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Books > Law > International law > Public international law > General
It is not often acknowledged that the great majority of African refugee movement happens within Africa rather than from Africa to the West. This book examines the specific characteristics and challenges of the refugee situation in Sub-Saharan Africa, offering a new and critical vision on the situation of asylum-seekers and refugees in the African continent. Cristiano d'Orsi considers the international, regional and domestic legal and institutional frameworks linked to refugee protection in Sub-Saharan Africa, and explores the contributions African refugee protection has brought to the cause on a global scale. Key issues covered in the book include the theory and the practice of non-refoulement, an analysis of the phenomenon of mass-influx, the concept of burden-sharing, and the role of freedom fighters. The book goes on to examine the expulsions of refugees and the historical role played by UNHCR in Sub-Saharan Africa. As a work which follows the persecution and legal challenges of those in search of a safe haven, this book will be of great interest and use to researchers and students of immigration and asylum law, international law, human rights, and African studies.
Western liberal constitutionalism has expanded recently, with, in East Asia, the constitutional systems of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan based on Western principles, and with even the socialist polities of China and Vietnam having some regard to such principles. Despite the alleged universal applicability of Western constitutionalism, however, the success of any constitutional system depends in part on the cultural values, customs and traditions of the country into which the constitutional system is planted. This book explains how the values, customs and traditions of East Asian countries are Confucian, and discusses how this is relevant to constitutional practice in the region. The book outlines how constitutionalism has developed in East Asia over a long period, considers different scholarly work on the ease or difficulty of integrating Western constitutionalism into countries with a Confucian outlook, and examines the prospects for such integration going forward. Throughout, the book covers detailed aspects of Confucianism and the workings of constitutions in practice.
Many conflicts throughout the world can be characterized as sovereignty conflicts in which two states claim exclusive sovereign rights for different reasons over the same piece of land. It is increasingly clear that the available remedies have been less than successful in many of these cases, and that a peaceful and definitive solution is needed. This book proposes a fair and just way of dealing with certain sovereignty conflicts. Drawing on the work of John Rawls in A Theory of Justice, this book considers how distributive justice theories can be in tune with the concept of sovereignty and explores the possibility of a solution for sovereignty conflicts based on Rawlsian methodology. Jorge E. Nunez explores a solution of egalitarian shared sovereignty, evaluating what sorts of institutions and arrangements could, and would, best realize shared sovereignty, and how it might be applied to territory, population, government, and law.
Can trade liberalization and environmental protection be pursued together, or do the two objectives inevitably conflict? The rapid evolution of international regimes and institutions is increasingly bringing such conflicts to the fore. A consensus, both on the extent of the clash, and on how it can be resolved, does not yet exist. This volume includes the proceedings from the RIIA's April 1997 conference on trade and the environment, which brought together prominent contributors from all sides of the debate, including industry, governments, academics, NG0s and intergovernmental institutions such as the World Trade Organization, UNEP, UNCTAD and the OECD. They examine the background to the issue; the impacts of trade-related environmental measures; the relationship between environmental policy, competitiveness and investment; industry and developing country concerns; and the evolution of dispute settlement procedures in the EU and the WTO. The concluding chapter features a wide-ranging discussion on the future of the debate and of the WTO's Committee on Trade and Environment.
The UN Security Council is entrusted under the UN Charter with primary responsibility for the maintenance and restoration of the international peace; it is the only body with the power to authorise military intervention legally and impose international sanctions where it decides. However, its decision-making process has hitherto been obscure and allegations of political bias have been made against the Security Council in its responses to potential international threats. Despite the rule of law featuring on the Security Council's agenda for over a decade and a UN General Assembly declaration in 2012 establishing that the rule of law should apply internally to the UN, the Security Council has yet to formulate or incorporate a rule of law framework that would govern its decision-making process. This book explains the necessity of a rule of law framework for the Security Council before analysing existing literature and UN documents on the domestic and international rule of law in search of concepts suitable for transposition to the arena of the Security Council. It emerges with eight core components, which form a bespoke rule of law framework for the Security Council. Against this framework, the Security Council's decision-making process since the end of the Cold War is meticulously evaluated, illustrating explicitly where and how the rule of law has been undermined or neglected in its behaviour. Ultimately, the book concludes that the Security Council and other bodies are unwilling or unable adequately to regulate the decision-making process against a suitable rule of law framework, and argues that there exists a need for the external regulation of Council practice and judicial review of its decisions.
