access to water and the additional vulnerability that countries already exposed to its effects are now facing in light of Covid-19. Any positive progressive realisation of access to water, although taking into account the particular circumstances that states might face economically, must...20 Nov Binding on All States All of the Time
...ironies of the “realism” of political science is that all this reality does not fit their paradigm so they ignore it. This is not to say that all this belief translates into perfect compliance—plainly not. The work of improving law compliance goes on in every legal community. This is also not to say that there is no point in developing empirical methods along the lines Beth indicates. Plainly, well-conducted survey research, for example, can help us to better understand the world we live in. Empirical data can be useful, in...28 Dec Can Spider-Man Save the UN’s Image?
...to be distributed free to 1 million U.S. schoolchildren, will be set in a war-torn fictional country and feature superheroes such as Spider-Man working with U.N. agencies such as Unicef and the ‘blue hats,’ the U.N. peacekeepers.” At least we know Spidey can scale those ten stories that John Bolton wanted to lop off UN Headquarters! Full story at the FT here. Commentary at the NYTimes Opinionator here. Apparently, the story lines are still being developed. So what UN tasks would you like to see taken on by the superheroes?...16 Mar Lubanga Decision Roundtable: More on Co-Perpetration
...liability in that context is more obvious: co-perpetration requires an agreement to commit a crime — a common plan — whereas modes of participation such as instigation, aiding and abetting, and contributing to a group crime do not. In light of that fundamental difference, it would in no way blur the lines between principal and accomplice liability to adopt the same contribution requirement for both. My view, it should be noted, assumes that Article 25(3)(d) is limited to contributions to a group crime that are made by individuals who are...08 Apr O’Connell’s “Who’s Afraid of International Law?” and the Koh Nomination
...5, 6, 7), by conservative students at Yale, and also by prominent officials from across party lines. A few days ago, Ted Olson defended Koh from the right-wing criticism. A letter in support of the Koh nomination that has been recently delivered to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee includes signatories such as former Republican State Department Legal Advisers John Bellinger, William Taft, and Davis Robinson as well as former Democratic Legal Advisers David Andrews, Conrad Harper, Roberts Owen and Herbert Hansell. If I had to throw in my lot with...