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141. The European Union as Situation, Executive, and Promoter of the International Law of Cultural Diversity – Elements of a Beautiful Friendship

Author:
Armin Von Bogdandy
Publication Date:
04-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
Cultural diversity is an important political and legal topos in the European Union. At the same time, the concern for cultural diversity gives reason for grave reservations towards the Union. This article intends to assist, on the basis of international law, in distinguishing appearance and reality. The Union will be analysed first as a situation of the application of the international law of cultural diversity, secondly as the regional executive of this international law, and thirdly as its global promoter. It shows that international law and Union law reinforce each other. The former conveys to the Union instruments to pursue European unification which at the same time serve its own implementation. Furthermore, it does not set limits to European unity since it protects only cultural pluralism but not state-supporting distinctiveness. A prerequisite for this consonance is that the Union's constitutional law allows for political unity without cultural unity and that international law remains mute about important questions on European unification. The international law perspective thus does not fully exhaust the problem: conformity with international law alone cannot dissipate concern for the future of cultural diversity in the Union.
Topic:
International Law and Culture
Political Geography:
Europe

142. Merging Security from the Two Level Game: Inserting the Treaty of Prüm into EU law?

Author:
Elspeth Guild
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
On 27 May 2005, seven EU member states signed the Prüm Treaty to promote cross-border cooperation, aimed particularly at combating terrorism, cross-border crime and illegal migration. In response, we published a critical analysis of the measure, in which we expressed reservations on three grounds: The treaty format in a field of EU activity produces negative externalities for the EU's area of freedom, security and justice by circumventing the EU framework; Reverting to an intergovernmental arena excludes the European Parliament at a time when its role in democratic scrutiny of the area of freedom, security and justice is critical; The effect of the Prüm Treaty is to weaken the EU rather than to strengthen it, as it postpones an important debate among all the member states about cross-border cooperation in policing and creates the impression that a small group of member states seek to impose their view on the rest.
Topic:
Security, International Law, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Europe

143. Switzerland is reduced to tennis: Switzerland's image in the foreign media

Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Media Tenor International
Abstract:
The wounds have healed slowly. At the turn of the millennium, the country of the Alps, of lakes and chocolate was faced with a media storm on a part of its history, which the Swiss themselves would have preferred to ignore: What role did their politicians, entrepreneurs, scientists, teachers and others actually play during the Hitler period? The neutral image, passed on for decades in schoolbooks, rhetorical speeches and media coverage, had cracked in view of an international wave of litigation that was caused by American lawyer Ed Fagan, representing Jewish victims of the Holocaust. He tried to publicly demonstrate that Swiss banks, in particular, but also other companies, as well as the Federal Council of Bern had profited from the victims' suffering.
Topic:
International Relations, International Law, and Mass Media
Political Geography:
America, Europe, and Switzerland

144. The Making of European Private Law: Regulation and Governance design

Author:
Fabrizio Cafaggi and Horatia Muir Watt
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Research Papers Archive
Abstract:
The current debate on the desirability and modes of formation of European Private Law (“EPL”) is engaging a wide number of scholars and institutions. Current work concerns the search for a common core of EPL, the rationalisation of the acquis communautaire, the design of a European Civil Code. These ongoing projects raise at least two related questions concerning the challenges to Europeanisation of private law: First, what is the often implicit definition of priv ate law standing behind the debate about the creation of EPL? Second, does the process of creation of EPL need some type of governance structure?
Topic:
Development, Government, and International Law
Political Geography:
Europe

145. The Extra-Territorialisation of EU Migration Policies and the Rule of Law

Author:
Marise Cremona and Jorrit Rijpma
Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Research Papers Archive
Abstract:
This paper takes a closer look at one of the EU's foundational values, the rule of law, and relates it to the external dimension of the EU's migration policy. It examines how the EU's powers in migration management have been put to use in order to project EU migration policies beyond the EU legal order, or more precisely to locate the physical control of migration outside EU territory. It categorises different types of extra-territorialisation, ranging from autonomous action by the Community, including Community action which requires third country cooperation, to action by way of international agreements and cases where third countries undertake to align their domestic law with the Community acquis. Starting from the prominence accorded to the rule of law in the EU's external policy, this paper examines an external dimension of the rule of law which goes beyond the desire to promote this value outside EU territory, and its application to the external dimension of the EU's migration policy. It highlights challenges for the rule of law posed by the increasing phenomenon of extraterritorialisation in EU migration policy. Practical examples taken from the EU's visa policy and operational cooperation in the field of external border control serve to support the argument that if the EU is to continue the use of extra-territorialisation as an instrument of its migration policy it must address seriously the issue of ensuring a concomitant extra-territorialisation of the rule of law, in particular the effective judicial review of administrative action.
Topic:
Development, International Law, and Migration
Political Geography:
Europe