This Open Access Book is the first to examine disasters from a multidisciplinary perspective. Justification of actions in the face of disasters requires recourse both to conceptual analysis and ethical traditions. Part 1 of the book contains chapters on how disasters are conceptualized in different academic disciplines relevant to disasters. Part 2 has chapters on how ethical issues that arise in relation to disasters can be addressed from a number of fundamental normative approaches in moral and political philosophy. This book sets the stage for more focused normative debates given that no one book can be completely comprehensive. Providing analysis of core concepts, and with real-world relevance, this book should be of interest to disaster scholars and researchers, those working in ethics and political philosophy, as well as policy makers, humanitarian actors and intergovernmental organizations..
Environmentally sustainable development has become one of the world's most urgent priorities. But countries cannot achieve it alone: it depends on international coordination and action. Greening International Institutions, the latest in a series of highly-acclaimed publications devoted to environmental and developmental law, assesses how far and how successfully intergovernmental organizations have responded to the challenge. The organizations analyzed include: the UN General Assembly, the new Commission for Sustainable Development, UNEP, UNDP and UNCTAD, WTO, GATT, NAFTA, the Bretton Woods institutions and several regional bodies, as well as treaty bodies and the mechanisms for avoiding and settling disputes. For each, the contributors provide an accessible overview of the organization's mandate and structure, examine substantive policy initiatives and assess the need and scope for procedural and institutional reform. Drawing together a collection of essays by lawyers and researchers from various backgrounds, Greening International Institutions is stimulating reading for students and policy-makers, as well as anyone concerned with the development of international institutions. Jacob Werksman is an attorney, a Programme Director at FIELD, and Visiting Lecturer in International Economic Law at the University of London. Greening International Institutions is the fifth volume in the International Law and Sustainable Development series, co-developed with FIELD. The series aims to address and define the major legal issues associated with sustainable development and to contribute to the progressive development of international law. Other titles in the series are: Greening International Law, Interpreting the Precautionary Principle, Property Rights in the Defence of Nature and Improving Compliance with International Environmental Law. 'A legal parallel to the Blueprint series - welcome, timely and provocative' David Pearce Originally published in 1996
Modern armed conflict has taken a variety of forms and occurs at a variety of levels, raising serious questions concerning the relationship between the law of armed conflict and the reality of contemporary warfare. Many contemporary armed conflicts are fought in pursuit of unlimited objectives, whereas other modern wars seek to advance limited goals. While in some cases modern wars are fought by traditional armies composed of clearly identifiable soldiers, often modern armed conflicts are waged by guerrilla or partisan fighters whose identities are easily confused with non-combatants. Terrorism is increasingly a characteristic manifestation of this contemporary warfare. In the broadest sense, contemporary warfare has raised often controversial and vexing questions concerning the applicability of the law of armed conflict and, when applicable, the interpretation of its principles and tenets. This engaging volume addresses some of the contemporary normative and legal challenges and problems associated with the application of the concepts of just war, the just conduct of war, and the law of armed conflict to 21st century warfare.
The European Union's stalled expansion, the Euro deficit and emerging crises of economic and political sovereignty in Greece, Italy and Spain have significantly altered the image of the EU as a model of progressive civilization. However, despite recent events the EU maintains its international image as the paragon of European politics and global governance. This book unites leading scholars on Europe and Empire to revisit the view of the European Union as an 'imperial' power. It offers a re-appraisal of the EU as empire in response to geopolitical and economic developments since 2007 and asks if the policies, practices, and priorities of the Union exhibit characteristics of a modern empire. This text will be of key interest to students and scholars of the EU, European studies, history, sociology, international relations, and economics.
