This theoretical and practical overview of the international legal architecture between developing countries and advanced nations is divided into two parts, the first providing a theoretical overview of the philosophical implications of international development law principles; the second deals with international financial architecture.
This book addresses the legal issues raised by the interaction between human rights and development in contemporary international law. In particular, it charts the parameters of international law that states have to take into account in order to protect human rights in the process of development. In doing so, it departs from traditional analyses, where human rights are mainly considered as a political dimension of development. Rather, the book suggests focusing on human rights as a system of international norms establishing minimum standards of protection of individuals and minimum standards applicable in all circumstances on what is essential for a dignified existence. The various dimensions covered in the book include: the discourse on human rights and development interrelationship, particularly opinio juris and the practice of states on the question; the notion of international assistance and cooperation in human rights law, under legal regimes such as international humanitarian law, and emerging rules in the area of protection of persons in the event of disasters; the extraterritorial scope of economic, social and cultural rights treaties; and legal principles on the respect for human rights in externally designed and planned development activities. Analysis of these topics sheds light on the question of whether international law as it stands today addresses most of the issues concerning the protection of human rights in the development process.
Implementing the goal of sustainable development has long been heralded as the means by which the needs of both present and future generations can be met. However, finding a long-term balance between economic, social and environmental interests, the basic tenet of sustainable development, has proved largely illusive in practice. This book shows that while a number of legal frameworks to help promote the goal of sustainable development have been proposed at the international level they fail to fully capture the essence of sustainable development and international law's capacity to support its implementation. The book offers a critical analysis of past attempts to develop legal frameworks for promoting sustainable development at the international level, and advocates for a fresh approach based on lessons learnt from the law of international watercourses. The book is divided into four sections. The first section includes an overview of the topic area and an understanding of international law. In section two the book explores the meaning of sustainable development and considers the term's relationship with international law. A detailed analysis of how the law of international watercourses seeks to reconcile competing economic, social and environmental interests is carried out in section three. The book concludes with a section advocating the need for a fresh approach to international law and sustainable development and offering the foundations for this approach based on lessons learnt from the law of international watercourses.
The universal promise of contemporary international law has long inspired countries of the Global South to use it as an important field of contestation over global inequality. Taking three central examples, Sundhya Pahuja argues that this promise has been subsumed within a universal claim for a particular way of life by the idea of 'development'. As the horizon of the promised transformation and concomitant equality has receded ever further, international law has legitimised an ever-increasing sphere of intervention in the Third World. The post-war wave of decolonisation ended in the creation of the developmental nation-state, the claim to permanent sovereignty over natural resources in the 1950s and 1960s was transformed into the protection of foreign investors, and the promotion of the rule of international law in the early 1990s has brought about the rise of the rule of law as a development strategy in the present day.
"This book explores recent contributions of the case-law of international courts and tribunals to the development of international law. It begins by looking at how such case-law has contributed to the development of the methodology of international law and to the development of procedural rules. It further examines recent contributions from three major players in the international judicial arena: the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the mechanisms for Investor-State Dispute Settlement"--
International Law and Sustainable Development: Past Achievements and Future Challenges is a collection of essays that cover some of the most important contemporary issues in contemporary law relating to sustainable development, the utilization of natural resources, and the protection of theenvironment. Written by well-known experts on these topics who include judges of the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea; legal advisers from international organizations such as the World Bank, the International Maritime Organization, and the Food andAgriculture Organization; and practitioners of international law, as well as some of the leading scholars writing on international environmental law and related subjects this book covers many of the major legal developments that have taken place since the United Nations Conference on EnvironmentalDevelopment held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.The contributors bring new perspectives on sustainable development as a legal principle, the role of the International Law Commission in codifying international environmental law, the protection of the marine environment following the entry into force of the 1982 UN Convention of the Law of the Sea,and the revolution in international fisheries law. The editors have ensured that the book covers a wide range of topics from Antarctica to small whales and the book will be of particular interest to those teaching or practising law of the sea and international environmental law.
Containing the best interdisciplinary work in international law, this book offers an intelligent and thought-provoking analysis of the genealogy of Western capitalist ‘development’. Putting forth ground-breaking arguments and challenging the traditional boundaries of thinking about the concept of development and underdevelopment, it provides readers with a new perspective on the West's relationship with the rest of the world. With Jennifer Beard’s departure from the common position that development and underdevelopment are conceptual outcomes of the Imperialist era, The Political Economy of Desire positions the genealogy of development within early Christian writings in which the Western theological concepts of sin, salvation and redemption are expounded. Drawing upon legal theory, anthropology, economics, historiography, philosophy of science, theology, feminism, cultural studies and development studies the author explores: the link between the writings of early theologians and the processes of modern identity formation – tracing the concept of development to a particularly Christian dynamic how the promise of salvation continues to influence Western ontology. An innovative and topical work, this volume is an essential read for those interested in international law and socio-legal theory.