Subverting Eurocentric Epistemology

2021 ◽  
pp. 145-161
Author(s):  
Mohsen al Attar
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Third World ◽  
Fundamental Problem ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Current Regime ◽  
Know How ◽  
The Status

Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) has a fundamental problem: its scholars don’t quite know how to relate to international law. This problem is constitutive of the theory, born as it was out of disillusionment with the failures of decolonisation and, of course, of international law. As a consequence, we find in TWAIL scholarship the juxtaposition of powerful critiques of international law alongside noisy calls for more international law. TWAIL’s aspirational projects are timid, constrained as they are by TWAIL’s overriding commitment to a legal regime its scholars bemoan. In this chapter, I propose to use counterfactuals to overcome the schizophrenia. I treat counterfactuals as a device that enables methodical explorations of alternative legal imaginaries. Contrary to Venzke, I propose exploring counterfactuals that are neither probable nor sensible within the current regime. For TWAIL, counterfactuals have value if they facilitate thinking beyond the rigidity of the status quo. And that’s the point: if TWAIL’s mission is to upend Eurocentric epistemology and practice, we must begin to imagine international law outside the parameters established by Europe.

8 Conclusion

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabahi Borzu
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Other ◽  
State Responsibility ◽  
Private Law ◽  
Public International Law ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Status ◽  
Dual Origin

This chapter discusses ten important findings included in this book. One finding is the dual origin of the modern rules on State responsibility and reparation in both private law notions and public international law, resulting in the objective of reparation of putting the aggrieved party in the ‘hypothetical position’, that would have existed if the unlawful act had not occurred. This objective is mirrored in the modern Chorz ów Factory formula. Restitution, which seeks to re-establish the status quo ante, may need to be accompanied by additional compensation to fully reach the hypothetical position. The amount of compensation, on the other hand, based on the recent jurisprudence, may vary depending on whether the acts complained of were lawful or unlawful. Other important points arising from this study concerning the principles of reparation and compensation are also highlighted in the chapter.

REFUGEES AND CONFLICT SITUATIONS

1988 ◽  
Vol 28 (265) ◽  
pp. 321-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
The Review
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Third World ◽  
Population Movements ◽  
The Third ◽  
Humanitarian Organizations ◽  
Conflict Situations ◽  
The People ◽  
The Status ◽  
The One ◽  
The Third World

The protection of refugees and displaced persons is guaranteed by many universal and regional instruments of international law. The rules are there, but for several years the humanitarian organizations charged with implementing them have constantly had to face new situations brought about by the scale and frequency of mass population movements, especially in the Third World, and new types of violence which affect both the status and the possibilities for protection of the people concerned. Very often, the solutions arrived at by these bodies have taken the form of assistance rather than protection, the one not always easily distinguishable from the other.

scholarly journals Is Russia an Arctic Status Quo Power?

Politik ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Larsen Nonboe
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Law ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
North Pole ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Russian Foreign Policy ◽  
The North ◽  
The Status

Russian foreign policy in the increasingly important Arctic region reflects an ambiguous combination of assertiveness and cooperation in accordance with international law. Against this background, the existing literature on the Arctic tends to polarise around revisionist and status quo interpretations of Russian foreign policy in the region. The present paper contrasts the divergent interpretations through case studies of the Russian flag planting on the North Pole seabed in 2007 and Russia’s participation at the Ilulissat Summit in 2008 which can be seen as ‘crucial’ cases for the competing interpretations. Overall, the case studies provide support for a modidied version of the status quo interpretation which incorporates insights from the revisionist interpretation. 

4 Restitution

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabahi Borzu
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
Rightful Owner ◽  
Legal Situation ◽  
Specific Performance ◽  
The Status ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
Disproportionate Burden

This chapter focuses on one form of reparation in international law: restitution. Restitution requires the re-establishment of the situation that had existed before the commission of an internationally wrongful act or the status quo ante. Though restitution has been recognized as the primary remedy in international law, practical limitations have minimized its use in international investment law. Here, the power of tribunals to award restitution in international law and the enforceability of such awards are discussed. The two general forms of restitution are then explored: firstly, material restitution, which includes the restitution of property and of money wrongfully taken from a rightful owner; and, secondly, juridical restitution, which requires restoring the legal situation that existed before the commission of the wrongful act, and includes specific performance. The doctrines of impossibility and disproportionate burden are also discussed with their limiting effect on restitution.

Domesticating Treaties in the Legal System of South Sudan – A Monist or Dualist Approach?

