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.

Under what conditions does a post-conflict government have authority? What challenges to its legitimacy does it face? To what standards can it be held accountable? Via case studies of Sierra Leone and Afghanistan, and detailed accounts of extant international law, Matthew Saul explores the international legal framework which regulates popular governance of post-conflict reconstruction.

The emerging international human rights judiciary (IHRJ) threatens national democratic processes and 'hollows out' the scope of domestic and democratic decision-making, some argue. This new analysis confronts this head on by examining the interplay between national parliaments and the IHRJ, proposing that it advances parliament's efforts. Taking Europe and the European Court of Human Rights as its focus - drawing on theory, doctrine and practice - the authors answer a series of key questions. What role should parliaments play in realising human rights? Which factors influence the effects of the IHRJ on national parliaments' efforts? How can the IHRJ adjust its influence on parliamentary process? And what triggers the backlash against the IHRJ from parliaments and when? Here, the authors lay foundations for better informed scholarship and legal practice in the future, as well as a better understanding of how to improve the effectiveness and validity of the IHRJ.

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.

International dispute settlement plays a fundamental role in maintaining the fabric of the international legal order, reflecting the desire of States, and increasingly non-State actors, to resolve their differences through international dispute procedures and other legal mechanisms. This edited collection focuses upon the growth and complexity of such legal methods, which includes judicial settlement (courts and tribunals), arbitration and other legal (or what might be termed 'extra-legal') means (international organisations, committees, inspection panels, and ombudsmen). In this important collection, such mechanisms are compared and evaluated side-by-side to provide, in one volume, a detailed and analytical account of the current framework. Ranging from key conceptual issues of proliferation of legal mechanisms and the associated risks of fragmentation through to innovations in dispute settlement mechanisms in many topical areas of international law, including international trade law, collective security law and regional law, this collection, written by leading international lawyers, provides a major study in the ongoing trends and emerging problems in this crucial area of international law. This edited collection is published to mark the retirement of Professor John Merrills, Emeritus Professor of International Law, University of Sheffield, who has written widely on international law and human rights law, but is probably best known for his work on the settlement of international disputes, evidenced by the enduring appeal of his leading text International Dispute Settlement, now in its fourth edition.

International dispute settlement plays a fundamental role in maintaining the fabric of the international legal order, reflecting the desire of States, and increasingly non-State actors, to resolve their differences through international dispute procedures and other legal mechanisms. This edited collection focuses upon the growth and complexity of such legal methods, which includes judicial settlement (courts and tribunals), arbitration and other legal (or what might be termed 'extra-legal') means (international organisations, committees, inspection panels, and ombudsmen). In this important collection, such mechanisms are compared and evaluated side-by-side to provide, in one volume, a detailed and analytical account of the current framework. Ranging from key conceptual issues of proliferation of legal mechanisms and the associated risks of fragmentation through to innovations in dispute settlement mechanisms in many topical areas of international law, including international trade law, collective security law and regional law, this collection, written by leading international lawyers, provides a major study in the ongoing trends and emerging problems in this crucial area of international law. This edited collection is published to mark the retirement of Professor John Merrills, Emeritus Professor of International Law, University of Sheffield, who has written widely on international law and human rights law, but is probably best known for his work on the settlement of international disputes, evidenced by the enduring appeal of his leading text International Dispute Settlement, now in its fourth edition.

The emerging international human rights judiciary (IHRJ) threatens national democratic processes and 'hollows out' the scope of domestic and democratic decision-making, some argue. This new analysis confronts this head on by examining the interplay between national parliaments and the IHRJ, proposing that it advances parliament's efforts. Taking Europe and the European Court of Human Rights as its focus - drawing on theory, doctrine and practice - the authors answer a series of key questions. What role should parliaments play in realising human rights? Which factors influence the effects of the IHRJ on national parliaments' efforts? How can the IHRJ adjust its influence on parliamentary process? And what triggers the backlash against the IHRJ from parliaments and when? Here, the authors lay foundations for better informed scholarship and legal practice in the future, as well as a better understanding of how to improve the effectiveness and validity of the IHRJ.

Under what conditions does a post-conflict government have authority? What challenges to its legitimacy does it face? To what standards can it be held accountable? Via case studies of Sierra Leone and Afghanistan, and detailed accounts of extant international law, Matthew Saul explores the international legal framework which regulates popular governance of post-conflict reconstruction.