Foreign Relations Law in the Constitutions and Courts of Commonwealth African Countries

2019 ◽  
pp. 581-600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest Yaw Ako ◽  
Richard Frimpong Oppong
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
African Countries ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status

This chapter examines the laws and jurisprudence in Commonwealth African countries that implicate their interactions with the rest of the world. It uses a qualitative comparative research approach to examine their laws and values relevant to such interactions. The chapter analyzes the status and relationship between international law and the constitutions of these states by examining themes such as the extent to which international values are reflected in their constitutions; how foreign relations authority is constitutionally allocated; and treaty-making powers and implementation mechanisms. The chapter discusses the extent to which courts in Commonwealth Africa are prepared to intervene or judicially review matters that may be deemed as pertaining to foreign relations. Although none of the constitutions in these countries give their courts an express role in foreign relations matters, the existing jurisprudence suggests that courts have a critical role to play and have intervened in some cases to ensure adherence to constitutional norms.

scholarly journals Reformation of the united nations security council as a key issue in world politics

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 42-58
Author(s):  
Yuri A. Tsvetkov
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Security Council ◽  
World Order ◽  
World Politics ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
The World ◽  
Permanent Member ◽  
The Status

The author of the article substantiates the position that the issue of reform of the Security Council, the main political body of the UN, is a key issue in world politics and international law, and intersects with the strategic interests of states, the most active players on the world stage, as well as the interests of all regions of the world. The article analyzes the advantages afforded to permanent members of this body and describes the main approaches to Security Council reform. It critically assesses attempts to deconstruct the world order through such reform and suggests ways to counter them. It also formulates criteria for evaluating compliance with the status of a permanent member of the Security Council. and demonstrates the potential of these criteria by evaluating the validity of claims and real chances for this status by the group of four G-4 states (Brazil, India, Germany, and Japan), as well as by European and African countries. The author offers a model of UN Security Council reform that takes into account the interests of Russia and world realities.

Toward the Fifth Restatement of U.S. Foreign Relations Law

2020 ◽  
pp. 335-358
Author(s):  
Pamela K. Bookman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Law ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public International Law ◽  
State Practice ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
International Adjudication

This chapter discusses the debate that the Fourth Restatement of Foreign Relations Law of the United States has sparked regarding the status of adjudicative jurisdiction under public international law. The Fourth Restatement has received considerable attention for its conclusion that adjudicative jurisdiction is not a concern of public international law. But exercises of adjudicative jurisdiction around the world are not static. Innovations and expansions of international adjudication in courts around the world are in process and looming on the horizon. This chapter surveys these developments and considers whether they could lead the next Restatement to alter its position on adjudicative jurisdiction. It also evaluates how these developments could translate into state practice and expressions of opinio juris that might affect the international law status of adjudicative jurisdiction.

The United Nations and Some African Political Attitudes

1964 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 499-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali A. Mazrui
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
African Countries ◽  
The Status ◽  
Domestic Affairs

What constitutes “sovereign statehood”? Elaborate answers can be given under international law, under theories of international relations, under jurisprudence, and under general political philosophy. But from the point of view of African countries the empirical answer is perhaps the simplest. These countries know that it was not when they assumed control of their domestic affairs that they ceased to be colonies. As a matter of experience, many of them found that the ultimate expression of sovereignty was not direct rule internally but direct diplomatic relations with other countries abroad. The very process of attaining independence might, in their case, be reduced to a single catch phrase—“from foreign rule to foreign relations.” In other words, an African colony was said to have attained independence when it had moved from the status of being under foreign rule to the status of conducting foreign relations with full authority.

International Law in Chinese Courts

2019 ◽  
pp. 547-564
Author(s):  
Congyan Cai
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Professional Competence ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Major Development ◽  
Chinese Perspective ◽  
The Status ◽  
Major Factors ◽  
Private Actors ◽  
The Comparative Study

This chapter adds a Chinese perspective to the comparative study of how national courts treat international law. The chapter finds that the application of international law in Chinese courts is influenced by several major factors, including China’s ambivalence toward international law, the role that the judiciary plays in China’s national governance, and the professional competence of Chinese judges. In particular, the failure of China’s Constitution to specify the status of international law makes secondary laws less likely to embrace international law: many secondary laws do not mention international law at all; only a modest number of secondary laws automatically incorporate international law. This also means that Chinese judges are discouraged from invoking international law in adjudicating disputes. However, in line with and in support of China’s economic opening policy since the late 1970s, Chinese judges regularly apply those treaties that deal with commercial relations between private actors. A major development is that, as China rises as a great power, Chinese courts have begun to prudently become more involved in foreign relations by applying international law.

