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11001. Insanity or Part of a Plan? Prospects for Changes to North Korean Domestic and Foreign Policy

Author:
Nicolas Levi
Publication Date:
01-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Polish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Ever since previous North Korean leader Kim Jong-il passed away in December 2011, concerns about the new North Korean regime have been growing. Although the international community has worried mainly about the country's foreign policy, especially nuclear and missile threats, recent news about a purge in the North Korean leadership has brought to the fore the question of the regime's internal stability. Kim Jong-un has been steadily building a new system of governance, giving more power to the Korean Workers' Party apparatus at the expense of the armed forces. He has also shown interest in boosting North Korea's economy. In foreign and security policy, however, in the short term, North Korea is likely to continue on its previous uncompromising course.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Communism, Economics, Nuclear Weapons, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
North Korea

11002. International Organizations and the Frankenstein Problem

Author:
Andrew Guzman
Publication Date:
02-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
In the classic novel, Frankenstein , Doctor Frankenstein creates a living creature in the hope of cheating death. The monster turns against Doctor Frankenstein and kills several people, causing the doctor to regret his decision to make the monster in the first place. When states establish an international organization (IO), they create an institution with a life of its own. In doing so, states risk the institution becoming a monster and acting contrary to their interests. In contrast to Frankenstein, however, states are aware of this risk and are able to guard against it. This article explains that much of the existing landscape of international organizations has been formed by the state response to this 'Frankenstein problem'. The effort by states to avoid creating a monster explains, among other things, why there are so many IOs, why they vary so widely in scope, and the manner in which they are permitted (and not permitted) to affect international law and international relations. The article also identifies the four types of activities that IOs are typically allowed to undertake and explains how states choose which activities to place within which organizations. In addition to providing a new analytical perspective on IOs and how states use them, the article advances the normative argument that states have been too conservative. As if they learned the lessons of Frankenstein too well, states have been reluctant to give IOs the authority necessary to make progress on important global issues. Though there is a trade-off between the preservation of state control over the international system and the creation of effective and productive IOs, states have placed far too much weight on the former and not nearly enough on the latter.
Political Geography:
United Nations

11003. From Bilateral to Multilateral Law-making: Legislation, Practice, Evolution and the Future of Inter Se Agreements in the WTO

Author:
Gerardo Vidigal
Publication Date:
02-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
Among the innovations accompanying the transformation of GATT into the WTO was the remarkable strengthening of multilateral institutions. While the paradigmatic change brought about by the institutionalization of the multilateral trading system has been generally acknowledged, its impact on WTO law-making has been largely overlooked. Much of the debate has concentrated on whether and to what extent 'external' international legal rules should be taken into account by WTO adjudicators. An analysis of the WTO jurisprudence, however, evidences a different approach. The interpretation (and, to some extent, modification) of WTO rules depends not on the bilateral relations between the parties to a particular dispute, which may affect the application as between them of the multilateral rules, but on the establishment – through subsequent agreement, subsequent practice, or broader normative evolution – of a 'common understanding' of the membership. Once established, a new interpretation is not limited to the context of a particular dispute, but affects the WTO rights and obligations of all members. As a result, the bilateral logic that ordinarily determines legal relations between states based on individual consent gives way to a multilateral logic, which allows a degree of normative change while preserving the integrity of the WTO legal system.

11004. Reservations to Treaties: An Introduction

Author:
Marko Milanovic and Linos-Alexander Sicilianos
Publication Date:
02-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This Symposium examines the International Law Commission's work on reservations, specifically its recently completed Guide to Practice on Reservations to Treaties. The topic is very technical and the Guide itself gigantic, standing, together with its commentaries, at over 600 pages. The topic of reservations to treaties has been on the ILC's agenda since 1993; its Special Rapporteur, Professor Alain Pellet, produced 17 reports with many addenda and annexes. The ILC's work was so seemingly endless that it inspired (gentle and good-natured) parody. But now it has indeed come to an end. It needs to be assessed, and the purpose of this Symposium is to initiate that debate.
Topic:
International Law

11005. The ILC Guide to Practice on Reservations to Treaties: A General Presentation by the Special Rapporteur

Author:
Alain Pellet
Publication Date:
02-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to revisit the long saga of the ILC Guide to Practice on Reservations to Treaties, as the Special Rapporteur has lived it for nearly 18 years and 16 reports. In its first part, the article recounts the elaboration procedure, pointing in particular to the elements of innovation and flexibility introduced in the process. The main one is the very type of instrument adopted, namely a Guide to Practice, and not a set of draft Articles that would eventually become a convention. In the second part, the main issues having retained the attention of the ILC, as well as of the other international bodies and of the academic community, are briefly recalled: the question of the unity or diversity of regimes, the permissibility of reservation and the status of the author of an impermissible reservation were among the most debated issues. Finally, the article explains the structure of the Guide to Practice.
Topic:
International Law

