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10951. Discussions on Identity and Multiculturalism from Modernity to Post-Modernity

Author:
M. Zeki Duman
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
This study considers how and why national identities emerge over against monopolistic policies of global hegemony. It will also analyse the epistemic and ontological presuppositions of the modern and post-modern approaches which are intended to overcome identity crises. Various dimensions and dangers of multicultural policies, which are offered as prescriptions by postmodernists for solving the problems of cultural conflict, will also be analysed. Nation-state models, as political forms of modernity, attempted to create a homogeneous national consciousness by dissolving sub-identities within a strong national identity. Postmodern rhetoric, using the same strategy, utilized ideological mystification. This resulted in the fragmentation of strong national identity and the destruction of social order and integration due to an exaggerated emphasis on a particular ego and cultural identity.

10952. A Friendlier Schengen Visa System as a Tool of 'Soft Power': The Experience of Turkey

Author:
Kemal Kirisci
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
In this paper, it is argued that Turkey's geographical location, accompanied by the extensive commercial, cultural and social relations that have developed since the end of the Cold War between Turkey and its immediate neighbourhood, provides an opportunity for the EU to consider formulating a more flexible Schengen visa policy that can also be in harmony with efforts to develop the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). Such a policy can also ease the economic and political costs of Turkey's integration into the EU. This need not necessarily lead to compromising security and border control. The advocates of Turkish membership often stress the potential of Turkey in assisting a process of bridge building between Europe and the world beyond Europe. A modified and better calibrated Turkish visa regime and a Schengen visa system that is able to adjust itself to the lessons of the Turkish experience could become a pillar of that bridge building effort and hence of the ENP too.
Topic:
Cold War
Political Geography:
Europe and Turkey

10953. The Policies of Ankara and Berlin toward the Bosnian War: A Comparative Analysis

Author:
Birgül Demirtas-Coskun
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
This study analyses the foreign policies of Turkey and Germany toward the Bosnian War, that took place between 1992-1995, in a comparative perspective. Both states had to face an identity crisis in the wake of the phasing out of the bipolar system. Whilst Turkey, all of a sudden, lost its former status within the Western Bloc, Germany could be reunified in a relatively short period of time. The war in Bosnia took place at the very time when an important discussion was continuing about the new position of these aforementioned countries. In view of traditional International Relations theories Turkey, on the one hand, was expected to focus on its internal problems; Germany, on the other hand, was foreseen to pursue an active foreign policy thanks to the new dynamism acquired by reunification. However, what happened in the case of Bosnia was, in fact, the reverse. The main argument of this study is that one of the main factors shaping the foreign policies of Ankara and Berlin toward Bosnia was the ultimate intention to maintain their former state identities in the new era.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and War
Political Geography:
Bosnia, Turkey, and Germany

10954. Twentieth Century Internationalism in Law

Author:
Ole Spiermann
Publication Date:
11-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
The 20th century saw the transformation of international law into a legal discipline concerned with the practical application of law. It was fuelled by a manifold variety of treaties, procedures and institutions. Still, international lawyers persisted in conceiving and judging their discipline against a background coloured by national legal traditions. International lawyers did not overcome the optimist and evolutionary tradition based on the assumption that international law is but an ever closer approximation of national legal systems; nor did lawyers escape the flip side of this tradition, i.e., doubt and insecurity about international law and its basis. Rather than facilitating international law as a practical discipline, a superficial understanding of internationalism reinforced fetishisms of the discipline's theoretical past, not least the axiom that states only are proper subjects of international law. To a degree, international law has expanded at the price of becoming less separate from national law and national legal traditions.
Topic:
International Law

10955. Jurisdiction and Compliance in Recent Decisions of the International Court of Justice

Author:
Aloysius P. Llamzon
Publication Date:
11-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
International institutions are plagued by too many expectations and too little power. One striking example is the International Court of Justice. Its malcontents criticize the Court as an ineffective player in achieving international peace and security, largely because of its perceived inability to control state behaviour. Scholars have long blamed this on the ICJ's 'flawed' jurisdictional architecture, which is based entirely on consent. Anything less than a clear indication of consent by the defendant state in a given case is thought to run serious non-compliance risks. This article takes issue with that assessment. By analysing the ICJ's final decisions since the landmark case of Nicaragua v. US, one finds that the manner in which the ICJ was seised of jurisdiction is actually a poor predictor of subsequent compliance. Rather, through complex mechanisms of authority signal and the political inertia induced by those decisions, almost all of the Court's decisions have achieved substantial, albeit imperfect, compliance. Thus, despite the likelihood that states will continue to reduce the scope of the ICJ's compulsory jurisdiction, the World Court will remain a vital, if limited, tool in resolving inter-state disputes and a force for world public order.
Topic:
Security
Political Geography:
United States

