International Law Obligations Arising in relation to Nationally Determined Contributions

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benoit Mayer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Law ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Legal Obligations ◽  
Nationally Determined Contributions ◽  
The One

AbstractThis article analyzes the international law obligations that arise in relation to nationally determined contributions (NDCs). It argues that distinct and concurrent obligations arise from two separate sources. On the one hand, treaty obligations arise under the Paris Agreement, which imposes an obligation of conduct on parties: they must take adequate measures towards the realization of the mitigation targets contained in their NDCs. On the other hand, communications such as NDCs may constitute unilateral declarations that also create legal obligations. These unilateral declarations impose obligations of various types, which may extend beyond mitigation. For example, they may specify measures of implementation or demand the achievement of a particular result. The potential ‘double-bindingness’ of NDCs should be a central consideration in the interpretation of international law obligations regarding climate change.

Grotian Moments and Peremptory Norms of General International Law: Friendly Facilitators or Fatal Foes?

Grotiana ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-353
Author(s):  
Dire Tladi
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
High Threshold ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
State Practice ◽  
The One ◽  
Jus Cogens ◽  
The Right ◽  
Peremptory Norms ◽  
Law Making

Abstract The concept of a Grotian moment remains rather obscure in international law. On the one hand, it can refer simply to an empirical fact which galvanises the ordinary law-making processes, whether treaty-making or State practice, resulting in major shifts in international law. On the other hand, a Grotian moment might be seen as an event so significant that it results in an extraordinary shift in international law without full adherence to the processes for law-making. The former understanding has little legal significance, while the latter, which would be legally significant, would be controversial and without legal basis. Against this background the article discusses the intersections between peremptory norms and Grotian Moments. It does this by looking at the intersection between the two concepts as well as the intersection between Grotian Moments, on the one hand and, on the other hand, particular jus cogens norms. With respect to the former, for example, the article will consider whether the high threshold of peremptory status facilitates and hinders Grotian moments. With respect to the latter, the article will consider particular norms that have been said to have shifted on account of the Grotian moments, namely the right to use of force in self-defence as well humanitarian intervention.

Part 1 Refugees, 2 Refugees Defined and Described

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Goodwin-Gill Guy S ◽  
McAdam Jane ◽  
Dunlop Emma
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Community ◽  
The Other ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Local Protection ◽  
Ordinary Usage ◽  
The One ◽  
Prompt Response

This chapter defines and describes refugees. The term ‘refugee’ is a term of art, that is, a term with a content verifiable according to principles of general international law. In ordinary usage, it has a broader, looser meaning, signifying someone in flight, who seeks to escape conditions or personal circumstances found to be intolerable. For the purposes of international law, States have further limited the concept of the refugee. Defining refugees may appear an unworthy exercise in legalism and semantics, obstructing a prompt response to the needs of people in distress. On the one hand, States have nevertheless insisted on fairly restrictive criteria for identifying those who benefit from refugee status and asylum or local protection. On the other hand, the definition or description may facilitate and justify aid and protection, while satisfying the relevant criteria ought in practice to indicate entitlement to the pertinent rights or benefits. In determining the content in international law of the class of refugees, therefore, the traditional sources—treaties and the practice of States—must be examined, also taking into account the normative impact of the practice and procedures of the various bodies established by the international community to deal with the problems of refugees.

“Every Act of Preservation is an Act of Creation”: Paul Schrader’s Eco-theology in First Reformed

2020 ◽  
pp. 171-188
Author(s):  
Tatiana Prorokova
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
The Other ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Current State ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
The One

This chapter scrutinizes the complex relationship between climate change and theology, as represented in First Reformed, as well as Paul Schrader’s understanding of humanity’s major problems today. Analyzing the issue of ecological decline through the prism of religion, Schrader outlines the ideology that presumably might help humanity survive at the age of global warming. Through the complex discussions of such issues as despair, anxiety, and hope, Schrader deduces the formula of survival in which preservation is the key component. Equating humans to God, Schrader, on the one hand, censures those actions that led to progress but destroyed the environment, yet, on the other hand, he foregrounds the fact that humans can also save the planet now. Schrader portrays both humans and Earth as living organisms created by God. He draws explicit parallels between the current state of our planet and the problems that we experience – from political ones, including war, to more personal ones like health issues.

The Paris Agreement and the Future of the Climate Regime

2019 ◽  
pp. 189-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annalisa Savaresi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Law ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Global Mean Temperature ◽  
The Future ◽  
International Climate ◽  
The One ◽  
Global Mean ◽  
Important Objective ◽  
Climate Change Governance

This chapter discusses how international law has responded to climate change, focusing on the challenges that have faced implementation of existing climate treaties, and on the suitability of the Paris Agreement to address these. Expectations of this new treaty could scarcely be greater: the Paris Agreement is meant to provide a framework to improve international cooperation on climate change, and to keep the world within the global mean temperature-change goal identified by scientists as safe. Yet, whether and how this important objective will be reached largely depends, on the one hand, on the supporting political will and, on the other, on the redesign of the international architecture for climate governance. This chapter specifically reflects on international law-making and on the approach to climate change governance embedded in the Paris Agreement, drawing inferences from the past, to make predictions on what the future may hold for international climate change law.

