Bøker i Studies in International Law-serien

This book develops a new theory of territorialism and international legal status of territories. It (i) defines the concept of territory, explaining how territories are created; (ii) redefines the concept of statehood, illustrating that statehood (rather than the statehood criteria) is territorial legal status established in the formal sources of international law; and (iii) grounds non-state territorial entities in the sources of international law to explain their international legal status. This fresh new theoretical perspective has both scholarly and practical importance, providing a tool helping decision-makers and judges in the practical application of international law both internationally and domestically.

With a unique transitional justice perspective on the Arab Spring, this book assesses the relocation of transitional justice from the international paradigm to Islamic legal systems.The Arab uprisings and new and old conflicts in the Middle East, North Africa and other contexts where Islam is a prominent religion have sparked an interest in localising transitional justice in the legal systems of Muslim-majority communities to uncover the truth about past abuse and ensure accountability for widespread human rights violations. This raises pressing questions around how the international paradigm of transitional justice, and in particular its truth-seeking aims, might be implemented and adapted to local settings characterised by Muslim majority populations, and at the same time drawing from relevant norms and principles of Islamic law. This book offers a critical analysis of the relocation of transitional justice from the international paradigm to the legal systems of Muslim-majority societies in light of the inherently pluralistic realities of these contexts. It also investigates synergies between international law and Islamic law in furthering truth-seeking, the formation of collective memories and the victims' right to know the truth, as key aims of the international paradigm of transitional justice and broadly supported by the shari'ah. This book will be a useful reference for scholars, practitioners and policymakers seeking to better understand the normative underpinnings of (potential) transitional truth-seeking initiatives in the legal systems of Muslim-majority societies. At the same time, it also proposes a more critical and creative way of thinking about the challenges and opportunities of localising transitional justice in contexts where the principles and ideas of Islamic law carry different meanings.

This book explores the narratives and experiences of people in the Global South as they encounter the impact of international law in their lives. It looks specifically at approaches to international migrations and the law, as states in the Global South confront migration-related challenges. Taking a case study approach, drawn from the experiences of undocumented and displaced migrants in China and Nigeria, the book shows how informal justice systems not only exist but are upheld. With an innovative analysis drawing both on intersectionality and a Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), it moves away from the classic international versus regional and domestic law approach to reveal the experience of the Third World in relation to the law. This fascinating study will appeal to international law, human rights and immigration scholars, as well as those in the field of development studies.

This book provides the first comprehensive introduction to the role of humanity in international law, offering a fresh perspective to a discussions with global implications. The 1990s and the first decade of the twenty-first century witnessed the sporadic emergence of a new vision of global law. Although the vision has taken many different forms, all instances of it have been uniform in the attempt of radically altering how we understand international law by seeking to posit the human as the primary subject of the international legal order and humanity as its main source of legitimacy. Together, this book calls these instances "the law of humanity project". In so doing, it also paints a picture of and critically assesses a particular moment in the history of international law - a moment which may have already come to a sudden end as a consequence of the current populist backlash in world politics, but during which it seemed inevitable that the law of humanity vision would come to play an increasingly important role in world affairs.

This book builds on the scholarship of the law of state jurisdiction, engaging with fundamental questions about states' legislative competence, to respond to climate change. Considering general theory, the author advocates for a systemic analytical framework for the contested issue of 'extraterritoriality' in international law. Exploring the crystallisation of 'climate change jurisdiction', the book provides a comprehensive exploration of the jurisdictional bases and limitations for unilateral climate protection measures. In doing so, cross-cutting issues of world trade law, international civil aviation law, the law of the sea, and importantly, the customary international law of state jurisdiction are considered. Amidst the myriad of developing norms, a novel 'considerate design' tool is introduced to assist policymakers in finding a better balance between regulatory autonomy, development needs and the protection of common concerns.

This book examines the status of private actors as subjects of law under the rules of the international law of the sea. Providing a methodology for the notion of a single legal personality, it provides a clear understanding of membership in international law in order to establish to what extent private actors can be rights-holders or duty-bearers. It does this by taking a theoretical perspective which allows the reader to interpret their relevance in international law. This unique and innovative work makes a significant contribution to the current scholarly debates on private actors in international law.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of international law in the light of contemporary challenges facing Central Asian States.The Central Asian States (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) are increasingly gaining in significance as international players. During the Soviet period, they were only nominally sovereign States but since 1991, they became full-fledged members of the international community, and have, ever since, been constructing their respective schools of international law.Unresolved border disputes, regional migration, drug trafficking, human trafficking, disputes over water, the rise of terrorism are just a few challenges, which require Central Asian States¿ cooperation among themselves, and with other States. The competing interests of especially China, Russia, the United States, and the European Union in the region are adding to the complex mosaic of regional dynamics.This study shows the relevance and utility of international law in resolving those issues, in the interdisciplinary context of international relations, international institutions, and sociology of law. From a pedagogical perspective, the book identifies challenges to teaching international law in Central Asia, including curricular issues, independence of higher education institutions, language issues, influence of various foreign schools of international law doctrine, etc., and explores ways to integrate the Central Asian schools of international law in a broader Asian and international picture.

This book explores how the law of treaty withdrawal operates. Many commentators have observed a wider sense of crisis in international law as governments of different ideological stripes withdraw or threaten to withdraw from international organisations and treaties. There are different political forces behind all of these cases but, they all use the same basic device in international law - a treaty withdrawal clause. This book focuses on withdrawal clauses within multilateral treaties, providing a detailed synthesis of them and situating them within the wider context of the international rule of law. Yet, the theoretical assumptions about State behaviour upon which the law of withdrawal rests are fracturing. For it to operate, as the final part of this study shows, States have to behave as rational actors, averse to damaging their reputation in international law and willing to accept the existence of a wider rule-bound framework. Using insights from international relations and critical legal theory this book unpacks how and why the law of withdrawal operates and the forces that threaten its operation in the future.

The aim of this book is the quest for a well-balanced legal system that reconciles predictability and flexibility in the law of maritime delimitation.