An examination of the conflicts facing traditional pastoralist societies within the developing nations of Africa. The book explores the forms of traditional land tenure and access to grazing resources, which are being increasingly eroded by modern forms of ownership and development. It shows how communal land tenure arrangements are essential not only for the survival of these societies but also to manage the pastures and rangelands in question. The case studies are by local experts. They cover Kenya, Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Each looks at: the political and legal context, trends in pastoral development, causes of conflict, procedures for resolving conflict, and environmental implications.
Measures for regulating the behaviour of nation states in relation to the global environment have increasingly taken the form of international treaties and conventions. Many have argued that this has proved to be an ineffective way of halting unsustainable development, for the provisions of these agreements are either too weak or are flouted regularly by the parties concerned. This volume seeks to address the crucial question of how compliance with these agreements could be encouraged effectively without damaging the fragile political consensus that is emerging on environmental issues. With extensive use of case studies, Improving Compliance will make stimulating reading for all students and researchers working in this area, as well as for anyone concerned about the effectiveness of international environmental measures.
Effective policies to prevent global warming and climatic change are urgently required by the world community. However, international negotiations on this issue repeatedly come up against the problems of allocating responsibility for the greenhouse effect, and bearing the costs of remedying the situation.;This volume offers a multidisciplinary response to the challenge. It presents the scientific, economic and political issues and goes on to describe the policy options available. The different ways of determining responsibility for greenhouse gases and calculating obligations to pay for hazards to the environment are analyzed. The contributors examine the implications for various countries, while a concluding chapter explores climatic change negotations - what is at stake, and for whom.
Despite its centrality to academic discussions of power and influence, there is little consensus in legal scholarship over what constitutes an actor in rule-making. This book explores the range of actors involved in rule-making within European Union law and Public International law, and focuses especially on actors that are often overlooked by formative and doctrinal approaches. Drawing together contributions from many scholars in various fields the book examines such issues as the accommodation of new actors in the process of postnational rule-making, the visibility or covertness of actors within the process, and the role of social acceptance and legitimacy in postnational rule-making. In its endeavour to render and examine the work and effect of actors often side-lined in the study of postnational rule-making, this book will be of great use and interest to students and scholars of EU law, international law and socio-legal studies.
This volume, published in association with the United Nations Environment Programme, examines how co-ordinated action among neighbouring countries could reduce greenhouse gas emissions in ways which are environmentally, economically and socially beneficial. A framework is presented for analyzing regional mitigation options, along with specific proposals for southern Africa, such as pooling electricity supplies, changing transport patterns and promoting new forms of energy. It shows how regional projects and policies can be developed and supported by the global community to help reduce climate change, and provides a study for decision makers, researchers and students in the areas of global climate change, international relations, energy and environmental studies and African affairs.
This book takes the reader on a sweeping tour of the international legal field to reveal some of the patterns of difference, dominance, and disruption that belie international law's claim to universality. Pulling back the curtain on the "divisible college of international lawyers", Anthea Roberts shows how international lawyers in different states, regions, and geopolitical groupings are often subject to distinct incoming influences and outgoing spheres of influence in ways that reflect and reinforce differences in how they understand and approach international law. These divisions manifest themselves in contemporary controversies, such as debates about Crimea and the South China Sea. Not all approaches to international law are created equal, however. Using case studies and visual representations, the author demonstrates how actors and materials from some states and groups have come to dominate certain transnational flows and forums in ways that make them disproportionately influential in constructing the "international". This point holds true for Western actors, materials, and approaches in general, and for Anglo-American (and sometimes French) ones in particular. However, these patterns are set for disruption. As the world moves past an era of Western dominance and toward greater multipolarity, it is imperative for international lawyers to understand the perspectives and approaches of those coming from diverse backgrounds. By taking readers on a comparative tour of different international law academies and textbooks, the author encourages them to see the world through the eyes of others - an essential skill in this fast changing world of shifting power dynamics and rising nationalism.
