scholarly journals Subnational Leaders and Diplomacy

Author(s):  
Joana Setzer ◽  
Karen Anderton

Subnational diplomacy has become an increasingly important part of foreign policy and international relations. This observation concerns a state of affairs that is not necessarily obvious or given. First, by definition, subnational governments usually conduct subnational activities and address problems that affect their constituencies. Second, in many countries subnational governments undertake such an agenda without an actual legal framework authorizing such initiatives. However, with an intensified global interdependency, policy areas such as environmental protection, human rights, immigration, and trade, just to name a few, require action both at the international and territorialized levels, as many of them transcend political administrative boundaries. As a result, in the early 21st century it is possible to determine various forms of international relations conducted by subnational leaders. This activity involves direct interactions undertaken by subnational leaders and bureaucrats with other actors across borders (private, non-governmental, and governmental—national or subnational), participation in transnational networks, and/or participation in international policymaking. Because subnational governments are closer to the people and can test experimental or groundbreaking policies with less risk, oftentimes they can become pioneers of measures that can be rolled out or replicated elsewhere in the international domain. Such policy leadership is just one element of subnational engagement in the diplomatic arena whereby subnational governments move across jurisdictional levels, breaking the fixed scales in which they would traditionally operate. In the past years, scholars investigating the external relations undertaken by subnational governments have dedicated great effort to understanding the motivations for regions to go into the international arena. What these studies lack, however, is an understanding of what the implications are of subnational governments’ engagement in international relations.

Author(s):  
David M. Malone ◽  
C. Raja Mohan ◽  
Srinath Raghavan

India has emerged as a leading voice in global affairs in the past two decades. Its fast-growing domestic market largely explains the ardour with which Delhi is courted by powers great and small. India is also becoming increasingly important to global geostrategic calculations, being the only Asian country with the heft to counterbalance China over time. Nevertheless, India’s foreign policy has been relatively neglected in the existing literature. ThisHandbook, edited by three widely recognized students of the topic, provides an extensive survey of India’s external relations. The authors include leading Indian scholars and commentators of the field and several outstanding foreign scholars and practitioners. They address factors in Indian foreign policy flowing from both history and geography and also discuss key relationships, issues, and multilateral forums through which the country’s international relations are refracted.


This volume asks a question that is deceptive in its simplicity: Could international law have been otherwise? In other words, what were the past possibilities, if any, for a different law? The search for contingency in international law is often motivated, including in the present volume, by the refusal to accept the present state of affairs and by the hope that recovering possibilities of the past will facilitate a different future. The volume situates the search for contingency theoretically and within many fields of international law, such as human rights and armed conflict, migrants and refugees, the sea and natural resources, and foreign investment and trade. Today there is hardly a serious account that would consider the path of international law to be necessary and that would deny the possibility of a different law altogether. At the same time, however, behind every possibility of the past stands a reason – or reasons – why the law developed as it did. Those who embark in search of contingency soon encounter tensions when they want to recover past possibilities without downplaying patterns of determination and domination. Nevertheless, while warring critical sensibilities may point in different directions, only a keen sense of why things turned out the way they did makes it possible to argue about how they could plausibly have turned out differently.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani

Media, Liberty and Politics in Malaysia: Comparative Studies on Local Dynamics and Regional Concernsis based on a collection of twelve academic papers. This book traces the development and progress of Malaysia as a nation that embraces issues of media, liberty and politics as essential parts of its culture, policy and well-being of the people. In between the 2008 and the 2013 General Elections, Malaysians have transformed themselves and demanded to form a more democratic society. Issues of political freedom, human rights, good governance and human dignity have become important and will determine the future of the Malaysian society. Besides, this book also tries to compare democratic practices in Malaysia with its neighbours such as Indonesia, Thailand and Australia, plus the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as an organisation to promote democratisation and strong ties between its members. This book is suitable for all particularly the academics, students of politics and international relations, journalists, legal practitioners, and the general public who are interested in the issues of media, liberty and politics in Malaysia.


2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esin Örücü

This article aims to assess the work of the courts as navigators when law meets culture in Turkey, where the culture of the official legal system and the culture of the people do not always accord. First the conceptual framework used is analysed, then readers are introduced to the peculiarities of Turkish law and socioculture, and finally, the work of the judge is considered. Selected cases are in three groups: cases where courts face culture contrary to the vision embodied in the official legal framework; then, where courts face culture which can be catered for within the legal framework, though not in keeping with it, and now need revision because of the aspired European Union membership; and finally, where courts face demands of further Europeanisation and human rights law from the outside, which may or may not fit in the framework or the traditional values of the people.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiago Tavares ◽  
Bruno Masiero

This is a lab report paper about the state of affairs in the computer music research group at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Campinas (FEEC/Unicamp). This report discusses the people involved in the group, the efforts in teaching and the current research work performed. Last, it provides some discussions on the lessons learned from the past few years and some pointers for future work.


