In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Search: Affective Justice: Book Symposium: A Response

12 Mar

...Harold Koh, the State Department Legal Advisor, argues drones are lawful, but in his former life as an academic, Professor Koh, the human rights scholar, might have taken a different view. The book also explains why bank regulators follow BASEL III even if it is not strictly law. Crucially, the book is an attempt not just to explain international law, but to guide decisionmakers about what to do about it. I will leave the details of my thesis to later posts. For now, I offer thanks to Opinio Juris and...
12.03.12 | |

16 Oct

Over the next three days we are bringing you a discussion of a brand new book, edited by Joost Pauwelyn (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva), Ramses Wessel (University of Twente, The Netherlands) and Jan Wouters (University of Leuven, Belgium), on Informal International Lawmaking, published by Oxford University Press. Here is the abstract provided by the publisher: Many international norms that have emerged in recent years are not set out in formal treaties. They are not concluded in formal international organizations. They frequently involve actors other than formal...
16.10.12 | |

11 Oct

Sorry to contribute to this phenomenon, but John Yoo’s new book War By Other Means: An Insider’s Account of the War on Terror is now out from Atlantic Monthly Press (not affiliated with the Atlantic Monthly, I was surprised to discover, though it’s something of an explanation), and shouldn’t go ignored. As signaled by the subtitle, this is not a book directed at an academic audience, and I’m not going to do the equivalent of a review here (I’ve collected some highlights after the jump). A couple of brief observations:...
11.10.06 | |

02 Sep

thinking. Having read with fascination the previous Opinio Juris book discussions, I have to anticipate that by the end of this week my interlocutors will have squeezed out of me every lingering ounce of intellectual complacency. Chris suggested that I open the exchange by sketching in a few broad strokes what I thought I was doing in this book. My purpose, however well or poorly realized, was to look through a Liberal optic at the most important and neuralgic issues implicated in the struggle against mass-casualty terrorism linked to individuals...
02.09.08 | |

12 May

Thanks to my fellow co-bloggers here at Opinio Juris for the chance to discuss my book Beyond Citizenship: American Identity After Globalization. It’s been an honor (and a lot of fun) to be a part of this project with all of them in this ever-changing young medium. Thanks also to Julian for introducing the discussion on Thursday. I’ll look forward to comments on the book from our guest bloggers and readers over the next couple of days. I thought I’d lead off with three developments each of which poses a...
12.05.08 | |

02 Sep

This week we are pleased to host the first discussion in the Oxford University Press/ Opinio Juris Book Club. Tom Farer, the Dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, will join us to discuss his new book, Confronting Global Terrorism and American Neo-Conservatism: The Framework of a Liberal Grand Strategy. In addition, Kristen Boon from Seton Hall Law School will be joining us for the conversation as well. Today, Tom will introduce his book in general and we will discuss issues relating to...
02.09.08 | |

18 May

to be faced. The problem is not the traditional one of agent-principal asymmetry of information, but rather symmetry of uncertainty: neither the private security contractor nor the government actor truly knows what kinds of situations will arise or the best response. Since this often describes armed conflict, post conflict, or insecure situations in which private security contractors often operate, the ordinary response in the law to such symmetric uncertainty is not to rely on contract at all – or, at most, to use the form of a contract to memorialize...
18.05.12 | |

10 Jul

...a result of debts guaranteed by both products, Peru was forced to hand over to England the administration of its railroads; that is, the very key to the exploitation of its resources”. This is what Peruvians know about their ties with the UK. This is the history that young Peruvians read about in school, not books about a bear that likes marmalade sandwiches and his endearingly odd clumsiness. Mariátegui’s quote above, in fact, comes from a book frequently glossed with the phrase “the book that every Peruvian must read”. If...
10.07.20 | |

17 Oct

[Ramses Wessel is Professor of the Law of the European Union and other International Organizations at the University of Twente] First of all many thanks to Prof. Tai-Heng Cheng for taking the time to respond so eloquently to the parts on legality and normativity in our book on Informal International Lawmaking. Because of his knowledge of the area (as for instance reflected in his excellent book When International Law Works), his comments are very valuable. In fact, the comments touch upon an essential debate that was started by the book,...
17.10.12 | |

25 Jul

were fortunate to assemble a distinguished group of contributors with expertise in international law, foreign affairs law and legal history, each of whom contributed one or more original essays to the book. The book’s organization is broadly chronological, beginning in Part I with an assessment of the Court’s use of international law from the Court’s inception to 1860. Parts II through IV cover, respectively, the years from the Civil War to the end of the nineteenth century (1861-1900); the first half of the twentieth century through World War II (1901-1945);...
25.07.11 | |

01 Oct

John Witt’s magisterial new book, Lincoln’s Code: The Laws of War in American History, appeared a few weeks ago, and Gary Bass has an enthusiastic review of it in yesterday’s New York Times Sunday Book Review. I am only about half-way through it, but Bass’ enthusiasm is entirely justified – it is a fabulous book and one that I think merits attention world-wide. Bass’ review-essay is also well worth the read: Abraham Lincoln’s administration published a new fighting code for Union soldiers in 1863, which diffused far beyond American shores:...
01.10.12 | |

16 May

This is the second day in our discussion of Professor Dickinson’s book Outsourcing War and Peace: Preserving Public Values in a World of Privatized Foreign Affairs. Links to the related posts can be found below. One of the many things I like about Professor Dickinson’s book is the broad approach it takes to thinking about accountability. When I ask my law students to engage in problem-solving hypotheticals – i.e. Here’s a problem in the world, you are X individual/organization/state worried about the problem, what should we do about it? –...
16.05.12 | |