How can Third World experiences of colonialism and statehood be expressed within the confines of the International Court of Justice? How has the discourse of international law developed to reflect postcolonial realities of universal statehood? In a close and critical reading of four territorial disputes spanning the Arab World, Burgis explores the extent to which international law can be used to speak for and speak to non-European experiences of authority over territory. The book draws on recent, critical international legal scholarship to question the ability of contemporary, international adjudication to address Third World grievances from the past. A comparative analysis of the cases suggests that international law remains a discourse only capable of capturing a limited range of non-European experiences during and after colonialism.
How can Third World experiences of colonialism and statehood be expressed within the confines of the International Court of Justice? How has the discourse of international law developed to reflect postcolonial realities of ‘universal’ statehood? In a close and critical reading of four territorial disputes spanning the Arab World, Burgis explores the extent to which international law can be used to speak for and speak to non-European experiences of authority over territory. The book draws on recent, critical international legal scholarship to question the ability of contemporary, international adjudication to address Third World grievances from the past. A comparative analysis of the cases suggests that international law remains a discourse only capable of capturing a limited range of non-European experiences during and after colonialism.
This book explores the greatly increased involvement of the International Court of Justice and other international civil tribunals in conflict situations during the past three decades, and assesses their impact on the law relating to armed conflict.
Lack of diversity within the judiciary has been identified as a legitimacy concern in domestic settings, and the last few years have seen increasing attention to this question at the international level. This book analyses the implications of identity and diversity across numerous international adjudicatory bodies.
This examination of the jurisdiction of international courts and the admissibility of cases before them analyses jurisdictional and admissibility rules in light of the roles assumed by international courts in international life and in light of the roles that jurisdictional and admissibility rules play in promoting the effectiveness and legitimacy of international courts. The theory pursued views jurisdiction as a form of delegation of power (the power to exercise judicial power and decide the law) and regards admissibility as a framework for deciding upon the propriety of exercising such power. On the basis of this theoretical framework, the author critically evaluates the exercise of judicial discretion in the existing case law of a variety of international courts, distinguishing between the category-based case selection implicit in jurisdictional rules and the case-by-case analysis and selection implicit in rules on admissibility.
Arbitral and judicial decisions dealing with territorial land and maritime disputes bear the mark of compromising. They draw boundaries situated between the respective pretentions of the parties and ensure an equitable share of spaces and resources. This phenomenon of compromising symptomatically appears in the jurisprudence dealing with territorial disputes, because of their specific nature, and the geostrategic, economic and emotional factors at stake. It is also due to the remarkable flexibility of applicable norms and principles, which provides a vast power of appreciation to the judge. This study enhances how the content of the decisions is used in order to reach a balanced solution and demonstrates that the international judge focuses on peacekeeping considerations. Les décisions arbitrales et judiciaires relatives aux différends territoriaux terrestres et maritimes sont marquées par une tendance transactionnelle. Elles consacrent des tracés frontaliers situés entre les revendications respectives des parties et assurent plus globalement un équitable partage des espaces et des ressources. Ce phénomène de compromis s’exprime symptomatiquement dans la jurisprudence relative aux différends territoriaux en raison de la nature de ces litiges et de leurs enjeux géostratégique, économique et émotionnel. Il est aussi dû à la particulière flexibilité des règles et des principes applicables. Cette étude témoigne de l’instrumentalisation qui est faite du contenu des décisions juridictionnelles au profit de solutions équilibrées et démontre que le juge international est avant tout tourné vers la mission pacificatrice de son office.
States are erecting walls at their borders at a pace unmatched in history, and the wall between the United States and Mexico stands as an icon among these dividing structures. Much has been said about the US-Mexico border wall in the last few decades, yet American walling projects have a much longer history, dating back almost a century. Building Walls, Constructing Identities offers a rich account of this legal history, informed by two episodes of wall-building—the Act of August 19, 1935, and the Secure Fence Act of 2006. These two legislative periods illustrate that today's wall imprints onto the landscape a grammar of racial inequality underpinned by a settler colonial rationality. Marie-Eve Loiselle argues in favor of an account of the law that considers its material translation into space and identifies discursive processes by which the law and the wall come together to communicate legal knowledge about territory and identity.
An innovative, interdisciplinary and far-reaching examination of the actual reality of international courts, International Court Authority challenges fundamental preconceptions about when, why, and how international courts become important and authoritative actors in national, regional, and international politics. A stellar group of scholars investigate the challenges that international courts face in transforming the formal legal authority conferred by states into an actual authority in fact that is respected by potential litigants, national actors, legal communities, and publics. Alter, Helfer, and Madsen provide a novel framework for conceptualizing international court authority that focuses on the reactions and practices of these key audiences. Eighteen scholars from the disciplines of law, political science and sociology apply this framework to study thirteen international courts operating in Africa, Latin America, and Europe, as well as on a global level. Together the contributors document and explore important and interesting variations in whether the audiences that interact with international courts around the world embrace or reject the rulings of these judicial institutions. Alter, Helfer, and Madsen's authority framework recognizes that international judges can and often do everything they 'should' do to ensure that their rulings possess the gravitas and stature that national courts enjoy. Yet even when imbued with these characteristics, the parties to the dispute, potential future litigants, and the broader set of actors that monitor and respond to the court's activities may fail to acknowledge the rulings as binding or take meaningful steps to modify their behaviour in response to them. For both specific judicial institutions, and more generally, the book documents and explains why most international courts possess de facto authority that is partial, variable, and highly dependent on a range of different audiences and contexts - and thus is highly fragile. An introduction situates the book's unique approach to conceptualizing international court authority within theoretical debates about the authority of global institutions. International Court Authority also includes critical reflections on the authority framework from legal theorists, international relations scholars, a philosopher, and an anthropologist. The book's conclusion questions a number of widely shared assumptions about how social and political contexts facilitate or undermine international courts in developing de facto authority and political power.
In an era of turbulent ocean geopolitics, where environmental concerns and resource extraction are increasing interest in who owns what at sea, this timely book examines the international politics involved in how states delineate ownership and rights in the ocean.
Cases and Materials on the Law of the Sea is a thoroughly up-to-date text that will be used both as a classroom course book and as a treatise and reference guide. The text contains engaging teaching materials that systematically introduce law of the sea topics, placing them in the context of important themes about the roles of international law and international legal process. Historical materials of continuing importance appear alongside new materials that address such topics as maritime terrorism and port security, the protection of underwater cultural heritage, marine sanctuaries, deep-sea vent resources, and the operation of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and other new international organizations. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.
