Legitimacy Narratives in Polycentric Water Law and Governance

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mónika Ambrus
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Social Acceptance ◽  
International Organization ◽  
Danube River ◽  
Water Law ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Specific Nature ◽  
Polycentric Governance ◽  
Global Water

Global water law and governance is horizontally and vertically fragmented, very complex, involves both state and non-state parties, and is established under and / or mandated by national, supranational (eu) or international law. Accordingly, it can be qualified as polycentric governance. Any governance system — but a polycentric governance system in particular — raises questions of its legitimacy. The paper aims to look at one specific segment of this legitimacy discourse, namely how an international organization that is a ‘centrepiece’ in a polycentric governance system attempts to legitimize itself: that is, to justify its activities in order to gain social acceptance. For this purpose, the legitimacy narratives of a rather successful river basin organization — the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River — will be analysed as a case study for obtaining a better understanding of the specific nature of polycentric governance and its legitimacy narratives.

scholarly journals Understanding the Southern Italian commons: polycentric governance on the mountains of Sila

Modern Italy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-348
Author(s):  
Claudio de Majo
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Polycentric Governance ◽  
Local Institution ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Italian Unification

In this article, I examine patterns of collective action in the South of Italy, a region where commons scholarship presents several challenges, mainly due to its feudal heritage. In analysing the history of Southern Italian commons, Elinor Ostrom's theories on polycentric governance are adopted. I propose a case study on the mountains of Sila, where collective action was institutionalised through a municipal organisation known as universitas casalium, consisting of the city of Cosenza and its hamlets. This institution collaborated with the royal government, creating a polycentric governance system where institutional functions contentiously intermingled, generating conflicting relations, but also unique governmental arrangements. Yet how did previous historical interpretations miss this point? Documentary evidence provides a clear answer: while the institutional recognition of the universitas casalium can be traced back as far as the twelfth century, a series of institutional reforms initiated in the mid-fifteenth century led to the progressive decline of the local institution and accordingly of the commons economy related to it. This loss of legitimacy derived from the emergence of feudal barons and later of landowners from the middle class, leading to the progressive dissolution of collective action in Sila as Italy moved towards Italian unification in 1861.

scholarly journals The Global Water Partnership: Between Institutional Flexibility and Legal Legitimacy

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 367-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edouard Fromageau
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
International Organization ◽  
Formal Structure ◽  
Legal Personality ◽  
Legal Legitimacy ◽  
The One ◽  
Global Water Partnership ◽  
Global Water

AbstractThe Global Water Partnership (GWP) represents a new kind of institution that raises various interesting questions in terms of international institutional law. Established in 1996 as a “virtual organization”, it progressively evolved to become in 2002 a twofold institution structured around, on the one hand, a network without legal personality and, on the other hand, an international organization with full legal personality under international law. This article aims to analyze this unique structure and its consequences on membership and organic issues. The reasons underpinning this evolution will also be studied. If institutional flexibility prevailed in the early life of the institution, practical problems and concerns about legal legitimacy have led to a more formal structure in its later life. Principles such as those developed by the Global Administrative Law (GAL) project, namely legitimacy, transparency and accountability, have been also widely used to shape and organize this structure.

Evaluating Community Engagement and Benefit-Sharing Practices in Australian Wind Farm Development

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Lansbury Hall ◽  
Jarra Hicks ◽  
Taryn Lane ◽  
Emily Wood
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Community Involvement ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Social Acceptance ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Delphi Panel ◽  
Government Organizations

The wind industry is positioned to contribute significantly to a clean energy future, yet the level of community opposition has at times led to unviable projects. Social acceptance is crucial and can be improved in part through better practice community engagement and benefit-sharing. This case study provides a “snapshot” of current community engagement and benefit-sharing practices for Australian wind farms, with a particular emphasis on practices found to be enhancing positive social outcomes in communities. Five methods were used to gather views on effective engagement and benefit-sharing: a literature review, interviews and a survey of the wind industry, a Delphi panel, and a review of community engagement plans. The overarching finding was that each community engagement and benefit-sharing initiative should be tailored to a community’s context, needs and expectations as informed by community involvement. This requires moving away from a “one size fits all” approach. This case study is relevant to wind developers, energy regulators, local communities and renewable energy-focused non-government organizations. It is applicable beyond Australia to all contexts where wind farm development has encountered conflicted societal acceptance responses.

A UN Specialized Agency for the Environment

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Said Mahmoudi
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Financial Stability ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Institutional Arrangement ◽  
International Organization ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Stockholm Conference

The issue, international organization for the protection of the environment perhaps more than those in any other area of international law, is characterized by the contestation of the policies and aspirations of developing and industrialized countries. The discussions which preceded the 1972 Stockholm Conference concerned partly the type of international institutional arrangement required for addressing the environmental problems. As regards the institutional reforms with respect to international environmental governance (IEG), the main question is whether to focus on the existing global institution, i.e. UNEP, or to create a new functional international organization. After almost five decades of existence, turning UNEP into a ‘specialized agency’ within the UN system is a reasonable move. It would meet the long-felt need to elevate its status and equip it with the necessary competence and financial stability for the demanding task it should have as an efficient global environmental organization.

scholarly journals Governmental human rights focal points in federal contexts: The implementation of the Istanbul convention in Switzerland as a case study

