Suchergebnisse

The State represents a central concept and a basic subject of international law. In order to function and engage in treaties and relations with other states in a growing globalized world, the State must be accepted and treated as independent by other states. But independence alone is not enough. Declaring independence is typically a unilateral act undertaken by one entity. Hence, there are states in the world today that are independent; however, their international subjectivity is not recognized. This makes their position and ability to engage in the international sphere more complex. As a result, authorities look into ways of bypassing formal recognition. Joining international organizations becomes one alternative. This article explores the quest of Kosovo to join international organizations as a way to secure recognition and statehood. It begins with the United Nations, and briefly analyses the diplomatic efforts of Kosovar governments to accede. The focus of this article however, will be more specifically on Kosovo's application to join UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural organization, the Council of Europe and international sports federations, for this process will shed light on several important legal and political aspects of recognition: the application procedure, the political interests of states, the lobbying and securing of states' support in an entity's bid to obtain a seat at the organization. Membership in UNESCO is rightfully seen as a gateway to reach to a seat at the United Nations, while bypassing unilateral recognitions granted by states individually. While membership in international organizations will not imply recognition of international subjectivity for a new entity, in practical terms, it offers to achieve what recognition promises. Kosovo has been able to sit at the same table with its regional counterparts and has been able to participate and share in various regional initiatives. As an initial phase of normalization of relations with Serbia, this represents a solid step forward. At a later stage, it could serve as an incentive, or even better as a catalyst to speed up securing full-fledged statehood.

This Oxford Handbook provides an authoritative and comprehensive analysis of one of the most controversial areas of international law. Over sixth contributors assess the current state of the international law prohibiting the use of force, assessing its development and analysing the many recent controversies that have arisen in this field.

This article uses a single, transnational legal case that played out between Italy and Tunisia in the 1870s and 1880s to tell a truly global history of international law—that is, one that goes beyond the boundaries of the West. Samama v. Samama was a fabulously complicated case that dragged on in Italian courts for almost a decade. The crux of the legal arguments concerned the nationality of Nissim Samama, a Jew born in Tunis; Samama's nationality, in turn, would determine which legal system regulated his estate. The Italian civil code enshrined respect for the national law of a foreigner, but such foreigners were presumed to be Western. A case involving the national law of Tunisia and the status of Jews called the very foundations of the international legal system into question. In putting Samama's nationality on trial, the case opened up debate over fissures in the emerging theory of international law: How could non-Western states like Tunisia fit into an international legal order? How did Islamic law intersect with international law? What was the status of Jewish nationhood in a world increasingly based on exclusive nationalities? The Samama case offers access to the voices of European international lawyers debating the ambiguities of their field, as well as those of Maghrebis articulating their own vision of international law. The resulting arguments exposed tensions inherent to an international legal system uncomfortably balanced between universalism and Western particularism.

"Developments in the metals and minerals markets are creating great challenges for industries and governments. Prices have risen sharply over the past decade, with strong fluctuations. In many metal markets supply and demand are highly concentrated, with deposits localized in a handful of countries and production in the hands of just two or three companies. Increasingly frequent state intervention and speculative tendencies produce a situation where market mechanisms often fail to function satisfactorily. These challenges cannot be tackled by national action alone. Rather, in the worst case, political measures that appear rational for a single country may generate collectively negative outcomes at the global level. However, multilateral governance initiatives for minerals and metals are virtually non-existent. Differences between the G20 states concerning interests, economic frameworks, goals, and instruments stand in the way of effective international raw materials governance. That is the starting point for this study, which sets out to explore the opportunities and challenges for greater international cooperation by systematically analyzing the raw materials situations, strategies, and instruments of the G20 states. 'Fragmentation or Cooperation in Global Resource Governance?' is a collaboration between the SWP and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR)." (author's abstract)

The objective of this paper is to examine some specific question on the theory of law in international human rights law. International human rights law has played an important role in the evolution of International law. There are different ways of approaching and understanding International law, different schools and certain central theoretical questions. This paper tackles theoretical questions within international law in the light of International law of human rights, such as the questions of hierarchy, unity, coherence, structure, time, power, justice and legitimacy. Furthermore, analyse theoretical horizons, like the question evolution/revolution, progression/regression, justiciability, sustainability and efficacity.