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1202. Priorities and Flaws of a Great Project
- Author:
- K Gadjiev
- Publication Date:
- 10-2017
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- East View Information Services
- Abstract:
- The European Union, one of the main load-bearing structures of the world order, is still in the process of integration; it has not reached its final form.
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
1203. The ad bellum Challenge of Drones: Recalibrating Permissible Use of Force
- Author:
- Alejandro Chehtman
- Publication Date:
- 01-2017
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- Drones constitute an incremental advance in weapons systems. They are able to significantly reduce overall, as well as collateral, damage. These features seem to have important implications for the permissibility of resorting to military force. In short, drones would seem to expand the right to resort to military force compared to alternative weapons systems by making resorting to force proportionate in a wider set of circumstances. This line of reasoning has significant relevance in many contemporary conflicts. This article challenges this conclusion. It argues that resorting to military force through drones in contemporary asymmetrical conflicts would usually be disproportionate. The reason for this is twofold. First, under conditions of radical asymmetry, drones may not be discriminatory enough, and, thereby, collateral damage would still be disproportionate. Second, their perceived advantages in terms of greater discrimination are counteracted by the lesser chance of success in achieving the just cause for war. As a result, resorting to military force through drones in contemporary asymmetrical conflicts would generally be disproportionate not because of the harm they would expectedly cause but, rather, because of the limited harm they are ultimately able to prevent. On the basis of normative argument and empirical data, this article ultimately shows that we need to revise our understanding of proportionality not only at the level of moral argument but also in international law.
- Topic:
- International Law, War, Military Affairs, Weapons, and Drones
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, United States, and Europe
1204. Does and Should International Law Prohibit the Prosecution of Children for War Crimes?
- Author:
- Noëlle Quénivet
- Publication Date:
- 04-2017
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- This article investigates whether international law prohibits the prosecution of children for war crimes and, if it does not, whether it should do so. In particular, the interplay between restorative and retributive post-conflict justice mechanisms, on the one hand, and juvenile rehabilitative justice mechanisms, on the other, is discussed in detail. The article suggests that in certain, narrow, circumstances children having committed war crimes should be prosecuted.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Human Rights, International Law, Children, War Crimes, and Transitional Justice
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Europe, and Democratic Republic of Congo
1205. The Value of the European Court of Human Rights to the United Kingdom
- Author:
- Merris Amos
- Publication Date:
- 07-2017
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- National debates concerning the appropriate role of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the United Kingdom (UK) recently intensified with the suggestion by the government that the UK might leave the European Convention on Human Rights system. It has been argued that a British Bill of Rights, to replace the current system of national human rights protection provided by the Human Rights Act 1998, would provide better protection than the ECtHR, making its role in the national system redundant. Claiming that the ECtHR is legitimate and has an impact that is usually illustrated by the transformative power of judgments more than 10 years’ old, have not provided a convincing answer to this claim. In this article, rather than legitimacy or impact, the value of the ECtHR to the objective of protecting human rights through law is assessed. Three different levels of value are identified from the relevant literature and then applied to the judgments of the Court concerning the UK from 2011 to 2015 to determine what has happened in practice. It is concluded that given that the UK government’s objective remains to protect human rights through law, although some types of value are now more relevant than others, overall the potential value of the Court to the UK in achieving this objective is still clearly evident.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, International Law, and Courts
- Political Geography:
- United Kingdom and Europe
1206. The Responsibility to Protect beyond Borders in the Law of Nature and Nations
- Author:
- Luke Glanville
- Publication Date:
- 10-2017
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- While histories of human rights have proliferated in recent decades, little attention has been given to the history of thinking about duties to protect these rights beyond sovereign borders. We have a good understanding of the history of duties of sovereign states to ensure the safety and well-being of their own citizens and of the right of other states to forcefully intervene when these duties are violated. But the story of the development of thinking about duties to assist and protect the vulnerable beyond borders remains to be told. This article defends the importance of excavating and examining past thinking about these duties. It then sketches key aspects of Western natural law thinking about such duties, from Francisco de Vitoria through to Immanuel Kant, claiming that such study holds the promise of exposing from where ideas that prevail in international law and politics have come and retrieving alternative ideas that have been long forgotten but that may reward renewed consideration. It concludes by briefly outlining how three such retrieved ideas might be of particular use for those seeking to push international law and politics in a more just direction today.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, International Law, Sovereignty, History, Humanitarian Intervention, and Philosophy
