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1. Governing Outer Space – legal issues mounting at the final frontier

Author:
Hjalte Osborn Frandsen
Publication Date:
02-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
In 2022, the private space firm SpaceX successfully launched 61 rockets, adding hundreds of satellites to its burgeoning, globe-spanning mega-constellation. SpaceX´s Starlink-project now comprises more than 3,000 satellites. For comparison, the European Space Agency launched six rockets in 2022 and operates less than 50 satellites in total. In the span of a few years, private space companies have dethroned nation states as the dominant actors in outer space. Today the vast majority of satellites are owned and controlled by commercial companies. During the first months of the Russian assault on Ukraine, several commercial space companies stepped in to provide vital satellite images and space-based Internet in support of the Ukrainian defense. This exemplifies the three currently dominant trends of human space activities: expansion, securitization and privatization. The global space industry is undergoing the most fundamental and swift changes since the original space race ended when Neil Armstrong placed the first boot marks on the moon in 1969. The rapid changes raise a number of serious governance issues in areas such as national security, environmental protection and the rule of law in outer space. Denmark, Europe and the international community at large all have an acute interest in insisting on space being a global commons in which conduct can and should be regulated to benefit all of humanity – not just a few profit-seeking billionaire-owned space companies. Developments in the space industry are fast and accelerating. As with other global governance issues, like climate and cyber issues, achieving global accord on new regulations for space activities will be difficult and time-consuming, so prudent policymakers should get started right away.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Governance, Law, and Space
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2. The Monroe Doctrine as the Will and Idea of the United States of America

Author:
Boris Martynov
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Affairs: A Russian Journal of World Politics, Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
East View Information Services
Abstract:
On February 24, 2022, international relations entered a whole new stage of development affecting, albeit to varying degrees, practically all states, with no end in sight. On September 7, 2022, speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the world was experiencing “fundamental transformations.” Such transformations generally require several years to be completed. By the middle of the third decade of the 21st century, two highly important signs of a new situation have become absolutely clear: a crisis of the old institutions of global governance and the new rising and developing centers of power. At the same time, the opinion that the new is just the “well-forgotten old” is confirmed. This is especially true of the US and its policies.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, History, Governance, Law, Psychology, Identity, and Monroe Doctrine
Political Geography:
Russia, Global Focus, and United States of America

3. Coming Together or Coming Apart? A New Phase of International Cooperation on Migration

Author:
Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, and Kate Hooper
Publication Date:
01-2022
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
The global context for international cooperation on migration has shifted in unanticipated ways since the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration was adopted in December 2018. The COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, upended the migration status quo. Beginning in March 2020, countries introduced border closures or restrictions that essentially paused most forms of mobility, with significant consequences for migrants, their countries of origin, and destination countries—from stranded populations and reduced remittances, to labor shortages in key industries. While many governments’ responses to the pandemic have been unilateral and inward-looking, these challenges have underscored the importance of pursuing greater coordination on migration and mobility at the bilateral, regional, and multilateral levels. Drawing on three meetings of MPI’s Transatlantic Council on Migration, this Council Statement explores the rationale for deeper cooperation on migration, the obstacles impeding it, and ways forward. It reflects on the trajectory of the Global Compact and its implementation to date, and strategies for reinvigorating international cooperation.
Topic:
International Cooperation, International Organization, Migration, Governance, Law, COVID-19, and Immigration Policy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

4. Back to sovereignty? Policy space in investor-State dispute settlement

Author:
Magdalena Bas
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional (RBPI)
Institution:
Instituto Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais (IBRI)
Abstract:
The paper examines how investor-State dispute settlement mechanisms -included in international investment agreements- are able to condition national policy space, even when foreign investors question measures regarding human rights, public health, or environmental protection. It also intends to identify and explain the new trends in international investment agreements that illustrate different ways out the investor-State dispute settlement labyrinth. In order to achieve the objectives, a qualitative documentary research was conducted, based on secondary sources. The new trends in international investment agreements cartography show the emergence of a new concept of sovereignty rooted in the defense of policy space -“regulatory sovereignty”.
Topic:
Sovereignty, Governance, Law, and Investment
Political Geography:
Global Focus

5. An Unlikely Duo? Regionalism and Jus Cogens in International Law

Author:
Carlos Lima Lima and Loris Marotti
Publication Date:
11-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Institution:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Abstract:
Recent years have witnessed a renewed interest in peremptory norms of international law (jus cogens) in the international legal discourse.  e ongoing works of the International Law Commission (ILC or Commission) on the topic1 , also prompted by the increasing relevance such norms have gained in the case law of national and international courts, is refreshing the long-standing debate about the scope, nature and content of peremptory norms2 . Against this background, less attention is being paid to the possible relations between jus cogens and regionalism, as well as to the legal and political implications such relations may have in the international realm.
Topic:
International Law, Law, and Regionalism
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6. The Future of Digital Evidence Authentication at the International Criminal Court

Author:
Chelsea Quilling
Publication Date:
05-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:
School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:
In the digital age, new technologies and advancements in computing power have transformed the nature of potentially relevant evidence of atrocities evaluated in international criminal law. The International Criminal Court is presently underprepared to meet the challenges of authenticating digital evidence. This paper outlines the challenges and dangers of the ICC’s current approach to digital evidence authentication and verification, explores the debate among scholars over the analysis of scientific evidence as an analogous problem, and identifies policy recommendations for improving the Court’s capacity and capability to authenticate digital evidence.
Topic:
International Relations, Science and Technology, Law, International Criminal Court (ICC), and Digital Revolution
Political Geography:
Global Focus

