Suchergebnisse

This article summarizes the new Correlates of War 2 International Governmental Organizations (IGOs) data. The data in the Correlates of War IGO data sets capture state memberships in the network of international governmental organizations. The expanded version 2.0 updates the original Wallace and Singer (1970) data set to provide membership information from1964 to 2001. Following a brief review of the literature pertaining to IGOs and world politics, we provide descriptions of all three versions of the data (country-year, IGO-year, and joint dyadic membership), discuss coding rules and subsequent changes to the data, and present graphical representations of changes in the network of IGOs over time using all three versions of the data.

This paper investigates the material culture of icons on the International Space Station as part of a complex web of interactions between cosmonauts and the Russian Orthodox Church, reflecting contemporary terrestrial political and social aairs. An analysis of photographs from the International Space Station (ISS) demonstrated that a particular area of the Zvezda module is used for the display of icons, both Orthodox and secular, including the Mother of God of Kazan and Yuri Gagarin. The Orthodox icons are frequently sent to space and returned to Earth at the request of church clerics. In this process, the icons become part of an economy of belief that spans Earth and space. This practice stands in contrast to the prohibition against displaying political/religious imagery in the U.S.-controlled modules of ISS. The icons mark certain areas of ISS as bounded sacred spaces or hierotopies, separated from the limitless outer space beyond the space station walls.

In The Protection of Water During and After Armed Conflicts: What Protection in International Law? , Mara Tignino offers an analysis of the principles and rules protecting water in situations of armed conflicts. The monograph also gives insights on the legal mechanisms open to individuals and communities after a conflict. Practice of international organizations and judicial decisions are examined in order to define the contours of the norms dealing with armed conflicts and post-conflict situations. Beyond international humanitarian law, the author suggests that other areas of international law should be taken into account such as human rights law and international water law. This comprehensive view aims at preventing damage to water resources and ensuring access to safe drinking water. Given the fragmentation of instruments and norms dealing with water in times of armed conflicts, it requires an in-depth examination of what means of international law may be developed to ensure a better protection to water

2009 was a bad year for Australia's international vocational education and training (VET) industry. Racism affecting international students on the streets and in the national media discouraged students from applying to study in Australia and made international education the centre of political controversy. In such an environment it has been easy to lose sight of the teaching and learning processes that are at the heart of VET for international students. This paper reports on part of a research project, funded by Service Skills Australia, that examined VET practitioners in the service industries. As part of that project the author carried out case studies in two registered training organisations (RTOs) that delivered training to substantial numbers of hospitality students and interviewed senior managers from four other RTOs. Staff and students alike reported on the benefits of having international students enrolled in their courses, and reported instances of good practice in pedagogy that have implications well beyond the international student cohort.

HOW IS THE EEC TO REACT TO THE UNCTAD DEMAND FOR AN INTEGRATED commodity programme? In this paper we attempt to sketch the background to this question and to identify some of the major options available to the Community. At the outset, however, one point deserves emphasis: over the past fifty years there have been many attempts to manage international commodity trade. Their success or failure has invariably depended more on political than purely technical considerations. Where national security or alliance needs 'demanded' coordination, as with the combined Raw Materials Board during the Second World War, any technical difficulties were overcome; on the other hand the inter-war rubber, wheat and coffee agreements were unable to withstand the onslaught of the depression, the retreat to economic nationalism, and the readiness of many members to put short-term domestic considerations before long-term international commitments. In the current debate the political context has, of course, changed, but the relevance of these political considerations has not.

A new set of international legal rules has been developed in the recent practice of investment law, intended to balance the promotion of foreign investments with the creation of safeguards for public policies. After a brief introduction, which addresses that trend in the light of the expansion of negotiations on mega-regional agreements as the "new" instrument of investment regulation, the second section of this article discusses the question of the convergence of the protection of private investors and the protection of States' regulatory power in the experience of NAFTA countries and the most recent European investment policy, developed after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. The third section is devoted to an analysis of the substantive provisions of the recently concluded mega-regional agreements concerning three specific elements traditionally linked to investor protection (i.e. the free and equitable treatment standard, "umbrella" clauses, and indirect expropriation) in order to examine how they contribute to setting a new paradigm, or at least a move towards a new paradigm for the protection of investors' rights. Subsequently, investors' obligations – still a major topic under discussion in the practice of investment law – will be examined; and finally the new dispute settlement mechanism which has been proposed by the European Union will be assessed, discussing how it could fit with a reform of the procedural aspects of investor protection to guarantee the State's policy space.