146. Much Ado about Pluto? The 'Unity of the Legal Order of the European Union' Revisited

Author:
Christoph Herrmann
Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Research Papers Archive
Abstract:
The European Union is commonly described as a temple-like construction resting upon three pillars. Whereas the first pillar, Community law, constitutes a “new legal order” of supranational character, the second and third pillar are considered to be of intergovernmental kind, i.e. traditional public international law. However, some commentators have advocated a more integrated view, claiming the “unity of the legal order of the European Union”. The more recent case-law of the European courts has increasingly to deal with the relationship between the pillars as well as the legal nature of Union law. The present paper analyses this case-law and takes the opportunity to revisit the “unity thesis” as put forward in learned writings, the overall conclusion is that the claim of unity is poorly suited to solve interpretative questions that concern the aforementioned questions.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and International Law
Political Geography:
Europe

147. Elaboration, study and dissemination of international law. Documents of the International Law Commission and the UN Commission on International Trade Law

Publication Date:
09-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Polish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The strengthening of international law, as a comprehensive system regulating the most important spheres of international relations, takes place through its codification, progressive development and dissemination of knowledge about the law.
Topic:
International Law and Law
Political Geography:
Europe

148. Combating Terrorist Financing in Europe: Gradual Progress

Author:
Michael Jacobsen
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
In the wake of the July 2005 terrorist subway and bus attacks in London and the disrupted terrorist plot to blow up U.S.-bound planes flying from Heathrow airport in August 2006, the British government recently launched a new strategy to combat terrorism financing. Ed Balls, Britain's economic secretary to Her Majesty's Treasury (HMT), said the strategy was designed to address "an enduring and continually changing terrorist menace to the [United Kingdom]." In Balls's view, financing is the "lifeblood" supporting the growing terrorist threat. Britain's ambitious and timely initiative is an important step forward. But broader European efforts to tackle terrorist financing -- particularly the efforts of the European Union (EU) -- still lack consistency and effect. Bureaucratic obstacles limit European efforts to designate terrorist entities and freeze their assets.
Topic:
Economics, International Law, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Europe and London

149. Reflections on Multilevel Legitimacy

Author:
Fritz W. Scharpf
Publication Date:
07-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
Abstract:
The function of legitimacy is to ensure voluntary compliance with unwelcome exercises of governing authority. Since practically all European law needs to be implemented and enforced by the governments and courts of the member states, the EU does not have to face its citizens directly. It follows that the legitimacy of European governance ought to be conceptualized at two levels. At one level, the legitimacy of member states is decisive for the compliance of individuals and firms, regardless of the ultimate origin – international, European or national – of the rules that demand this compliance. At the other level, the legitimacy of the European “government of governments” is decisive for the voluntary compliance of member states with the obligations imposed on them by the EU. What should be worrying however is the impact which EU governance – especially the rules of negative integration defined by politically non-accountable actors – may have on the legitimacy of member states, and ultimately on their capacity to comply.
Topic:
Government, International Law, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Europe

150. Germany's Involvement in Extraordinary Renditions and Its Responsibility under International Law

Author:
Laura Tate Kagel
Publication Date:
12-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
German Politics and Society
Institution:
German Politics and Society Journal
Abstract:
As investigative journalists and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) increasingly uncover the nature and scope of a U.S. government program known for transferring terrorist suspects outside of normal legal and administrative channels, the role of European states has come under scrutiny. To a large degree, these states have erected a “wall of fog,” as a report from the German Institute of Human Rights describes it, blocking access to information that would allow for independent assessments of the human rights implications of the counterterrorism practice known as “extraordinary rendition.”
Topic:
International Law and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Germany, and Egypt