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3361. The Venice Commission of the European Council – Standards and Impact

Author:
Wolfgang Hoffmann-Riem
Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
The article analyses the activities of the European Commission for Democracy through Law. Addressed are the standards applied in the Commission's opinions, especially on constitutional provisions and other legal norms or drafts. The article looks at the impact that these (non-binding) opinions have on the states concerned as well as on the European Court of Human Rights. Though recommendations are sometimes disregarded, most states do react positively, at least in part. To some extent the Commission could enhance the effect of its opinions by joining forces with other relevant institutions in the field, especially the Council of Europe and the European Commission. Endorsing and implementing recommendations gives states an opportunity to share in the reputation that comes with being part of a community founded on Human Rights, the Rule of Law, and Democracy. An overall assessment is made of the Commission's approach to its work.
Topic:
Human Rights
Political Geography:
Europe

3362. Mark Mazower. Governing the World. The History of an Idea

Author:
Jochen von Bernstorff
Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
Mark Mazower provides us with a very readable and highly stimulating intellectual history of Western internationalism starting with the Vienna Congress in 1815 and ending in 2012 with the ongoing Syrian civil war. The historical analysis focuses not only on the philosophical and political currents at the heart of 19th and 20th century internationalism but also on how Anglo-Saxon politicians and high ranking civil servants viewed and shaped international institutions during these two centuries; all of this is full of interesting biographical findings, illustrative contemporary quotations, and insightful historical judgement.
Topic:
Civil War
Political Geography:
Europe

3363. Mónica García-Salmones Rovira. The Project of Positivism in International Law.

Author:
David Roth-Isigkeit
Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
That positivism is not the promised land of legal methods has become a truism among critical international lawyers. All too often the proclaimed objectivity, neutrality and science has turned out to be intertwined with ideology and domination. In line with the historical-economic turn of the Helsinki school, Monica García-Salmones Rovira's book The Project of Positivism in International Law finds the historical roots of positivism deeply embedded in the development of a global neo-liberal economy. The economic foundations of the method are unearthed with two intellectual biographies of its founding fathers, Lassa Oppenheim and Hans Kelsen, whose life projects have so far escaped critical scrutiny. The book weaves into these two biographical studies the story of international law as a pragmatist and scientific project that freed the discipline from the tradition of natural law to become a servant of global economic interests.
Topic:
International Law and War

3364. Carlo Focarelli. International Law as Social Construct. The Struggle for Global Justice

Author:
Lorenzo Gradoni
Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
An enigmatic epigram welcomes the reader of Carlo Focarelli's book: '[w]hat is a mountain for? For the moon to set behind' (at lv). Poetic images not infrequently hint at hidden meanings; in this case, however, the enigma stems from the fact that the phrase, although appearing between quotation marks, is not credited to anyone (which is strange for a heavily footnoted book whose name index includes more than 1,000 entries). Since a Google search takes the reader straight back to the book under review and nowhere else, the temptation to assume that the anonymous poet was the author himself has been strong (and maybe imputable to the advent of EJIL's 'Last Page'). I resisted this impulse for fear of appearing too unlearned ('other readers will surely have recognized the author', I said to myself) to be considered fit to review the immensely erudite book that Focarelli's International Law as Social Contract indisputably is. Turning a blind eye to the epigraph would have been an easy way out; I chose to ask the author. He was kind enough to reveal to me that the phrase is an abridged version of a dialogue between the famous Swiss psychologist (and polymath) Jean Piaget, asking questions about the Salève, a mountain also known as the Balcon de Genève, and a seven – year – old boy named Rou: 'The Salève was made "by men. – Why? – It couldn't make itself all alone. – What is it for? – For the moon. – Why? – For it to set behind."' Enquiring about the meaning of the epigraph turned out to be a serendipitous choice.