Afrika Focus ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-57
Author(s):  
Darsheenee Raumnauth ◽  
Roopanand Mahadew

This article reviews the obligations under international law of the United Kingdom and Mauritius towards the Chagossians. With the detachment of Chagos from Mauritius as an essential condition for the independence of Mauritius from the British colonial master, the Chagossians have, over the past four decades, endured enormous human rights violations . This article assesses the responsibility of the two states vis-à-vis the Chagossians. A comprehensive factual account is first presented to clarify understanding of the history of Chagos. The legal framework is then analysed to assess the responsibility of each state, before a number of recommendations are made.


Afrika Focus ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Darsheenee Raumnauth ◽  
Roopanand Mahadew

This article reviews the obligations under international law of the United Kingdom and Mauritius towards the Chagossians. With the detachment of Chagos from Mauritius as an essential condition for the independence of Mauritius from the British colonial master, the Chagossians have, over the past four decades, endured enormous human rights violations. This article assesses the responsibility of the two states vis-à-vis the Chagossians. A comprehensive factual account is rst presented to clarify understanding of the history of Chagos. The legal framework is then analysed to assess the responsibility of each state, before a number of recommendations are made. Key words: Chagos, Mauritius, United Kingdom, British Indian Ocean territories 


2002 ◽  
Vol 41 (03) ◽  
pp. 191-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shigeaki Hinohara

SummaryIn this paper I mention the 19-year history of International Health Evaluation Association (IHEA) which was started in Washington D.C. by the great effort of Dr. G. Gilbert in Hawaii. In 1973 three regions were organized in this Association: 1) U.S.A., 2) Europe and 3) Pan-Pacific including Asia.I also mention the history of periodical health checkups in U.K., U.S.A. and Japan. In Japan it started in 1954, however, after adapting the system of Automated Multiphase Health Testing designed by the Kaiser Foundation of Auckland, Calif., in 1973, Japanese people paid much attention to this health screening system and the number of hospitals and clinics for health screening has increased tremendously and the number of examinees amounted to 2,875,449 in 2001.Finally, I conclude that IHEA should create a multi-disciplinary system to sustain a lifestyle with a high level of Quality of Life (QOL) for the people who really want to live fruitful lives by the successive health education.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-157
Author(s):  
Catherine Le Bris

Abstract The harmful consequences of female circumcision for women’s health have been demonstrated and are regularly recalled by the World Health Organisation. Whereas in the past, the cultural dimension of the practice was emphasised, which result in impunity or absence of guilt, it is now considered by the United Nations as a violation of human rights, especially of the right to health. In 2012, the General Assembly asked States for a total ban on the practice. Despite the consensus on the punishability of female circumcision, its enforcement diverges, in particular in Western Europe. France is considered as a model in this area, that’s why this study focuses on it. Yet, under French law, there is no special legislation criminalising the practice: female circumcision is punishable on grounds of mutilation. However, the French success is not complete: the prevention of such acts could be improved.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 837-850
Author(s):  
Emma Irving

AbstractThe drafters of the Rome Statute sought to accord human rights a central place within the legal framework of the International Criminal Court (ICC). This was done not only through numerous provisions on the rights of the accused, victims, and witnesses, but also through the inclusion of the overarching Article 21(3) of the Rome Statute. Article 21(3) Rome Statute requires that the interpretation and application of all ICC law be consistent with internationally recognized human rights. While this provision has been employed on numerous occasions to bolster human rights protection in the ICC legal framework, it is not without its limits. In a series of decisions over the past few years, ICC judges have placed limits on the protections that can be read into the ICC legal framework on the basis of Article 21(3). Beyond stating that the ICC ‘is not a human rights court’, the decisions in question articulate no clear justification for the limitations imposed on Article 21(3). The present article analyses these decisions and identifies the underlying rationale for the Court’s approach: the principle of speciality. However, the picture is further complicated by the judges’ willingness to overlook the principle of speciality when particularly serious violations of human rights are involved. This leaves the precise contours of human rights protection in the ICC legal framework undefined.


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