Search: Affective Justice: Book Symposium: A Response

well considered decision. Although India is increasingly an exporter of capital, in the near term, India is likely attract more investor disputes against it. In addition, as Buser notes in his book, most of the signatories to the BITs did not consider these treaties as ‘hard’ legal instruments capable of enforcement and consequent monetary damages. Once they realised the perils of being parties to the investment treaties, their response was predictable to an extent. It is sound way to analyse the rising powers in four typologies – loyalists; reformers; revolutionaries;...

Jens Ohlin has continued the conversation about IHL and IHRL at LieberCode. Here is a snippet, self-servingly chosen because I want to comment on it: It strikes me as curious that human rights activists are so quick to cabin CIL application of the IHL rules of IAC to NIAC. To my ear, it is one of the great advancements of the last few decades: that the rules of warfare must be respected and that no nation can ignore them simply because the armed conflict is internal. (Incidentally, this...

I appreciate the comments from Professors Fontana and Ahdieh, and don’t have much to quarrel about with them. They offer useful correctives or supplements to my argument. On the question of the scope of the argument – that is, the nations where we can expect convergence in constitutional law – my essay notes one important exception, and Professor Fontana raises a question about another. My essay excepts resource-extracting nations from its scope, largely because such nations do not need to compete with respect to attracting significant numbers of...

Professor Telesetsky, in her generous comments on my article in volume 12(1) of the Melbourne Journal of International Law, raises two pertinent questions. First, why has there been a profusion of cooperative efforts across treaty bodies and second, what are the linkages that are most effective in compelling compliance with treaty regimes? In relation to the first question, Professor Telesetsky disagrees with my observation that MEAs are ‘increasingly regarded as international actors who are “capable of driving a normative agenda’”. She goes on to note that the ultimate...

[Robert Ahdieh is a Professor at Emory Law School] At the outset, my thanks to the editors of the Virginia Journal of International Law for inviting me to contribute to this symposium, to my friends at Opinio Juris for hosting it, and to Professor Tushnet for his valuable contribution to ongoing debates about constitutionalism, globalization, and their interrelationship. Needless to say, Professor Tushnet’s essay posits a bold claim: that we are moving inexorably toward a globalized constitutional law. I am deeply sympathetic to this claim – not merely as a...

This week on Opinio Juris, Chris Borgen drew our attention to a NY Times op-ed explaining the surprising reason why in the grand bargain dividing the top posts at the World Bank and the IMF between the US and Europe, the US ended up with the World Bank rather than the IMF. Kevin Heller posted the abstract of his response in a mini-symposium of the Texas International Law Journal on Karl Chang’s article arguing that the law of neutrality provides the legal framework for the US conflict with Al-Qaeda. He...

[This post was jointly authored by Duncan Hollis and Joshua Newcomer] Ed Swaine brings his typical thoughtful (and rigorous) method to our article, and we greatly appreciate his insights, not only for engaging with our ideas but also for suggesting how we might advance them in future scholarship. Since Ed has framed his comments as questions, we’ve endeavored to provide responses to each of his five questions below. 1. What is the international significance of political commitments? Our research produced lots of anecdotal evidence on the widespread use of political...

[Ronald Slye is the Director of International and Comparative Law Programs and Professor at Seattle University School of Law] Lisa Laplante provides those of us interested in international criminal law, and more specifically the legitimacy of utilizing amnesties during a period of societal transition, with a valuable service by pointing us to, and carefully parsing, the Barrios Altos decision of Inter-American Court of Human Rights. It is a decision that, as she rightly states has not received as much attention as it deserves. While I am sympathetic to...

...Red Cross’s Nils Melzer, who so argued in an important book, Targeted Killing in International Law. And also Notre Dame law professor Mary Ellen O’Connell, who has argued this proposition (as well as an associated claim that all participation by CIA personnel in the use of force is an international crime). I cannot say that these claims — although heroically urged by the advocacy groups and their academic allies — have a basis in the law of war as the US (or really, leading war-fighting states) has traditionally understood it....

...bring into play the inherent right of self-defense.” The legality of forceful responses to attacks on merchant vessels is slightly more complicated. It is generally accepted that a state may take measures to protect its merchant fleet and vessels flying its flag, such as by providing military escort to these vessels while traversing areas of conflict or tension. If, however, a merchant vessel is attacked the question becomes the nature and extent of the permissible response by the flag-state. It is probably uncontroversial to claim that if a merchant vessel...

into global responses (through the 2022 UN General Assembly recognition of a right to a healthy environment for example). However, achieving climate justice will require an evolution of current climate policy perspectives to ensure LGBTQ people are accommodated in the climate response. This could involve the allocation of resources specifically for the LGBTQ community, monitoring of the LGBTQ rights situation in countries affected by climate change, and consultations with local LGBTQ representatives (where possible) to enshrine legal and economic protections for the community during climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. Whatever...

...with intermediaries.[3] It is important, then, that the OTP develop a detailed set of policies to guide its relationship with intermediaries. At the same time, such a focus should not diminish the work of intermediaries across other units of the Court as well, particularly the Victims Participation and Reparation Section, which remains grossly underfunded and understaffed.   [1] Holly Dranginis, ‘The Middle Man: The Intermediaries of International Criminal Justice’, 21 August 2011 <http://justiceinconflict.org/2011/08/21/the-middle-man-the-intermediaries-of-international-criminal-justice/> [2] Draft Guidelines Governing the Relations between the Court and Intermediaries (August 2011) 2. [3] Ibid 3....