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Global Focus
1207. Feminist Strategy in International Law: Understanding Its Legal, Normative and Political Dimensions
- Author:
- Catherine O'Rourke
- Publication Date:
- 10-2017
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- While international law has typically waxed and waned in feminist favours, contemporary feminist engagements reveal a strongly critical, reflective thrust about the costs of engaging international law and the quality of ostensible gains. To inform this reflection, this article draws on feminist scholarship in international law – and a specific feminist campaign for the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security in Northern Ireland – to distil three distinct feminist understandings of international law that underpin both theory and advocacy. International law is understood, first, as a system of rules to which states are bound; second, as an avenue for the articulation of shared feminist values; and, third, as a political tool to advance feminist demands. The study finds that feminist doctrinalists, and those working within the institutions of international law, share concerns about the resolution’s legal deficiencies and the broader place of the Security Council within international law-making. These concerns, however, are largely remote for local feminist activists, who recognize in the resolution important political resources to support their mobilization, their alliances with others and, ultimately, it is hoped, their engagement with state actors. The article concludes that critical reflection on feminist strategy in international law is usefully informed by more deliberate consideration of its legal, political and normative dimensions as well as by an awareness that these dimensions will be differently weighted by differently situated feminist actors.
- Topic:
- International Law, United Nations, Women, and Feminism
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Northern Ireland
1208. Refugees Flee into Yunnan After Renewed Violence Along Myanmar Border
- Author:
- Peter Wood
- Publication Date:
- 03-2017
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- China Brief
- Institution:
- The Jamestown Foundation
- Abstract:
- Violence along China’s border with Myanmar is threatening yet again to spill across into Yunnan Province. According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, more than 20,000 refugees have fled into Yunnan after renewed fighting between the Kachin Independence Army and Myanmar’s Armed Forces (Tatmadaw). These refugees are the second wave after more than 3,000 fled into China in late November 2016. In response, the prefectural government has begun setting up temporary shelters (Guanchazhe, November 22, 2016). It is unclear how it will cope with the much larger, second wave.
- Topic:
- Refugee Issues, Military Affairs, Border Control, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, and Myanmar
1209. Himalayan Impasse: How China Would Fight an Indian Border Conflict
- Author:
- Kevin McCauley
- Publication Date:
- 09-2017
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- China Brief
- Institution:
- The Jamestown Foundation
- Abstract:
- At the end of August, Chinese and Indian troops both pulled back from the Doklam region in Bhutan after weeks of tense posturing. The face off began in June when Chinese construction crews accompanied by soldiers began building a road. The area is sensitive to Indian national interests not only because of its ally Bhutan, but also due to area’s proximity to a narrow corridor connecting eastern India with the rest of the country. Beijing repeatedly ratcheted up the messaging to India, including the release of a Ministry of Foreign Affairs legal justification of China’s territorial claims against India (China Daily, August 3, 2017). If the two sides decide to face off again, forces on both sides will need to contend with the difficult mountain terrain and complex weather conditions. To prepare for such a contingency, both India and China have invested significantly in units capable of mountain and high-altitude warfare. An examination of the Chinese Military’s doctrine and training of such units provides important insights into how such a conflict would be conducted.
- Topic:
- Environment, Military Strategy, Territorial Disputes, and Military Affairs
- Political Geography:
- China, India, Asia, and Himalayas
1210. Chinese and Indian Competition in Space Heats Up
- Author:
- Sudha Ramachandran
- Publication Date:
- 10-2017
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- China Brief
- Institution:
- The Jamestown Foundation
- Abstract:
- At the height of the Cold War the United States and the Soviet Union used money and weapons to build satellite states; today China and India are using satellites in space to win influence and secure their geo-political and economic interests. They see each other as competition in the global satellite launch business. So how do the Indian and Chinese space programs compare? In which areas is competition likely to be most intense?
- Topic:
- Economics, Science and Technology, Geopolitics, Soft Power, and Space
- Political Geography:
- China, India, Asia, and Sri Lanka