7. Customary International Law Requiring States to Grant Nationality to Stateless Children Born in Their Territory

Author:
William Thomas Worster
Publication Date:
07-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Statelessness & Citizenship Review
Institution:
Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Melbourne Law School
Abstract:
In the most recent few years, state practice and opinio juris are increasingly converging to affirm that states must grant nationality to children born in their territory if they would otherwise be stateless. In prior scholarship, this author has argued that there is a customary international law norm requiring states to grant nationality in such cases. Certainly, UNHCR’s #IBelong campaign is a significant part of this development, placing statelessness back on the international agenda, as well as encouraging states to adhere to the statelessness conventions, adopt birth registration and statelessness determination procedures and revise domestic law. Partly due to this campaign, states are increasingly adopting practice and domestic law that provides for nationality from birth for stateless children but are also increasingly stating their opinion that such an approach is desirable, necessary and morally compelling. In fact, it is effectively impossible to identify any state that claims it has the unfettered right to refuse to grant nationality to a stateless child born in its territory. This article will complete a brief survey of recent practice and expressions of opinion, mostly as documented by UNHCR as a part of the #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness, to confirm that this norm continues to strengthen under customary international law.
Topic:
International Law, Law, Children, Citizenship, and Nationality
Political Geography:
Global Focus

8. Scylla and Charybdis: The Self-Determination of Peoples Versus the Territorial Integrity of States

Author:
A. Kagramanov
Publication Date:
01-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Affairs: A Russian Journal of World Politics, Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
East View Information Services
Abstract:
LIKE Odysseus, who fell into the clutches of Scylla after escaping the whirlpool Charybdis, countries that have escaped the threat of losing territory as a result of foreign invasion are facing the threat of disintegration from within. The ancient epic by the great Homer about the adventures of the hero Odysseus, who finds himself between a rock and a hard place, involuntarily comes to mind when considering the perennial international legal dilemma about the relationship between the principle of the territorial integrity of states and the right of peoples and nations to self-determination. As Yekaterina Narochnitskaya rightly notes, self-determination, like freedom, has “its limits and its paradox.” “Just as unlimited freedom destroys itself, so the right to self-determination, elevated to an absolute, risks depriving everyone and everything of self-determination, the inevitable outcome being a chain reaction of countless conflicting expressions of will leading to a general collapse.”1 Experience shows that the principle of self-determination is subject to double standards and often politically exploited by certain groups to achieve their economic, social, ethnocratic, religious, and other narrow, sometimes purely selfish goals that contradict the original purpose of this vital international legal and (in most cases) constitutional provision. And it is for these untoward purposes that the artificial “collision” of this principle with the principle of territorial integrity is often used.
Topic:
International Law, Law, Self Determination, Conflict, Peace, and Territory
Political Geography:
Global Focus

9. The Importance of the English Language in Public Diplomacy and International Relations

Author:
Mirvan Xhemaili
Publication Date:
02-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Liberty and International Affairs
Institution:
Institute for Research and European Studies (IRES)
Abstract:
The primary language of international relations and diplomacy is English. The representatives of international bodies communicate in the English language. It is vital to establish English as the official language for international organizations in facilitating more efficient collaboration internationally. English dominance in international communication becomes increasingly apparent. This study aimed at gaining a more in-depth understanding of the significance of the English language. It also aimed at identifying, describing, and explaining the importance of the English language in public diplomacy and international relations. The researcher used the descriptive research method in the study, notably; secondary data were used for collecting reliable conclusions for the research. The findings suggested that the adoption of formulaic language, particularly, idioms and idiomatic expressions to further embellish the phrases used in the arena of international relations or policy is a peculiarity of the English language. The study concluded that formulaic language and the adoption and usage of idioms is a distinguishing feature that diplomats and those who have a career in international law and international relations should master.
Topic:
International Relations, Diplomacy, Law, Language, and Public Diplomacy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

10. On Just, Justice and Distributive Justice: A Critical and Comparative Discourse

Author:
Sooraj Kumar Maurya
Publication Date:
06-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Liberty and International Affairs
Institution:
Institute for Research and European Studies (IRES)
Abstract:
Despite being endlessly debated, a unanimous impetus on the nature of just, justice, and distributive justice appears entirely untouched to the desirable scientific certainty so far. Aristotle asserts treating’ equals equally and un-equals unequally’ but in proportion to their relevant differences. John Rawls says 'justice as fairness.' To both Aristotle and John Rawls, justice meant for the good and a willingness to act by the laws to ensure the highest good of society. Antecedently, both agree that justice is a master imperative for good human relationships and coexistence. However, despite the universal agreement, they differ in many fundamental respects. Aristotle denies the outbound distribution of an individual's rights as only the head of the family has the right to free speech in the family. But, Rawls distributes each right to the individual level. The paper attempts to discuss the similarities and dissimilarities in Aristotle's and John Rawls'ideas of just, justice and distributive justice. It has been argued that the aim of both philosophers was the same, i.e., to find out a theory of justice through which unity, harmony, virtue, and happiness can be attained to the fullest in a nation.
Topic:
Law, Inequality, Justice, and Legal Sector
Political Geography:
Global Focus