3365. Philipp Dann. The Law of Development Cooperation: A Comparative Analysis of the World Bank, the EU and Germany

Author:
Giedre Jokubauskaite
Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
Philipp Dann has long been committed to the legal issues of international development cooperation, and now his monograph on this subject, originally written in German, has been published in English. The comprehensive monograph entitled The Law of Development Cooperation skilfully builds upon the knowledge that already exists on this topic and systematizes an enormous amount of relevant literature. The reader is presented with a stimulating text that is dense in terms of its arguments and yet easy to engage with.
Topic:
International Law

3366. Efthymios Papastavridis. The Interception of Vessels on the High Seas, Contemporary Challenges to the Legal Order of the Oceans

Author:
Seline Trevisanut
Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
Many are the threats that challenge the security of the oceans today. Piracy, which was thought to be relegated to history and adventure books (and films), has re-appeared and threatens human lives but also, cynically more importantly for states, the safe transport of goods. The seas provide the main route for trade in goods worldwide. Their security is an imperative for a globalized economy. In the 2008 Report on Oceans and the Law of the Sea, the UN Secretary General identified seven specific threats to maritime security: (1) piracy and armed robbery; (2) terrorist acts against shipping, offshore installations, and other maritime interests; (3) illicit trafficking in arms and weapons of mass destruction (WMD); (4) illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances; (5) smuggling and trafficking of persons at sea; (6) illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing; and (7) international and unlawful damage to the marine environment.
Topic:
Human Rights

3367. Kjetil Mujezinović Larsen, Camilla Guldahl Cooper and Gro Nystuen (eds). Searching for a 'Principle of Humanity' in International Humanitarian Law

Author:
Catriona H. Cairns
Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
The stated aim of the book under review, edited by three prominent Scandinavian academics, is to explore whether a 'principle of humanity' exists as an independent, binding norm in international humanitarian law (IHL) or whether its legal impact is limited to the norm-creation process. It consists of 11 articles (with an introduction and a conclusion), divided into two principal sections: 'theoretical perspectives' and 'Nordic experiences'.

3368. Morten Bergsmo and Ling Yan (eds). State Sovereignty and International Criminal Law

Author:
Alexandre Skander Galand
Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
State Sovereignty and International Criminal Law, edited by Morten Bergsmo and Ling Yan, brings together two recent issues of international law: the rise of international criminal law as a building block in the nascent constitution of the international legal order and the increasingly active participation of China in international law. Even though China is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), it has until recently been de facto absent from the debates over norms of international law. Likewise, international criminal justice is a field of law that stagnated for more than 40 years. The last two decades have witnessed a revival of both phoenixes.
Topic:
International Law
Political Geography:
China

3369. Kevin Jon Heller and Gerry Simpson (eds). The Hidden Histories of War Crimes Trials

Author:
Milan Kuhli
Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
The book The Hidden Histories of War Crimes Trials – edited by Kevin Jon Heller and Gerry Simpson – is a compilation of 21 contributions to a conference convened in Melbourne at the end of 2010. The project aims at a scholarly recovery of accounts of war crimes trials that were ‘either neglected or under-rehearsed’ (at 1) in the discipline of international criminal law. Accordingly, the contributions tell ‘stories about familiar but under-explored and misunderstood landmarks in the conventional history of international criminal law’ as well as about trials that have been less analysed in this field (at 1). Gregory S. Gordon’s illustrative chapter on the trial of Peter von Hagenbach (chapter 2) is a story of the first kind, whereas Benjamin E. Brockman-Hawe’s comprehensive account of the Franco-Siamese tribunal for the Colonial Era (chapter 3) exemplifies the latter type.
Topic:
International Law and War
Political Geography:
Europe

3370. The Waiting Room

Author:
Kim Lockwood
Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This here is nowhere. A circle of whiteness squared to still the furthest confines of the room. Passengers pass by with nothing to declare, papers and permissions all approved. As ceaseless movement breaks in waves of sound on sound, a static too thickly sewn to undo grounds us in a place of stark sensation where mattresses are spread thinly on the ground and belonging can't be found in our slow translations.