scholarly journals Painting international law as universal: imperialism and the co-opting of image and art

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-398
Author(s):  
Kate Miles

Abstract Visual international law tells stories. Image and art supporting imperialism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries also projected the authority and universalism of international law. This article argues that depictions of treaty-making, of international legal theorists, and of conferences were about painting European international law as ‘successful’—telling stories of an authoritative, universal, and virtue-laden mode of international regulation.

Author(s):  
Enzo Cannizzaro

The chapter discusses the philosophical foundations of the current regulation of the use of force. The chapter argues that, in correspondence with the emergence of a sphere of substantive rules protecting common interests of humankind, international law is also gradually developing a system of protection against egregious breaches of these interests. This conclusion is reached through an analysis of the law and practice governing the action of the UN Security Council as well as the law of state responsibility concerning individual and collective reactions to serious breaches of common interests. This system is based on positive obligations imposed upon individual states as well as UN organs, and it appears to be still rudimentary and inefficient. However, the chapter suggests that the mere existence of this system, these shortcomings notwithstanding, has the effect of promoting the further development of the law in search for more appropriate mechanisms of protection.


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 507-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANIEL JOYCE

AbstractThis article considers the relationship of international law and the media through the prism of human rights. In the first section the international regulation of the media is examined and visions of good, bad, and new media emerge. In the second section, the enquiry is reversed and the article explores the ways in which the media is shaping international legal forms and processes in the field of human rights. This is termed the ‘mediatization of international law’. Yet despite hopes for new media and the Internet to transform international law, the theoretical work of Jodi Dean warns of the danger to democracy of commodification through the spread of ‘communicative capitalism’.


1998 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay Moir

That humanitarian rules were applicable in armed conflicts was accepted long before the nineteenth century, but the fact that non-international armed conflicts were regarded as beyond the ambit of international regulation meant that the application of such norms to internal armed conflicts was certainly not a matter of course. Towards the end of the eighteenth century there had been a move towards the application of the laws of warfare to non-international armed conflicts as well as international conflicts, but this was based on the character of the conflicts and the fact that both were often of a similar magnitude, rather than any humanitarian concern to treat the victims of both equally. Not until the nineteenth century did the application of the laws of war to non-international armed conflicts become a widespread issue in international law.


Author(s):  
Surya P Subedi

This chapter discusses the development and current state of international investment law, which encompasses international finance law, international trade law, international investment law, and regional economic trade agreements. Recent progressions in the area of international financial law, international trade law, and investment law demonstrate that other areas of international regulation have a decisive influence on international investment law. Moreover, international investment law is more increasingly focused on development concerns. International investment law is currently going through an exciting phase in its development. It has now become one of the fastest changing areas of international law with exciting and far-reaching implications for both investment-receiving and investment-exporting countries, thanks to enterprising claimants and innovative interpretations and expansive approaches adopted by international investment tribunals. This chapter seeks to capture the law and the recent trends in both State practice and jurisprudence in this area of international law.


Author(s):  
Antonio Segura Serrano

The international regulation of the Internet may be understood in two different ways. From a narrow point of view, it may be conceived as equivalent to Internet governance, i.e. comprising exclusively the institutional arrangements that enable the Internet to function. From a comprehensive point of view, it may be interpreted more widely, including all sectors and areas where international law rules that intersect or interact with the Internet may be found. The Internet is a pervasive network that nowadays touches upon the lives of public and private actors. This article aims to present an account of the many domains in which international regulation may be found or may be needed if universal or community interests are to be protected. If although state practice and the codification of international law rules regarding the Internet are now in flux, due to the unwillingness of states or, in other words, the impossibility of finding universal consensus on the matter, it is possible to identify areas in international law that already apply to online activities. To be sure, this use is in many instances a difficult one, as this new technology challenges the extant legal framework. But today the applicability of international law to activities carried out with respect to the Internet is not only possible, it is also necessary as this new medium is truly global. Even though if there is not a new demos, or because of that, international law rules in the traditional sense are needed to solve the new challenges. This is why traditional doctrines on jurisdiction and state responsibility, together with cybersecurity rules (warfare is not the object of this contribution), have been put to work, with adjustments necessary to make their functioning appropriate to the new circumstances. Furthermore, taking into account the reinforced role of nonstate actors in this field, international cooperation is needed to address the problems of cybercrime, cyber espionage, and cyber terrorism, although in this the latter is not as ubiquitous as the former. Moreover, international human rights norms must be confirmed with respect to the Internet, as those rights are exposed to the same risks, if not more, by state activities as in the real world. Finally, the issue of Internet governance as addressed in this article is treated as one in which it is necessary to ensure in the long run that this new medium is organized following the principles of democracy and inclusion.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 435-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
DARAGH MURRAY

