Revolution or ‘Business as Usual’? International Law and the Foreign Policy of the Bush Administration

2016 ◽  
pp. 85-104
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Grimm Arsenault

Following the attacks of 9/11, the normative challenges put forth by the lawyers inside the Bush administration consisted of two main arguments: that international law should play less of a role in dictating U.S. policy, and that the executive branch has primary control over setting U.S. foreign policy. The decisions on detainee treatment would not have occurred without the justification provided by the lawyers in the executive branch. Despite their lack of political authority, these men wielded formidable intellects, access to key decision-makers, and positions of influence within key offices such as the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice to fundamentally shape U.S. detainee policy in the GWOT.


2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Salma Salma

The development of Islamic law studies in Indonesia is increasingly interesting to follow. the use of a multidisciplinary approach to Islamic sciences, making the science of Islamic law not only a normative-theological analysis but also integrated with many scientific fields both in the sciences and the humanities. Contemporary global issues require observers and Islamic law reviewers to seriously review Islamic law in depth, one of the global issues that is currently interesting and has become a topic of discussion among many is the issue of the protection of human rights. Human rights formulation in international law cannot be separated from the issue of foreign policy. This paper will conduct a theoretical study of how the concept of Islamic Law itself protects human rights and how it relates to its relationship with post-reform foreign policy. This paper uses a comparative study between legislation and texts (verses) both in the Koran and the hadith, a comparative-critical analysis method makes it easier for the author to find substance in terms of answering the problem statement in this study. The results or conclusions obtained are that human rights are a reflection of carrying out Islamic law in order to realize the nature of universal human benefit. Islam considers that human rights are in accordance with sharia principles, namely protecting one's right to life. This is a strong basis for the study of Islamic law in contributing to the development of human rights principles in the international communityKeywords: Islamic Law, Human Rights, Globalization, International LawPerkembangan kajian hukum Islam di Indonesia makin menarik untuk diikuti. penggunaan pendekatan multidisipliner ilmu-ilmu keislaman, membuat ilmu hukum Islam tidak hanya bersifat normatif-teologis analisanya tapi sudah terintegrasi dengan banyak bidang keilmuan baik ilmu-ilmu sains maupun humaniora. Isu-isu global yang sifatnya kontemporer mengharuskan para pengamat dan pengkaji hukum Islam untuk serius melakukan telaah ulang terhadap ilmu hukum Islam secara mendalam, salah satu isu global yang saat ini menarik dan menjadi perbincangan banyak kalangan adalah soal perlindungan hak asasi manusia. Rumusan HAM dalam hukum internasional tidak bisa dilepaskan dengan persoalan politik luar negeri. Tulisan ini akan melakukan kajian teoritik tentang bagaimana konsep Hukum Islam itu sendiri terhadap perlindungan hak asasi manusia dan bagaimana pula terkait hubungannya dengan politik luar negeri pasca reformasi. Tulisan ini menggunakan studi komparatif antara perundangundangan dengan teks (ayat) baik itu di dalam Al-Quran maupun hadits, metode analisis-kritis komparatif memudahkan penulis menemukan substansi dalam hal untuk menjawab rumusan masalah dalam penelitian ini. Hasil atau kesimpulan yang didapat adalah HAM adalah refleksi untuk menjalankan syariat Islam demi mewujudkan hakikat kemaslahatan manusia secara universal. Islam memandang bahwa HAM sesuai dengan prinsip-prinsip syariah yakni melindungi hak hidup seseorang. Hal ini merupakan dasar yang kuat untuk kajian hukum Islam dalam memberikan kontribusi pada perkembangan prinsip-prinsip hak asasi manusia di dalam masyarakat internasional.Kata Kunci: Hukum Islam, Hak Asasi Manusia, Globalisasi, Hukum Internasional


2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-21
Author(s):  
Francis Fukuyama

Professor Fukuyama, B.A. Classics, Cornell University 1974, spoke at Cornell on April 21, 2008, at the invitation of the Einaudi Center for International Studies. The Board of the Cornell International Affairs Review had the privilege of meeting with him during his visit. The following article, produced here with his permission, is an edited transcript of this talk. The board of the Cornell International Affairs Review thanks Professor Fukuyama for his support to our mission.


2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-349
Author(s):  
Iliriana Islami ◽  
Remzije Istrefi

Kosovo declared its independence on 17 February 2008. Subsequently, one of the aims of Kosovo’s foreign policy was to further consolidate this position and to justify Kosovo’s prospective membership in the United Nations. This article examines the issue of recognition, elucidating how Kosovo is different from other countries and comparing it with the case of the former Yugoslavia. Other aspects in the state-building process such as ‘building constitutionalism’ will be presented as a step toward justifying recognition and membership. Furthermore, the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of 8 October 2008 will be presented as evidence of Kosovo’s strengthening international position in its quest for further recognition. Thus, the article will discuss and analyze the arguments in favor of Kosovo being admitted to the UN.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Trenta

AbstractStarting in 2010, the Obama administration engaged in an effort to justify drone strikes relying on the concept of ‘imminence’. The aim of this article is to understand the reasons behind such insistence and to assess the administration’s efforts at conceptual change. Building on Skinner’s and Bentley’s work, the article argues that the administration has followed an ‘innovating ideologist’ strategy. The analysis shows how waves of criticisms exposed the administration to a key contradiction between its rhetoric of change that emphasised international law and the need for aggressive counterterrorism. Reacting to this criticism, the administration has relied on imminence due to its connection with legitimate uses of force, while working to change the criteria for the concept, causing a shift away from imminent as ‘immediate.’ Reassessing Skinner’s place in IR, the article identifies conceptual change as a lens to assess foreign policy rhetoric and practice. The analysis emphasises the connection between actors’ intentions, beliefs, and practices. It highlights the importance of criticism in engendering contradictions, exploring why only some criticisms are confronted. Finally, the article develops an original typology of the limits confronted by the innovating ideologist and methods to assess whether the actor has respected them.


1944 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 656-669
Author(s):  
Charles Prince

This study attempts to appraise the dynamic forces at play in the shaping of Soviet foreign policy and to discuss some of the recent problems of international law and diplomacy as viewed by the U.S.S.R. In order to place Russia's recent tortuous foreign policy in its proper perspective, it is essential to begin with a résumé of the changing Soviet concepts of law, followed by a consideration of the economic factors influencing these concepts. The shifting line of recent Soviet foreign policy will be discussed in a later part of the article.Originally, the Soviet concept of law was predicated on transitional socialism; Soviet theorists argued that proletarian revolution has for the first time in history created a socialist state of workmen and peasants. “This is the highest type of state—that of the dictatorship of the proletariat.” Having emerged victorious, the working class destroyed the oppressive, bourgeois state machinery and built a new state apparatus of its own. The new form of state, discovered by Lenin, is the Soviet Republic. The task of the workers is further to strengthen the dictatorship of the proletariat.


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