11006. Institutional Aspects of the Guide to Practice on Reservations

Author:
Michael Wood
Publication Date:
02-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
The aim of the Guide to Practice on Reservations to Treaties is to assist practitioners of international law, who are often faced with sensitive problems concerning, in particular, the validity and effects of reservations to treaties, and interpretative declarations. The chief interest in the Guide will be in the light it shines on the many difficult substantive and procedural issues concerning reservations and declarations left open by the Vienna Conventions. But the institutional aspects are also of considerable practical interest. The present contribution considers some of the institutional or cooperative bodies that may assist practitioners: depositaries; treaty monitoring bodies; the reservations dialogue; and 'mechanisms of assistance'. The first two are well-established. The third and fourth are innovative, and it remains to be seen whether they will be adopted by states and, if so, how useful they will be. In any event, the Special Rapporteur has shown considerable foresight in proposing what became the annex to the Guide to Practice on the reservations dialogue, as well as the Commission's resolution on 'mechanisms of assistance'.
Topic:
International Law

11007. Reservations and Time: Is There Only One Right Moment to Formulate and to React to Reservations?

Author:
Daniel Muller
Publication Date:
02-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
Time is an important element in the process of reservations to treaties and, consequently, in the legal regime established by the Vienna Conventions for reservations and reactions thereto. The very definition of reservations, embodied in Article 2(1)(d) of the 1969 and 1986 Vienna Conventions, as well as in Article 2(1)(j) of the 1978 Vienna Convention, and incorporated in the definition adopted by the International Law Commission in its Guide to Practice, includes precise indications and limits concerning the moment in time for a reservation to be formulated. In practice, however, reservations have been made before and after this peculiar moment. The work of the International Law Commission has shown that these are still reservations, even if they are not contemplated by the Vienna regime. But they can nevertheless deploy their purported effects under some additional conditions. The same holds true with regard to objections to reservations which can be formulated prematurely or late. They are still objections even if their concrete legal effects may be affected. Whereas time is important for the legal consequences attached to reservations and reactions thereto, it plays a less important role in the overall process of reservations dialogue.
Topic:
International Law
Political Geography:
Vienna

11008. Reservations to Human Rights Treaties: From Draft Guideline 3.1.12 to Guideline 3.1.5.6

Author:
Ineta Ziemele and Lasma Liede
Publication Date:
02-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This article addresses the issue of reservations to human rights treaties in the light of the work done by the International Law Commission and its Special Rapporteur, Mr Alain Pellet. Section 1 gives a short historical background for the topic. Section 2 provides a concise overview of the variety of arguments that have been raised in the debate on the character of human rights treaties and the permissibility of reservations to those treaties, as well as their relationship with the reservations regime established under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Section 3 gives a number of specific examples of reservations permitted under the human rights treaties and describes the approach taken by some human rights treaty bodies in that respect. It also depicts the manner in which some of these bodies have dealt with the intricate issue of the consequences of impermissible reservations. Section 4 analyses the guidelines adopted by the ILC and offers some reflection on their contribution to the development of international treaty law on this topic. Section 5 concludes by praising the comprehensive work of the ILC on the subject.
Topic:
Human Rights and International Law
Political Geography:
Vienna

11009. Roaming Charges: Places of Destruction and Rebirth: A Remnant of the Kraków Ghetto Wall

Publication Date:
02-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
We deal in EJIL with the world we live in – often with its worst and most violent pathologies, often with its most promising signs of hope for a better world. But, inevitably, since our vehicle is scholarship, we reify this world. Roaming Charges is designed not just to offer a moment of aesthetic relief, but to remind us of the ultimate subject of our scholarly reflections: we alternate between photos of places – the world we live in – and photos of people – who we are, the human condition. We eschew the direct programmatic photograph: people shot up; the ravages of pollution and all other manner of photojournalism.

11010. Annual Threat Assessment

Author:
Rohan Gunaratna
Publication Date:
01-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Counter Terrorist Trends and Analysis
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
The year 2013 has been the most violent since the beginning of the contemporary wave of terrorism. Although Al Qaeda's core has decreased in size, the group has become even more influential. With its extraordinary presence on the web, Al Qaeda is guiding its associates to fight back. With the western drawdown from Afghanistan in 2014, the Taliban-led terrorist sanctuary will likely be reconstituted once again, threatening global stability and security.
Topic:
Terrorism
Political Geography:
South Asia, Middle East, Canada, and Southeast Asia