Suchergebnisse

Choosing arbitration as a way of resolving legal disputes, it involves the guarantee of principle regarding contractual freedom. This principle is also established in ECtHR's jurisprudence. In this situation the question is whether the court can impose or sanction an arbitration decision that violates the ECtHR rules. Under the ECtHR's jurisprudence, it is not necessarily an arbitration decision to be canceled because it did not correspond to all the guarantees of Article 6. Each contracting State, in principle, can decide the reasons an arbitration decision should be annulled or not. An arbitration agreement, reached between the parties, restricts voluntarily the right to access to courts and dispute settlement in accordance with their rules of procedure. Thus, the parties to an arbitration agreement must be "fully aware" of giving up this fundamental right and once validly waived this right, they cannot plead infringement of it. European Convention on Human Rights is binding on judges only indirectly, only the proceedings of the court in connection with the arbitration proceedings are subject to the European Court of Human Rights, but not the arbitration procedure itself. So, ECtHR in Article 6 (1) of the Convention is not directly imposed to arbitration courts, but obliges courts of contracting states to establish appeal against arbitral order to verify the correctness of the arbitration proceedings and to quash decisions that disregard the fundamental procedural guarantees laid down in the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Iraq War in 2003 represented a conflict of interest for the Norwegian government, as the situation called for them to choose between the relationship with the United States & international law. Being a small nation, it was in Norway's interest to protect both these interests. In the end, the government decided not to support the American-led invasion, with reference to international law. This decision has by some been interpreted as a shift away from Norway's traditional Atlanticist policy. This article illustrates how the second Bondevik Government succeeded in balancing different national interests in the decision-making process. On the one hand, it supported the UN & met the demands of the Norwegian public opinion. On the other hand, it managed to uphold its relationship with the United States. This balancing act illustrates that small states have limited room for manoeuvre in international politics, & will most likely continue to have so in the future. References. Adapted from the source document.

Surveys cooperative roles of the Nordic states in connection to the expansion of the European Union. Overlap between membership in NATO & the EU makes development issues of critical importance for the Nordic states. Aside from taking part in some of the general challenges currently encompassed in the EU agenda, such as the improvement of transatlantic relations & the development of the EU Constitution, the Nordic states should also strive, it is suggested, to play a key role in the EU's expansion to include Baltic states. Nordic investment in environmental development in Russia & the Baltic region, Baltic interest in Nordic policy, & other factors position the Nordic states to be effective role players in the EU expansion. While certain initiatives in this arena have been met with success, a diminished visibility in EU decision making is nonetheless feared. Several suggestions are here made that approach the need to more effectively advance cooperation between both dominant EU powers & newcomers alike. C. Brunski

Decision-making processes during Norway's membership of the UNSC 2001-2002 are the empirical focus of this article. Based on anthropological fieldwork in the period, I discuss why it was necessary for practice and informal processes to be included when international organizations were being studied, but also how Norwegian UN policy was determined during the period. Furthermore, I show how formal structures are a marginalization of practical realities and how informal processes overlap formal structures on the way to consensus being achieved between member states in the UNSC. I investigate how this overlap has implications for policy-making in small states such as Norway when represented in international organizations like the UNSC. It is important to examine how formal instructions are being interpreted, adapted and reformulated through practice and informal action, and, when studying these effects, to illuminate the power relations in international politics. Adapted from the source document.

The role of think tanks in American politics has been increasingly subjected to systematic analysis over the last 10-15 years. In this article I review some of this literature, focusing mainly on the questions of what think tanks are, why this phenomenon is so strongly associated with the US, & what influence think tanks have on US policy-making. Think tanks comprise a wide range of organizations, from pure research institutions to the ideologically-based "advocacy think tanks" characterized by their combination of a strong political agenda & aggressive marketing techniques. The American political system has several features that allow think tanks access to the decision-making process, such as a fragmented structure with a weak party system, a central role for the mass media, & an issue-dominated political agenda. There is no good measure of the general influence of think tanks in US politics, but case studies indicate that the central role of the ideologically-based advocacy think tanks may serve to undermine the role of experts in American politics in the long term. References. Adapted from the source document.

The existence of private organizations such as Blackwater, Red Cross and Standard & Poor's has been criticized by various authors for taking away the central role of the state in the global decision making process. Their solution has been global governance, where transnational and international government driven organizations, such as the European Union or United Nations take the lead. It is argued that the Norwegian debate around this issue is, unfortunately, ill-equipped for tomorrow's challenges. L. Pitkaniemi

This article deals with the duty to consult indigenous peoples and the obligation to involve these peoples in decision-making processes in matters that concern them. After a general review of international legislation and obligations, particularly the ILO Convention no. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, the article focuses on how these obligations are implemented towards the indigenous Sámi in Norwegian law. Here, the consultation agreement from 2005 and the Sámi Rights Committee's 2007 draft are still central. The review includes an analysis of the extent to which these duties meet international law requirements, and a deliberation on the concept of free, prior and informed consent.

Hedge strategies became famous after the strange year of 2008 when Lehman Brothers went bankrupt and the Norwegian stock market crashed by 55%. Countries could benefit from the hedging strategies known from the financial world during an era when the American hegemony is about to end. In a polar or bipolar world where stakes are well known hedging is unnecessary, but in a multipolar world dominated from two to ten states the importance of hedging increases. A successful foreign policy hedging strategy aims at finding a low delta by reducing and managing risk, pushing decision making into the future, keeping options open and developing insurance mechanisms. L. Pitkaniemi

The author analyzes EU actor capacity in security policy with special emphasis on crisis management. She places this within the larger context of security policy & the transatlantic debate over the role of NATO, the case of Iraq, & different national interests of key member states. The author concludes that the EU has steadily developed its capacity to undertake the various types of crisis management, but that the role of the EU as a security actor will be determined by the larger systemic decision making in this area. The crisis over Iraq may very well lead to a consolidation of the EU's role. 33 References. Adapted from the source document.