This book seeks to understand the obligation of the international community to implement the principles of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). With a focus on the humanitarian crisis in Syria, the volume examines what formal responsibility and actual capability international institutions have to protect and prevent civilians from systematic mass atrocities and presents an analysis of several prominent international organizations (IOs). Each chapter focuses on a specific organization and explores their formal responsibilities and how these pertain to the obligations of the R2P. Existing capabil.
This article develops a model for analysing international regime formation in the environmental domain. It is argued that current approaches to understanding how regimes emerge and develop are too narrow, and fail to account for the dynamic interplay between states and markets which induce the emergence of 'tipping points' leading to more extensive and stringent international institutions. The article demonstrates the central role of tipping points in regime formation using the example of international climate change.
Over the last two decades, important contributions were made at national, European and international levels to foster collaboration into rare diseases research. The European Union (EU) has put much effort into funding rare diseases research, encouraging national funding organizations to collaborate together in the E-Rare program, setting up European Reference Networks for rare diseases and complex conditions, and initiating the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) together with the National Institutes of Health in the USA. Co-ordination of the activities of funding agencies, academic researchers, companies, regulatory bodies, and patient advocacy organizations and partnerships with, for example, the European Research Infrastructures maximizes the collective impact of global investments in rare diseases research. This contributes to accelerating progress, for example, in faster diagnosis through enhanced discovery of causative genes, better understanding of natural history of rare diseases through creation of common registries and databases and boosting of innovative therapeutic approaches. Several examples of funded pre-clinical and clinical gene therapy projects show that integration of multinational and multidisciplinary expertize generates new knowledge and can result in multicentre gene therapy trials. International collaboration in rare diseases research is key to improve the life of people living with a rare disease.
AbstractThe paper presents a theory of the moral structure of international human rights. It proceeds by drawing on recent scholarship on the philosophy of national constitutional rights, which has shown that there is now an emerging global consensus on certain structural features of constitutional rights; in previous work I have summarized this under the label 'the global model of constitutional rights'. Starting from the theory of rights underlying the global model, the paper asks what modifications, if any, are required to turn that theory into a suitable theory of international human rights. In particular, it examines the widely held view that international human rights are more minimalist than national constitutional rights. Discussing recent work by Ronald Dworkin (on political/constitutional versus human rights) and Joseph Raz (on legitimate authority versus national sovereignty), the paper concludes that it is not possible to make rights more minimalist than they already are under the global model. It follows that the moral structures of national constitutional rights and international human rights are identical. The final section of the paper examines some implications of this result, addressing the issues of the workability of the proposed conception of international human rights in practice, its point and purpose, and discussing the obligations of states to participate in international mechanisms for the protection of human rights.
Although CO2 capture and storage(CCS) technologies are heatedly debated, many politicians and energy producers consider them to be a possible technical option to mitigate carbon dioxide from large-point sources. Hence, both national and international decision-makers devote a growing amount of capacities and financial resources to CCS in order to develop and demonstrate the technology and enable ist broad diffusion.The presented report concentrates on the influence of policy incentives on CCS diffusion and examines the following research question: Which policy strategy is needed to stimulate the international diffusion of carbon capture and storage technologies in the power sector? Based on the analysis of innovation-specific (e.g. CCS competitiveness and compatibility), market-related (e.g. national CO2 discharges and storage capacities) and institutional determinants (e.g. existing national and international policy frameworks) of CCS diffusion, the paper discusses the suitability of various national and international policy instruments to induce the international deployment of CCS. Afterwards, three CCS diffusion paths are derived from fundamentally different carbon stabilisation scenarios which include climate policy measures to stimulate the adoption of CO2 mitigation technologies. ; Als Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) wird die Abtrennung von Kohlendioxid aus Rauchgas-, Brenngas- oder Industriegasströmen und dessen anschließende langfristige Verwahrung in geeigneten Lagerstätten bezeichnet. Im Wuppertal Paper Nr. 162 geht Daniel Vallentin der Frage nach, welche Handlungsstrategien die internationale Diffusion von CCS-Technologien herbeiführen. In diesem Kontext stellt er unter anderem verschiedene Fallstudien sowie potenzielle Märkte für CCS-Technologien vor.
ABSTRACT The classic political economy of trade models state behavior on the international plane by reference to the formation of domestic interests. Voters, interest groups, and politicians are rational actors in this model, pursuing their economic preferences without cognitive or motivational distortions. This article questions the sufficiency of the rational choice model in the formation of contemporary trade policy. Starting from the classic political economy story, this article explores real-world deviations from rationally expected outcomes by drawing on cognitive psychology. Using both theoretical and empirical analysis, we seek to identify key distortions that can better explain voter and politician behavior in the current trade wars. We begin with loss aversion in that individuals have asymmetrical attitudes towards gains and losses. Rising inequality within the rich world amounts to a perceived relative loss particularly for middle-class citizens. Combined with the absolute rise of equality between countries, this can trigger a double loss frame—both as an individual loss and a national loss—that can profoundly shape anti-trade preferences in certain countries. Framing trade as a security threat also invokes powerful hawkish biases. Lastly, the availability bias can be provoked by social media mechanisms making people tend to focus on particular risks and overweight their import.
The Sovereign Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem (of Malta)–a charitable organization dating back to about a thousand years ago, and still in existence –received Papal recognition as an autonomous organization in 1113, having previously been admitted as such by the King of Jerusalem. Shortly afterwards, the Order was granted its first supranational statute. From that viewpoint the institution, the principal aim of which was, and still continues to be, to assist the sick and the poor on an international basis, can be regarded as the oldest–after the Holy See— international organization recorded in history. Does not the XIVth-century chronicle of the Masters of the Order refer to "our lords, the sick," their motto for centuries having been "Infirmes et infirmas benigne reci, pere"? In this respect the Order of St. John can be regarded as the forerunner of the Bed Cross with the object of giving assistance through charity to human beings; from the outset the members of the Order founded innumerable institutions and hospitals, including those in the field, and, during military campaigns in more recent times, sanitary trains and hospital ships.
The aim of this article is to restate, refine and defend the constitutionalist argument in international law. As a basis for a more nuanced approach, the contribution sorts the phenomena to which the constitutionalization thesis refers. Secondly, it analyzes methodological and doctrinal features of constitutionalist approaches to public international law and clears up some myths in and about international constitutionalism. Finally, the text focuses on presumptions and burdens of justification established by various judicial institutions. They seem to express constitutional concerns in different areas of international law. It is submitted that these presumptions and burdens of justification are plausibly backed by processes of identity change and argumentative self-entrapment. On the basis of constructivist approaches in International Relations, these processes can be understood as creating the normativity of constitutional arguments. The special character of their normative force may be explained by classifying them as principles in contrast to strict rules.