The book deals with the secession/separation of territorial entities and the legal consequences that derive from it both for the parent state and for the seceded/separated entity or the entity that intends to secede/separate. This subject is approached from the triple perspective of international law, comparative law, and Spanish law.International law, because it is this legal system which contains the general legal framework within which this issue must be dealt with. Thus, for example, the legal basis of the right to self-determination, the constituent elements of the state, the recognition of states and governments, succession in the matter of treaties, succession in membership of International Organisations, etc.Moreover, international law is also the reference invoked by secessionist/independentist political projects within states in an attempt to provide a legal basis for the legality of their claim.Comparative law, in order to find out not only how most state constitutions deal with secession or independence of their territories, but also the jurisprudence handed down by national courts on the matter (USA, Canada, Italy, France, Spain, among others).And finally, Spanish Law, because the perspective chosen to address the object of study is from the perspective of Spain.
Modern technological development has been both rapid and fundamentally transformative of the means and methods of warfare, and of the broader environment in which warfare is conducted. In many cases, technological development has been stimulated by, and dedicated to, addressing military requirements. On other occasions, technological developments outside the military sphere affect or inform the conduct of warfare and military expectations. The introduction of new technologies such as information technology, space technologies, nanotechnology and robotic technologies into our civil life, and into warfare, is expected to influence the application and interpretation of the existing rules of the law of armed conflict. In this book, scholars and practitioners working in the fields critically examine the potential legal challenges arising from the use of new technologies and future directions of legal development in light of the specific characteristics and challenges each technology presents with regard to foreseeable humanitarian impacts upon the battlespace.
This book takes up one of the key theoretical challenges in the English School's conceptual framework, namely the nature of the institutions of international society. It theorizes their nature through an analysis of the relationship of primary and secondary levels of institutional formation, so far largely ignored in English School theorizing, and provides case studies to illuminate the theory. Hitherto, the School has largely failed to study secondary institutions such as international organizations and regimes as autonomous objects of analysis, seeing them as mere materializations of primary institutions. Building on legal and constructivist arguments about the constitutive character of institutions, it demonstrates how primary institutions frame secondary organizations and regimes, but also how secondary institutions construct agencies with capacities that impinge upon and can change primary institutions. Based on legal and constructivist ideas, it develops a theoretical model that sees primary and secondary institutions as shared understandings enmeshed in observable historical processes of constitution, reproduction and regulation.
Since 2007 the world has lurched from one crisis to the next. The rise of new powers, the collapse of our global financial system, the proliferation of nuclear weapons and crisis in the Eurozone have led to a build up of risks that is likely to provoke a more general crisis in our system of global governance if it cannot be made fairer, more effective and accountable. In this book, nine leading scholars explore the fault lines and mounting challenges that are putting pressure on existing institutions, the ways in which we are currently attempting to manage them or failing to and the prospects for global governance in the 21st century. In doing so, the contributors offer a fresh look at one of the most important issues confronting the world today and they suggest strategies for adapting current institutions to better manage our mutual interdependence in the future. Contributors include Ha-Joon Chang, Benjamin Cohen, Michael Cox, David Held, George Magnus, Robert Skidelsky, Robert Wade, Martin Wolf and Kevin Young.
The trend for international engagement in post-conflict reconstruction has produced a host of best-practice postulates on topics such as local involvement in decision-making, accountability for past atrocities, sensitivity to context, and the construction of democratic institutions of governance. International law has potential relevance for many of these themes, yet the question of how the implementation of best-practice policy recommendations might be affected by international law remains under-examined. This book offers a fuller understanding of the role of international law in the practice of post-conflict reconstruction. It explores how international legal issues that arise in the post-conflict period relate to a number of strands of the policy debate, including government creation, constitution-making, gender policy, provision of security, justice for past atrocities, rule of law development, economic recovery, returning displaced persons, and responsibilities of international actors. The chapters of the book work to reveal the extent to which international law figures in the policy of internationally enabled post-conflict reconstruction across a range of sectors. They also highlight the scope for international law to be harnessed in a more effective manner from the perspective of the transition to peace and stability. The book lays out a basis for future policy making on post-conflict reconstruction; one that is informed about the international legal parameters, and more aware of how international law can be utilized to promote key objectives.