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 378-400
Author(s):  
Ruben S. P. Valfredo
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
South Sudan ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Treaty Ratification ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
The Status ◽  
Mixed Approach ◽  
International Conventions

This article examines the approach for the domestication of treaties in South Sudan. Such examination is undergone in light of the theories for the domestication of international law norms into the domestic legal systems of state members of the international community. The article establishes that the approach in South Sudan is not clearly indicated, and seems to be inconsistent with regard to the practice of various institutions linked to the domestication of treaties process in South Sudan. However, the article expands on two foundations: the status quo and the ‘ought to be’ approach. The article argues that the approach as it exists seems to be a monist rather than a dualist approach. This is evident from the indicators of South Sudan's constitutional, legislative and judicial settings such as the text of the Transitional Constitution of South Sudan 2011, the treaty ratification process, the practices of the National Legislative Assembly in respect of international conventions and a judicial circular issued by the Supreme Court of South Sudan. Furthermore, the article advances that the ‘as ought to exist’ approach needs to be a clearly mixed approach, partly monist and partly dualist. Such approach combines the advantages associated with each approach in one place. The article recommends that there is a need to have a well informed, well established and clear status in respect of the domestication approach guided by the various arrangements and settings highlighted above. It may also take account of the various states’ attitudes towards international law and the legal school of thought which forms the basis of South Sudan legal system. Such recommendation could be materialised via an act of parliament, a regulation or a practice manual.

THE LEGAL REGIME OF WRECKS OF WARSHIPS AND OTHER STATE-OWNED SHIPS IN INTERNATIONAL LAW: THE 2015 RESOLUTION OF THE INSTITUT DE DROIT INTERNATIONAL

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-200
Author(s):  
Sarah Dromgoole
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Preliminary Report ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Considerable Uncertainty ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Law ◽  
Droit International

The status in international law of operational warships and other ships used only on governmental non-commercial service has been long established. In contrast, the status of such vessels after they have sunk has been, and remains, a matter of considerable uncertainty. The uncertainty arises in no small part from the absence of any provision in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea relating to sunken State vessels or, indeed, to wrecks more generally. Over the last 30 years, technological advances have led to the discovery of many new wreck sites, fuelling international interest in the status of sunken State wrecks. At its Santiago Session in 2007, the Institut de droit international established its 9th Scientific Commission to look into the matter. A Preliminary Report, drafted by the Commission’s Rapporteur, Professor Natalino Ronzitti, was discussed at the Rhodes Session in 2011 and, after further deliberations, a Resolution entitled “The Legal Regime of Wrecks of Warships and Other State-Owned Ships in International Law” was adopted by the Tallinn Session in August 2015. This contribution sets out the background to the work of the 9th Commission, outlines the substance of the Resolution, and offers some observations thereon.

Past, Present and Future of the International Law of Transboundary Aquifers

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerstin Mechlem
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Water Law ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Law ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Transboundary Aquifers ◽  
Law Commission ◽  
The Way

AbstractThe article discusses the development of international groundwater law from the first codification efforts of modern water law until present and raises relevant issues for the way forward. It first traces international groundwater law from the 1960s until the end of the last century. It then reviews the growing attention groundwater has received during the last decade and third discusses the status quo. It places particular emphasis on the 2008 Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers adopted by the International Law Commission and the legal arrangements made for five of the 273 transboundary aquifers. It concludes with thoughts on the way forward in this important and understudied area of international law.

scholarly journals Coordination, Learning, and Coups

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 204-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew T. Little
Keyword(s):  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Current Regime ◽  
The Status ◽  
Ambiguous Effect ◽  
The Military

This article proposes a theory of coups that centers around coordination and learning. The military is modeled as many officers who only want to join a coup if others join as well (i.e., coordination). If the current regime has survived past coup attempts, it is common knowledge that it is relatively strong (i.e., learning). Combining these effects, once the regime survives the first period, officers know that the regime is strong enough that they may refrain from staging a coup—regardless of how dissatisfied they may become with the status quo—under the mutually enforcing expectation that no other officer will rebel. The model has other equilibria where coup attempts can occur after the first period, allowing for more detailed empirical predictions. The analysis highlights several reasons why new regimes are prone to coups, but among regimes surviving the initial turmoil, structural factors that would seem to predict coup attempts can have an ambiguous effect. The model also makes novel predictions about how the “initial conditions” of a regime as well as what kinds of changes to payoffs affect the likelihood of coups.

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