Allocation of law enforcement authority in the international system


Book Description

The 1994 symposium of the Kiel Institute of International Law, the papers and proceedings of which are hereby made available to the public, takes up not only the general theme of the 1989 conference, i.e. »Strengthening the World Order: Universalism v. Regionalism. Risks and Opportunities of Regionalization«, but also continues the discussions pursued during the 1992 symposium entitled "The Future of International Law Enforcement. New Scenarios - New Law?" The 1994 symposium also continues the now established tradition of bringing together international legal scholars from the United States, on the one hand, and Germany and other European countries, on the other hand. The Institute is strongly convinced that the transatlantic dialogue on the burning issue of strengthening the international legal order as part of an emerging »New World Order« is essential. It was all the more regrettable that for purely accidental reasons the participation, on the European side, by colleagues invited from Poland and other Central and East European countries could not materialize. The focal point of the 1994 symposium was the question as to whether and to what extent the United Nations as a law enforcement agency can be supplemented by regional arrangements/organizations and the state as a law enforcement agent in the international public interest.







The Shifting Allocation of Authority in International Law


Book Description

International law is fragmented and complex, and at the same time increasingly capable of shaping reality in areas as diverse as human rights, trade and investment, and environmental law. The increased influences of international law and its growing institutionalization and judicialization invites reconsideration of the question how should the authority to make and interpret international law be allocated among states, international organizations and tribunals, or in other words, "who should decide what" in a system that formally lacks a central authority? This is not only a juridical question, but one that lies at the very heart of the political legitimacy of international law as a system of governance, defining the relationship between those who create the law and those who are governed by it in a globalizing world. In this book, leading international legal scholars address a broad range of theoretical and practical aspects of the question of allocation of authority in international law and debate the feasibility of three alternative paradigms for international organization: Sovereignty, Supremacy and Subsidiarity. The various contributions transcend technical solutions to what is in essence a problem of international constitutional dimensions. They deal, inter alia, with the structure of the international legal system and the tenacity of sovereignty as one of its foundations, assess the role of supremacy in inter-judicial relations, and draw lessons from the experience of the European Union in applying the principle of subsidiarity. This volume will be of great interest to scholars and practitioners of international law alike.







Regional Organisations and the Development of Collective Security


Book Description

This book examines the development of collective security by regional organisations particularly after the Cold War. It analyses the various constitutional developments that have occurred within regional arrangements such as ECOWAS, African Union, SADC, OAS, and NATO and critically analyses how these developments have propelled regional organisations to depart from the normative framework of regional arrangement contained in Chapter VIII of the UN Charter. Through a comprehensive examination of practice, the book evaluates the impact of regional organisations' newly asserted powers to authorise enforcement action and determine when situations within member states warrant their intervention. It inquires into the legal justifications for these developments both from within the UN Charter and regional treaties and practice and asks whether consensual intervention, that is the use of force by regional organisations on the basis of their members' consent, contravenes or constitutes an exception to the prohibition of the use or threat of force under Article 2(4) of the Charter. The book also analyses the regime of complementarity between the UN and regional organisations.




Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age


Book Description

Privacy is a growing concern in the United States and around the world. The spread of the Internet and the seemingly boundaryless options for collecting, saving, sharing, and comparing information trigger consumer worries. Online practices of business and government agencies may present new ways to compromise privacy, and e-commerce and technologies that make a wide range of personal information available to anyone with a Web browser only begin to hint at the possibilities for inappropriate or unwarranted intrusion into our personal lives. Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age presents a comprehensive and multidisciplinary examination of privacy in the information age. It explores such important concepts as how the threats to privacy evolving, how can privacy be protected and how society can balance the interests of individuals, businesses and government in ways that promote privacy reasonably and effectively? This book seeks to raise awareness of the web of connectedness among the actions one takes and the privacy policies that are enacted, and provides a variety of tools and concepts with which debates over privacy can be more fruitfully engaged. Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age focuses on three major components affecting notions, perceptions, and expectations of privacy: technological change, societal shifts, and circumstantial discontinuities. This book will be of special interest to anyone interested in understanding why privacy issues are often so intractable.




Ensuring Compliance With Multilateral Environmental Agreements


Book Description

In this publication, a number of recognized practitioners and scholars undertake to explore the realities and the conceptual underpinnings of environmental compliance mechanisms. In a relatively short period of time, such mechanisms were introduced in a wide range of new and existing environmental regimes. Yet, little is known about their function in practice and their implications. This is puzzling when considering, that the new mechanisms considerably depart from traditional patterns of counteraction and dispute settlement. Instead they build on partnership and cooperation and include a wide range of possible reactions, which range from those having coercive power to supportive measures. Quite a number of those mechanisms and their functioning are explained in the publication in order to lay ground for some cross-cutting analysis, which covers inter alia reporting, inspection and monitoring, supportive financial incentives and the interrelationship between compliance mechanisms and the principle of state responsibility and dispute settlement. Finally the role of non-governmental organizations is addressed. Practitioners and scholars in international environmental affairs and international law more generally will benefit significantly from the inside views and thorough reflection as provided for in this book.




Kosovo and the International Community


Book Description

NATO's air operation against Yugoslavia, undertaken with a view to helping the Kosovo Albanians resist genocide and ethnic cleansing, confronted the international community with a bitter dilemma. In Europe, the choice either to tolerate massive violations of human rights or to infringe the principle of non-use of force, given the absence of explicit authorization by the Security Council, was a challenge never before encountered since the new world order was ushered in by the Charter of the United Nations. This book, a collection of legal essays which emerged from a meeting of members of the French, German, and Polish societies of international law, not only attempts to analyze the Kosovo war from the viewpoint of humanitarian intervention based on the failure of the Rambouillet conference, but also intends to provide an overall picture of the responsibilities incumbent on the international community. Starting with the lifting of Kosovo's autonomy by the Yugoslav federal authorities in 1989/90, it follows the tragic events step by step. Not only are the crimes committed by Yugoslav military units and police as well as by the Kosovo Liberation Army listed in specific detail, an inquiry is also made into NATO's compliance with the applicable standards of humanitarian law. The book concludes with an examination of the future of the province in light of Security Council resolution 1244 of 1999 and the Stability Pact adopted to ensure economic recovery of the entire region.




Prosecuting International Crimes


Book Description

This 2005 book discusses the legitimacy of the international criminal law regime. It explains the development of the system of international criminal law enforcement in historical context, from antiquity through the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials, to modern-day prosecutions of atrocities in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. The modern regime of prosecution of international crimes is evaluated with regard to international relations theory. The book then subjects that regime to critique on the basis of legitimacy and the rule of law, in particular selective enforcement, not only in relation to who is prosecuted, but also the definitions of crimes and principles of liability used when people are prosecuted. It concludes that although selective enforcement is not as powerful as a critique of international criminal law as it was previously, the creation of the International Criminal Court may also have narrowed the substantive rules of international criminal law.




The International Responsibility of International Organisations


Book Description

This book addresses the joint responsibility of organisations for violations of international law committed during the deployment of peacekeeping operations.