Multi-Dimensional Factors Impacting on E-Government Adoption in Botswana, Mozambique, and Malawi

2013 ◽  
pp. 58-71
Author(s):  
Kelvin Joseph Bwalya ◽  
Tanya Du Plessis ◽  
Chris Rensleigh
Keyword(s):  
Positive Impact ◽  
Base Stations ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Ict Skills ◽  
Government Services ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Literature Reviews ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Impact

With widespread adoption of ICT usage in public service delivery platforms (e-Government) throughout the world, African countries have vowed not to be left behind in this marathon. Robust e-Government adoption depends on the strategy employed to implement it. This paper presents the different initiatives that have been employed to promote e-Government development and development in Botswana, Mozambique and Malawi thereby showing the impact of such initiatives on overall e-Government agenda. Using extensive document and literature reviews, this paper further intends to investigate the status of e-Government implementation in these three countries and understand the multi-dimensional factors that dictate adoption and use of e-Government services. The paper has found that deliberate fiscal ICT policies, trust of e-applications, availability of ICT infrastructures such as appropriate mobile phone and base stations technology, usability of ICT platforms, and relevant ICT skills of ordinary citizens have a lasting positive impact on people’s intention to engage in e-Government.

International Law in American Courts

2020 ◽  
pp. 145-178
Author(s):  
Gary Born
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Current Treatment ◽  
Federal Courts ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
State Involvement ◽  
System P ◽  
The Status

This chapter looks at the grave flaws in the current treatment of international law in American courts. Both the status and content of public and private international law in the United States are uncertain, frequently governed by contradictory or parochial rules of State law; the resulting body of international law that is applied by U.S. courts is unpredictable and incoherent. Over the past fifty years, U.S. federal courts have also increasingly marginalized both international law and the role of American courts in resolving international disputes. This treatment of international law threatens serious damage to historic U.S. values and frustrates vitally important national policies. The chapter then considers how the current treatment of international law in American courts is also contrary to the U.S. Constitution’s allocation of authority over the nation’s foreign relations and international trade, which vests the federal government with both plenary and exclusive authority over U.S. foreign relations and commerce, while, exceptionally, forbidding State involvement in either field. Moreover, this treatment conflicts with vital national interests and policies in both fields, frustrating long-standing national interests in the nation’s compliance with international law and development of the international legal system.

2. Legal systems and sources of law

2020 ◽  
pp. 35-70
Author(s):  
Scott Slorach ◽  
Judith Embley ◽  
Peter Goodchild ◽  
Catherine Shephard
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Civil Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status

This chapter focuses on the sources of law in England & Wales, and is organised as follows. Section 2.1 describes the key jurisdictions relevant to lawyers in England and Wales. Section 2.2 deals with the issue of where the law comes from: sources of law. Section 2.3 reviews the development of the two ‘traditional’ sources of law in England and Wales: case law and statutes. Sections 2.4 and 2.5 consider the status and operation of EU and international law, including the potential effect of Brexit. Section 2.7 goes on to discuss public and private law, common law, and civil law, and other classifications used by lawyers. This is followed by a discussion of legal systems and their cultures across the world.

Claiming Rights across Borders: International Human Rights and Democratic Sovereignty

2009 ◽  
Vol 103 (4) ◽  
pp. 691-704 ◽  
Author(s):  
SEYLA BENHABIB
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
Global Constitutionalism ◽  
Self Rule ◽  
Human Rights Norms

The status of international law and transnational legal agreements with respect to the sovereignty claims of liberal democracies has become a highly contentious theoretical and political issue. Although recent European discussions focus on global constitutionalism, there is increasing reticence on the part of many that prospects of a world constitution are neither desirable nor salutary. This article more closely considers criticisms of these legal transformations by distinguishing the nationalist from democratic sovereigntiste positions, and both, from diagnoses that see the universalization of human rights norms either as the Trojan horse of a global empire or as neocolonialist intentions to assert imperial control over the world. These critics ignore “the jurisgenerativity of law.” Although democratic sovereigntistes are wrong in minimizing how human rights norms improve democratic self-rule; global constitutionalists are also wrong in minimizing the extent to which cosmopolitan norms require local contextualization, interpretation, and vernacularization by self-governing peoples.

Islam and international law

2005 ◽  
Vol 87 (858) ◽  
pp. 269-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheikh Wahbeh al-Zuhili
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
Rules And Principles ◽  
Internal Affairs ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis article by an Islamic scholar describes the principles governing international law and international relations from an Islamic viewpoint. After presenting the rules and principles governing international relations in the Islamic system, the author emphasizes the principles of sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of other States and the aspiration of Islam to peace and harmony. He goes on to explain the relationship between Muslims and others in peacetime or in the event of war and the classical jurisprudential division of the world into the abode of Islam (dar al-islam) and that of war (dar al-harb). Lastly he outlines the restrictions imposed upon warfare by Islamic Shari'a law which have attained the status of legal rules.

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