Treaties on Transit of Energy via Pipelines and Countermeasures

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azaria Danae
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
The Other ◽  
Competing Interests ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Energy Charter Treaty ◽  
International Responsibility ◽  
The One ◽  
Bilateral Treaties ◽  
The Relationship

This monograph examines the relationship between treaties providing for uninterrupted energy transit and countermeasures under the law of international responsibility. It analyses the obligations governing energy transit through pipelines in multilateral and bilateral treaties, looking at the WTO Agreement, the Energy Charter Treaty, and sixteen bespoke pipeline treaties. It argues that a number of transit obligations under these treaties are indivisible, reflecting the collective interests of states parties. The analysis is placed in the historical and normative landscape of freedom of transit in international law. After setting out the content and scope of obligations concerning transit of energy, it distinguishes countermeasures from treaty law responses, and examines the dispute settlement and compliance supervision provisions in these treaties. Building on these findings, the work discusses the availability and lawfulness of countermeasures as, on the one hand, a means of implementing the transit state’s responsibility for interruptions of energy transit via pipelines; and, on the other hand, circumstances that preclude the wrongfulness of the transit state’s interruptions of transit. The competing interests of the transit state and those of the states dependent on the pipeline make this question one of the most controversial aspects of modern international law.

The European Influence on German Anti-Terrorism Law

2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1056-1065
Author(s):  
Anneke Petzsche
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
National Level ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Terrorist Threat ◽  
International Context ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Legal Obligations ◽  
The One ◽  
Supranational Level

The international context plays a role in the fight against terrorism that is not to be underestimated. On the one hand, international law poses legal obligations that lead and limit the national legislator in his actions. On the other hand, it has become clear that terrorism nowadays is an international problem that concerns not only individual states but the whole international community. The states have recognized that in order to counter the terrorist threat, an approach only on the national level cannot suffice. As a result, the fight against terrorism has shifted increasingly to the international and supranational level. For Germany the European influence is of particular importance. Therefore, the assessment of the European Commission regarding the handling of terrorist threats gains relevance:Modern terrorism is eminently global. The dissemination of propaganda aiming at mobilization and recruitment as well as instructions and online manuals intended for training or planning of attacks via the Internet have an intrinsic international and cross-border character. The threat is international, and so must be at least part of the answer.”

scholarly journals The Atmosphere of Democracy: Knowledge and Political Action

2020 ◽  
pp. 69-91
Author(s):  
Nico Stehr
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Behavioral Changes ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe leading scientists debating climate change increasingly view the relationship between knowledge and governance as an “inconvenient democracy.” On the one hand, the discrepancy between the knowledge of climate change and citizens’ commitments to behavioral changes amounts to the diagnosis of an “inconvenient mind”; on the other hand, the inertia of policies to capture progress in knowledge leads to the diagnosis of “inconvenient institutions.” The sense of political ineffectiveness felt especially among climate scientists provokes a strong disenchantment with democratic governance. As a result, some scientists propose that political action based on principles of democratic governance be abandoned. In my article, I argue that such a view is mistaken.

Review Essay– Erich K. Before the Law: Reflections on Degenhardt's Study of Erich Kaufmann - Book Review of Frank Degenhardt, Zwischen Machtstaat und Völkerbund. Erich Kaufmann (1880–1972). Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2008, pp. 244. Price: 54,- €

2010 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-456
Author(s):  
Reut Yael Paz
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Review Essay ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Practical Work ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
German Identity ◽  
The One

This article is a review-essay of Frank Degenhardt's Zwischen Machtstaat und Völkerbund. Erich Kaufmann (1880–1972), published in 2008. While this review discusses Degenhardt's achievements, it pays much attention to the different academic contexts this research implies: On the one hand this review-essay contextualizes Degenhartds' own research endeavors, and discusses howZwischen Machtstaat und Völkerbundis part and parcel of the growing historical analysis in international law both in Germany and elsewhere. On the other hand, it pays attention to Erich Kaufmann's historical context both on a personal and professional level. Furthermore, this review-essay examines Degenhardt's book dedicated to Kaufmann's contributions to international law in light of Kaufmanns' Jewish German identity that was a lifelongLeitmotivreflected both in his theoretical and practical work.

scholarly journals The Politics of International Law and the Perils and Promises of Interdisciplinarity

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 503-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
TANJA E. AALBERTS
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Plural Identity ◽  
Theory Section ◽  
The One ◽  
Academic Debate

In the previous editorial, Larissa van den Herik and Jean d'Aspremont referred to LJIL's ‘special plural identity’. On the one hand, this plurality shows in its table of contents; on the other hand, the plural identity is equally – if not even more – treasured in terms of appreciating the plurality of voices within the legal discipline, as the editors-in-chief also highlight. Diversity and heterogeneity are an asset for academic debate, and LJIL as such seeks to provide a forum for scholars from different ‘paradigms’. The appreciation of diversity and plurality is also reflected in the interest of LJIL to look beyond the confines of the legal discipline itself and engage with external perspectives to foster discussions about international law. It is in light of this open-mindedness and the wish to reach out to non-legal audiences, and to the international relations community in particular, that I was invited to join the LJIL team some years ago. Whereas there is a growing audience of IR scholars genuinely interested in (theorizing) international law, LJIL is not very well known as a journal with that profile for its International Legal Theory section. As a leading scholar in IR once remarked: ‘LJIL is the best kept secret in IR’. So when the request came for me to write an editorial, it seemed only apt to reflect upon some of the perils and promises of interdisciplinarity from my experience as an IR scholar within the LJIL editorial board.

Choosing among the Shades of Nuance: The Discourse of Proportionality in International Law

Global Jurist ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Grigory Vaypan
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Dialectical Structure ◽  
Law And Politics ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Legal Discourses ◽  
The One ◽  
Argumentative Practice

AbstractProportionality has been largely misunderstood both by its proponents and by its critics. On the one hand, it has been wrongly regarded as a more transparent and at the same time a more controllable alternative to other types of legal discourses. On the other hand, it has been incorrectly viewed as a realm of unlimited subjectivity and pure politics. In fact, proportionality oscillates between law and politics, trying to reconcile the two yet constantly falling into one or another. The article studies the dialectical structure of proportionality and explores proportionality as an argumentative practice.

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