2021 ◽  
pp. 092405192110169
Author(s):  
Matthieu Niederhauser
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Focal Points ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Federal States ◽  
International Human

The implementation of international human rights law in federal States is an underexplored process. Subnational entities regularly enjoy a degree of sovereignty, which raises questions such as whether they implement obligations of international law and how the federal level may ensure that implementation takes place at the subnational level. This article aims to answer these questions, using the implementation of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Convention) in Switzerland as a case study. To implement the Convention at the cantonal level, federal actors decided to use networks of civil servants in charge of domestic violence issues, who act as governmental human rights focal points (GHRFPs). This article is based on original empirical data, on 25 interviews with State officials who participate in this implementation. The findings show how complex GHRFPs networks work in practice to implement the Convention and highlight the role played by numerous non-legal State actors in this process. As a result, the article argues that international human rights law implementation becomes more diversified both within and across federal States.

Criminogenic Policy Antithetical to Peace Policy: A Case Study of NAFTA as a Violation of International Law

2020 ◽  
pp. 016059762093289
Author(s):  
Daniel Patten
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Negotiation Process ◽  
Study Analysis ◽  
Business Investment ◽  
Written Text ◽  
Case Study Analysis

Successful peace policy that enshrines human rights allows individuals to thrive economically, politically, and socially with minimal conflict. Building from literature on crimes of globalization, genocide, and human rights, the current research investigates the concept of a criminogenic policy that at its core is antithetical to peace policy. Using case study analysis, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is found to be both criminal and criminogenic in violation of international law for two primary reasons. First, the NAFTA negotiation process was criminal and criminogenic for three interrelated reasons: (1) powerful elites heavily influenced the outcome, (2) it was undemocratic, and (3) the opposition was often repressed. Second, the NAFTA policy itself was criminal and criminogenic for two reasons: (1) NAFTA as a policy ignored all of the critical voices that predicted negative outcomes and (2) the written text of NAFTA is criminal for failing to include human rights protections while offering a litany of rights to protect business investment.

scholarly journals Designing for international law: The architecture of international organizations 1922–1952

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Miriam Bak McKenna
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
International Organization ◽  
International Labour Organization ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Physical Manifestation ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Do So

Abstract Situating itself in current debates over the international legal archive, this article delves into the material and conceptual implications of architecture for international law. To do so I trace the architectural developments of international law’s organizational and administrative spaces during the early to mid twentieth century. These architectural endeavours unfolded in three main stages: the years 1922–1926, during which the International Labour Organization (ILO) building, the first building exclusively designed for an international organization was constructed; the years 1927–1937 which saw the great polemic between modernist and classical architects over the building of the Palace of Nations; and the years 1947–1952, with the triumph of modernism, represented by the UN Headquarters in New York. These events provide an illuminating allegorical insight into the physical manifestation, modes of self-expression, and transformation of international law during this era, particularly the relationship between international law and the function and role of international organizations.

Local implementation of accountability instruments in the French-speaking community of Belgium

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samir Barbana ◽  
Xavier Dumay ◽  
Vincent Dupriez
Keyword(s):  
System Level ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Specific Nature ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
Significant Process ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Political Demand ◽  
Decentralised System

This article aims to understand how new accountability instruments in the context of the French-speaking Belgian educational system are appropriated by schools. After having characterised the specific nature of those instruments in the context of a traditionally highly decentralised system involved in a significant process of centralisation, we identify their effects through the case study of three schools. Using a new institutionalist lens, the analyses show that these instruments refer, in the French-speaking Belgian context, to a specific demand from the political environment of schools: developing and framing a common educational landscape, rather than to a logic of teacher evaluation. The data also indicate a reaffirmation, against this specific political demand, of three traditional ways of functioning tied up to the requests made by local educational communities. Thus, the analyses show a conflict between inherited institutions highly embedded in local contexts and the political signal associated with the new accountability instruments aiming to institutionalise common norms at the system level.

Piercing the Corporate Veil: The Responsibility of Member states of an International Organization

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Odette Murray
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Member State ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Good Faith ◽  
International Organization ◽  
Member States ◽  
Draft Article ◽  
Legal Limit ◽  
Primary Rule

AbstractThis paper applies two manifestations of the principle of good faith – pacta sunt servanda and the doctrine of abuse of rights – to the complex relationship between member states and international organizations. The paper argues that these existing doctrines operate as a legal limit on the conduct of states when creating, controlling and functioning within international organizations. The paper begins by exploring an innovative provision in the International Law Commission's recently finalised Draft Articles on the Responsibility of International Organisations – Draft Article 61 – according to which a member state will bear international responsibility for the act of an international organization where the member state uses the organization to circumvent its own international obligations. Examining the development of Draft Article 61 and the jurisprudence upon which it is based, this paper argues that the principle which the Commission in fact seeks to articulate in Draft Article 61 is that of good faith in the performance of treaties. As such, being based on a primary rule of international law, this paper queries whether Draft Article 61 belongs in a set of secondary rules. The paper then considers the role of states in the decision-making organs of international organizations and argues that the widely held presumption against member state responsibility for participation in decision-making organs can and should be displaced in certain cases, in recognition of the various voting mechanisms in international organizations and the varied power which certain states may wield. The paper argues that the doctrine of abuse of rights operates as a fundamental legal limit on the exercise of a member state's voting discretion, and thereby forms a complementary primary obligation placed on states in the context of their participation in international organizations.

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