Symposia

[Pierre-Hugues Verdier, an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, describes his recently published article Mutual Recognition in International Finance] In the absence of an international organization devoted to financial regulation, the rapid globalization of finance since the 1970s has taken place against a legal background shaped primarily by national regulators.  As the multiplication of large, transnational financial institutions and cross-border transactions increased the need for international policy coordination, regulators responded by setting up transgovernmental regulatory networks (TRNs) and adopting soft law instruments.  In an article published in 2009, I argued that TRNs suffered from significant limitations stemming from domestic legal and political constraints, their inability to overcome distributive obstacles to harmonization, and their lack of monitoring and enforcement capabilities.  In the aftermath of the financial crisis, many commentators agree that existing coordination mechanisms did not live up to expectations in pivotal areas such as bank capital standards.  Thus, while TRNs are likely to remain an important component of financial governance, we need a more complete understanding of the various means through which states can cooperate to ensure effective cross-border financial regulation and market access.

We here at Opinio Juris are very pleased to host this coming week our first on-line symposium featuring work from the Harvard International Law Journal. For those interested in a preview of the week's events, here's the line-up: On Monday, Stavros Gadinis and Eric Pan will respond to Pierre-Hugues Verdier's article, Mutual Recognition in International Finance On Tuesday, Samuel Issacharoff will respond...

[Beth Van Schaack is an Associate Professor at Santa Clara University School of Law and contributor to IntLawGrrls.] Professor Guilfoyle’s article makes a discrete and important contribution to his growing body of work on maritime law and the problem of piracy in the Gulf of Aden. The article cogently argues that international humanitarian law (‘IHL’) does not apply to most instances...

[Dr Douglas Guilfoyle is a Lecturer in Law at the Faculty of Laws, University College London.] It is sometimes suggested that because pirates were described by classical authors as hostes humani generis (enemies of humankind) or because the Security Council has authorised the use of ‘necessary means’ in repressing Somali piracy that the laws of armed conflict ('LOAC') must (or might)...

[Steven Freeland is a Professor in International Law at the University of Western Sydney, Australia, Visiting Professor of International Law at the University of Copenhagen, a member of the Space Law Committee at the International Law Association, a member of the Directorate of Studies at the International Institute of Space Law and a Faculty Member of the London Institute of...

Dr Jean-Marc Coicaud is one of the more thoughtful and reflective UN officials, and his response shows why. Broadly speaking, I agree with all three of his comments The conceptual, political and operational relationship between law and legitimacy will be treated differently by political and legal theorists. For some, lawfulness is both a necessary and a sufficient condition of legitimacy. For...

[Dr Jean-Marc Coicaud is the Director of the United Nations University Office at the United Nations in New York.] Professor Thakur highlights what he claims to be today the weak legitimacy of the United Nations. He does so not only by stressing the gap between the principles upon which the legitimacy of the UN is meant to be based and reality,...

[Ramesh Thakur is a Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, and Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo in Canada.] The UN is the site where power should be moderated by lawful authority. Legitimacy connects authority to power. The greater the gap between power and justice in world affairs, the greater the international legitimacy deficit. The...