Arguing about matters of public policy is ubiquitous in democracies. The ability to resolve conflicts through peaceful contestation is a measure of any well-ordered society. Arguing is almost as ubiquitous in international affairs, yet it is not viewed as an important element of world order. In The Power of Deliberation: International Law, Politics and Organizations, Ian Johnstone challenges the assumption that arguing is mere lip service with no real impact on the behavior of states or the structure of the international system. Johnstone focuses on legal argumentation and asks why, if the rhetoric of law is inconsequential, governments and other international actors bother engaging in it.
Johnstone joins the efforts of international relations scholars and democracy theorists who consider why argumentation occurs beyond nation states. He focuses on deliberation in and around international organizations, drawing on various strands of legal, political and international relations theory to identify common features of legal argumentation and deliberative politics. Johnstone's central claim is that international organizations are places where "interpretive communities" coalesce, and the quality of the deliberations these communities provoke is a measure of the legitimacy of the organization.

The books deals with the questions that really matter for green finance: Where will the money to finance the transition to a low carbon environment come from, how far do the banks' balance sheets stretch and where will the rest of the money come from? How much can we rely on the capital markets, especially in the EU, to get money to the parts of the economy which really need it, without greenwashing? How do governments organize not just a transition, but a just transition to a low carbon environment? Is it time to revisit received ideas about the proper role for central banks?

It is widely recognised that international order is undergoing transformative change and the old norms no longer apply. This collection looks at how the EU, specifically its judicial wing, is responding to these new challenges. It looks both externally at those internationally shared problems of unequal societies, the rise of populism and the migrant crisis and internally at Brexit, the differences between the EU centre and peripheries and the division of competences. Taking a multifaceted approach, it draws on voices from academia and the judiciary to suggest how the EU might respond effectively to the challenges faced.

This book provides international readers with basic knowledge of Chinese civil procedure and succinct explanations of essential issues, fundamental principles and particular institutions in Chinese civil procedure and the conflict of laws. The book begins with a survey of the Chinese procedural law and an overview of Chinese civil procedure and then focuses on essential aspects of court jurisdiction and trial procedure in civil matters. In view of the traditional importance of alternative dispute resolution in China, mediation (conciliation) and arbitration are also discussed with corresponding comparisons to civil procedure. The book also discusses issues relating to the conflict of laws, i.e. international jurisdiction under the Chinese international civil procedure law, recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments as well as Chinese choice of law rules. Focus is directed toward the Chinese Statute on the Application of Laws to Civil Relationships Involving Foreign Elements of 28 October 2010, which entered into force on 1 April 2011. CHEN Weizuo is Director of the Research Centre for Private International Law and Comparative Law at Tsinghua University's School of Law in Beijing. He has a Doctor of Laws degree from Wuhan University, China; an LL.M. and doctor iuris, Universit t des Saarlandes, Germany; professeur invit la Facult internationale de droit compar de Strasbourg, France (since 2003); professeur invit l'Universit de Strasbourg, France. He has published extensively on the international laws and his publications have appeared both in and outside China. He has taught a special course in French at the Hague Academy of International Law during its 2012 summer session of private international law.

Peace operations are the UN's flagship activity. Over the past decade, UN blue helmets have been dispatched to ever more challenging environments from the Congo to Timor to perform an expanding set of tasks. From protecting civilians in the midst of violent conflict to rebuilding state institutions after war, a new range of tasks has transformed the business of the blue helmets into an inherently knowledge-based venture. But all too often, the UN blue helmets, policemen, and other civilian officials have been "flying blind" in their efforts to stabilize countries ravaged by war. The UN realized the need to put knowledge, guidance and doctrine, and reflection on failures and successes at the center of the institution.
Building on an innovative multi-disciplinary framework, The New World of UN Peace Operations provides a first comprehensive account of learning in peacekeeping. Covering the crucial past decade of expansion in peace operations, it zooms into a dozen cases of attempted learning across four crucial domains: police assistance, judicial reform, reintegration of former combatants, and mission integration. Throughout the different cases, the book analyzes the role of key variables as enablers and stumbling blocks for learning: bureaucratic politics, the learning infrastructure, leadership as well as power and interests of member states. Building on five years of research and access to key documents and decision-makers, it presents a vivid portrait of an international bureaucracy struggling to turn itself into a learning organization. Aimed at policy-makers, diplomats, and a wide academic audience (including those working in international relations, peace research, political science, public administration, and organizational sociology), The New World of UN Peace Operations is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in the evolution of modern peace operations.

This book explains the urgent necessity to compile a Civil Code and calls for constitutional awareness in compiling that Civil Code, highlighting the need for it to be done in a democratic and scientific manner. It advocates "Pragmatic Methods" as a new approach to compiling a Civil Code of China and shares the author's thoughts on the constitutionality of compiling a Civil Code, explains the object that is to be judged in terms of its constitutionality, and the constitutionality of legal interpretation, of legislative procedures and of legal application. The book also illustrates the author's "mode of the codifying of non-basic laws" for compiling a Civil Code, and includes a detailed discussion on compiling a Civil Code to reveal how many valid laws there are China - a matter that is of vital importance to the compilation of the Civil Code.The Appendix includes statistics on the number of civil cases classified according to causes of actions, based on "Judicial Opinions of China" website, which is the first step of the author's plan to investigate civil customs reflected in judgment documents with the help of big-data analytical methods.

This original book is the first serious study investigating the crowdfunding phenomenon, which has developed deep meaning for various stakeholders benefiting from this funding collection mechanism and its innovative new role, especially in the processes of business creation and spread of entrepreneurship. The actors involved -promoters, supporters, and the platforms through which the campaigns are launched - constitute an ecosystem in continuous evolution, which has grown dramatically and allows for its further development. Irini Liakopoulou has conducted with the "multiple paper thesis" method in which original and innovative contributions are presented, applying new techniques and methodologies. The book's goal is to foster debate about crowdfunding, an under-researched topic whose implications are not fully understood but will be a vital part of social and economic life in the future.