AbstractInternational humanitarian law establishes explicit safeguards applicable to detention occurring in non-international armed conflict. However, debate exists as to whether these treaty provisions establish an implicit legal basis for detention. This article approaches this debate in light of the application of international humanitarian law to non-state armed groups. It examines the principal arguments against implicit detention authority and then applies the law of treaty interpretation to international humanitarian law's detention-related provisions. On the basis of current understandings of international law – and the prohibition of arbitrary detention in particular – it is concluded that international humanitarian law must be interpreted as establishing implicit detention authority, in order to ensure the continued regulation of armed groups. Although, perhaps, problematic from certain states’ perspective, this conclusion is reflective of the current state of international law. However, this is not necessarily the end of the story. A number of potential ‘ways forward’ are identified: implicit detention authority may be (i) rejected; (ii) accepted; or (iii) re-examined in light of the non-state status of armed groups, and what this means for the content of the prohibition of arbitrary detention. These scenarios are examined in light of the desire to ensure: the coherency of international law including recognition of the role of armed groups, the continued effectiveness of international humanitarian law, and state sovereignty. An emphasis is placed on understanding the non-state status of armed groups and what this means for international regulation and the content of imposed obligations.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Andrew Robert Jack

<p>When a broadcaster broadcasts directly to people living in another state disputes can arise. The audience may find the programmes offensive. The programmes may foment disorder and rebellion and corrupt the values and traditions of the inhabitants of the receiving state or even threaten their very survival. The problem is not new. It has been a source of international tension since the inception of broadcast technology. The problem has however become more pointed as that technology has become ever more sophisticated. The power of radio is aptly illustrated by recalling the panic caused in 1938 by Orson Welles' famous hoax broadcast announcing the invasion of Earth by Martians. More recently commentators such as James Miles, BBC correspondent in Peking at the time, have suggested that the rebellion in China before and after the massacre at Tianamen Square was fomented, prolonged and to a degree coordinated by programmes broadcast on overseas radio stations such as Voice of America and the BBC. Television has a much greater graphic capacity than radio and is also vulnerable to abusive techniques such as subliminal suggestion and advertising. The impact of television is set for another great leap ahead as the development of High Definition Television technology proceeds apace. The development of communications satellites has greatly increased the range and quality of broadcasts. There have been a number of attempts to address this problem but none have met with much success. The international community has polarised into two camps, one taking a position based on a very strict view of the right to freedom of expression, and the other insisting that that right yield to a degree at least to accommodate peoples' rights to determine their own economic, social and cultural development. This paper offers a solution to this impasse. It offers guidelines to help resolve international broadcasting disputes. The guidelines are based on the international human right to freedom of expression as viewed particularly by the two bodies responsible for drafting that right's most famous exposition in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the host of other international and constitutional instruments which it inspired. It is argued that cultural relativity in the human rights context is consistent with the sources of international law specified in article 38 of the statue of the International Court of Justice, and that by incorporating a degree of cultural relativity the guidelines advocated herein are similarly consistent with current international law. It is also shown that the view of human rights the guidelines evince is consistent with a version of constructivist human rights theory which accords with observable practice and which enjoys widespread academic support. Some alternative methods for addressing the problem arising from international broadcasting are examined and their shortcomings identified. This leads to the conclusion that the method proposed in this paper for regulating international broadcasting, notwithstanding that it is most surely within the realm of de lege ferenda, is both consistent with current international law and jurisprudentially defensible, and therefore better than the alternatives.</p>


Author(s):  
Dan Tarlock

This chapter examines the environmental regulation of freshwater in both developed and developing countries. It first provides a historical background on the evolution of legal systems in developed and developing countries to address water pollution, including the emergence of the construct ‘normative river’, before discussing three water conservation regimes: the regulation of waste discharges into streams and lakes; the establishment of minimum or base flows in streams and levels in lakes; and the protection of wetlands connected to surface water bodies from loss through conversion to non-wetland cultivated or developed land. The basic instruments used in water pollution control are considered, along with national versus international regulation of waste stream discharges, reduction of effluent discharges, the growing recognition of environmental flows in national and international law, and the principle of equitable and reasonable utilization. The chapter concludes with an analysis of trends in the environmental regulation of freshwater.


Author(s):  
Png Cheong-Ann

This chapter looks at the origins of the international regulation of tainted money. This has its origins in laws concerning drugs, in particular the illicit production and trafficking of drugs and the connection of that trade to organised crime. More recently, terrorism, whether financed from the proceeds of crime or tainted money or with legitimate funds, has come under the rubric of the international regulation of tainted money as well. The chapter describes how the principal international initiatives in the development of international law and standards in these areas have been at the levels of the United Nations (UN) and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The UN conventions and UN Security Council resolutions as well as the FATF Recommendations, the chapter concludes, should be kept in view when considering proceeds of crime and tainted money. This chapter provides a framework for understanding these instruments, including their implications for domestic law and practice.


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