10956. The Effect of Jus Cogens Norms: Whoever Opened Pandora's Box, Did You Ever Think About the Consequences?

Author:
Ulf Linderfalk
Publication Date:
11-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This article forms a contribution to the ongoing scholarly debate on the possible effect of jus cogens norms. For the purpose of the article, it is assumed that peremptory norms certainly exist in positive international law. According to the argument, even if we limit the effects of jus cogens norms to those described in the 1969 Vienna Convention, the jus cogens concept takes us farther than most commentators seem to realize. This is due partly to the power potential invested in the jus cogens concept, partly to the intricate structure typical of legal norms. In fact, as argued in this article, if we take the existence of peremptory international law to its logical consequence, it will carry too far: most actors on the international arena will consider the effects unacceptable. Using as an example the jus cogens norm most often referred to in the literature - the principle of non-use of force - it is a purpose of the present article to establish this proposition as valid. A second purpose is to attract attention to what appears to be the really crucial question for further discussion: How should the effects of jus cogens be limited? Whoever opened the Pandora's Box that once contained the jus cogens concept obviously did not fully realize the consequences that this would have for international law in general. How can this situation be remedied?

10957. Legality of the Deployment of Conventional Weapons in Earth Orbit: Balancing Space Law and the Law of Armed Conflict

Author:
Michel Bourbonnière and Ricky J. Lee
Publication Date:
11-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
The Bush Administration of the United States recently released a revised National Space Policy. Although the revised National Space Policy can be interpreted as a step towards the weaponization of space, it does not necessarily weaponize space. It nonetheless brings to the forefront important legal issues concerning the basing of conventional weapons in space. The present international law matrix on the issue of space-based weapons is to be found in international space law, principally in the Outer Space Treaty, where certain prohibitions apply to nuclear weapons and to weapons of mass destruction. Space must also be used for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development. Space objects must be registered in accordance with the Registration Convention. The UN collective security system and the customary right of self-defence govern the use of force or jus ad bellum. The means and methods through which self-defence is exercised are in turn governed by international humanitarian law. Should space be weaponized the basing of these weapons and their use will be subject not only to international space law but also to the UN Charter and to international humanitarian law. The interface between these legal regimes consequently gains in importance, possibly forcing a reinterpretation of certain space treaties along with a correction in state practice.
Topic:
Humanitarian Aid, Nuclear Weapons, and United Nations
Political Geography:
United States

10958. Torture and State Immunity: Deflecting Impunity, Distorting Sovereignty

Author:
Lorna McGregor
Publication Date:
11-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
In recent judgments, the claim has been made that immunity, as a procedural rule, does not affect substantive norms but merely diverts the claim to an alternative forum. As such, the claim is made that immunity does not equate to impunity. Yet, within a context in which the courts of the state in which the torture allegedly took place are very often unavailable and diplomatic protection does not amount to an alternative means of settlement, the provision of immunity in foreign courts contributes to, justifies, and may even constitute the resulting impunity. At the same time, the framework within which immunity is addressed tends to lend itself to such a result. Courts routinely cite sovereign equality, par in parem non habet jurisdictionem, dignity, and comity as legitimate bases on which to grant immunity without considering the evolution of these doctrines. As a result, the contemporary application of immunity is premised on 1648 understandings of doctrines such as sovereignty, thus positioning the state above the law, a result which renders the prohibition of torture impotent.
Topic:
Sovereignty

10959. The Duty of States Parties to the Convention against Torture to Provide Procedures Permitting Victims to Recover Reparations for Torture Committed Abroad

Author:
Christopher Keith Hall
Publication Date:
11-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
The universal criminal jurisdiction provisions of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment ('the Convention') which require each state party to extradite or submit any case involving a foreigner in territory subject to its jurisdiction suspected of torture committed abroad against another foreigner to its competent authorities for the purpose of prosecution. What is not generally known is that Article 14 of the Convention, which contains no geographic restriction, requires each state party to ensure in its legal system that any victim of an act of torture, regardless of where it occurred, obtains redress and has an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation, including the means for as full rehabilitation as possible. Despite two recent decisions, one by a Canadian court and the other by the House of Lords, which erroneously asserted the contrary, an authoritative interpretation by the Committee against Torture, the ordinary meaning of the wording of Article 14, the structure of the Convention, and the drafting history all confirm that Article 14 applies to torture committed abroad regardless of the nationality of the perpetrator or the victim.

10960. Immunity for Torture: Lessons from Bouzari v. Iran

Author:
Noah Benjamin Novogrodsky
Publication Date:
11-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This article assesses the implications of the Canadian case of Bouzari v. Islamic Republic of Iran in which sovereign immunity barred recovery against a foreign state for acts of torture. Part 2 describes the case and the courts' rejection of arguments centred on the hierarchy of jus cogens norms, implied waiver and common law principles. Part 3 evaluates parallel developments in the United States and demonstrates the commonalities and differences associated with efforts to overcome immunity in the two countries. Part 4 examines potential amendments to Canada's State Immunity Act with a view to balancing considerations of comity with a just and workable means of holding states accountable for grave human rights abuses.
Topic:
Human Rights
Political Geography:
United States, Iran, and Canada