The last decade has seen some significant changes in international development and in the status of non-governmental organisations operating in the field. Not only has the number of NGOs virtually doubled; many of them have seen a considerable growth in their budgets, and have grown closer to governments and official aid agencies. NGOs are acknowledged by many to be more effective agents of development than governments or commercial interests ? even as a ?magic bullet? for development problems. Despite these positive trends, the real impact of the NGO sector is not well documented. This is partly because NGO performance-assessment and accountability methods are weak, and partly because NGOs are caught up increasingly in the world of official aid, which pushes them towards certain forms of evaluation at the expense of others. This unique book takes a hard and critical look at these issues, and describes how NGOs can, and must, improve the way they measure and account for their performance if they are to be truly effective.
The concept that certain objects and persons may be legitimately attacked during armed conflicts has been well recognised and developed through the history of warfare. This book explores the relationship between international law and targeting practice in determining whether an object is a lawful military target. By examining both the interpretation and its post-ratification application this book provides a comprehensive analysis of the definition of military objective adopted in 1977 Additional Protocol I to the four 1949 Geneva Conventions and its use in practice.
This book analyses how national parliaments and parliamentary parties performed their legislative, representative and control functions during the reform of European economic governance. Focusing on domestic approvals of anti-crisis measures (EFSF, ESM and the Fiscal Compact) in all member states of the Eurozone, the book aims at establishing to what extent national parliaments and parliamentary parties secured their competences in EU policy-making during that process. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, In order to address that question the book employs an interdisciplinary approach and analyses (i) in which states parliaments' formal powers in approval of anti-crisis measures were constrained, (ii) how parliamentary parties voted on the analysed measures, (iii) what were the dominant discourses of their proponents and opponents and (iv) which parties advocated neoliberal and which Keynesian measures. This text will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners in European Union politics and studies, political parties and parliaments, European Economic governance and more broadly to European politics.
International agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol, EU regulation and country-specific national climate policies offer some hope of addressing climate change. But all too often implementation of these high level objectives is derailed at the sub-national, local and - perhaps most important - individual level, by a variety of structural, policy and perceived barriers that result in a failure of effective action. Drawing on original research from Sweden, a world leader in effective environmental solutions, this volume examines the difficulties of aligning climate policy from international to national and sub-national levels. The authors address the full range of barriers and complexities, including governance structures, the relationship between 'experts' and the public, political feasibility, tax measures, perceptions of 'fairness' and self-interest, and the importance of environmental values. Also covered are the roles and perceptions of organizations and professions, the place of carbon-free technologies (such as wind power), the relationship between national and EU regulations, and the monumental challenge of governing the climate in a bordered and divided world. This volume is a vital source of information for all those seeking to create effective, coordinated responses to the challenge of climate change.
It is now more than a decade since the Right to Food Guidelines were negotiated, agreed and adopted internationally by states. This book provides a review of its objectives and the extent of success of its implementation. The focus is on the first key guideline - "Democracy, good governance, human rights and the rule of law" - with an emphasis on civil society participation in global food governance. The five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are presented as case studies: representing major emerging economies, they blur the line between the Global North and South, and exhibit different levels of human rights realisation. The book first provides an overview of the right to adequate food, accountability and democracy, and an introduction to the history of the development of the right to adequate food and the Right to Food Guidelines. It presents a historical synopsis of each of the BRICS states' experiences with the right to adequate food and an analysis of their related periodic reporting to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as a specific assessment of their progress in regard to the first guideline. The discussion then focuses on the effectiveness of the Right to Food Guidelines as both a policy-making and monitoring tool, based on the analysis of the guidelines and the BRICS states. |
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