ESIL Interest Group History of International Law

ESIL Interest Group History of International Law

Friday 29 May 2020

JOB: Assistant Professor in Public International Law (Leiden: Leiden University, DEADLINE 15 JUN 2020)

(image: Grotius; source: Wikimedia Commons)

Leiden University, the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies has a vacancy for an

Assistant Professor in Public International Law 
Key responsibilities
  • Develop and deliver core courses in the Bachelor and Regular LLM programmes in public international law in English and Dutch;
  • Coordinate and lead teaching activities in cooperation with other lecturers;
  • Conduct high-level research in public international law and sustain a strong publication record;
  • Develop and lead core activities of the Centre and to seek, obtain and manage research funding or other funding;
  • Assist in a collegial way in any other research or teaching-related work of the Centre;
  • Offer specialized seminars and grade assignments and exams, alone or in cooperation with other lecturers.
Selection criteria
  • Excellent command of Dutch and English;
  • PhD-degree and excellent track record in research in general public international law, as evidenced by publications in leading international journals;
  • Demonstrated teaching experience in public international law, supported by positive teaching evaluations;
  • A high sense of initiative, leadership qualities and proven ability to seek and obtain research funding;
  • Strong dedication and commitment to the goals and objectives of the Centre;
  • An ability and willingness to work collaboratively and collegially in a team.
Our organisation
With over 5,000 students and 450 members of staff, Leiden Law School is one of the largest faculties in the Netherlands. Yet, in all its diversity, it is still known for its ability to provide education on a small scale. The Faculty focuses on multi-faceted high-level teaching and research, both nationally and internationally. It does so by working with talented people and stimulating and supporting them in their professional and personal ambitions. The Faculty is housed in the beautifully restored Kamerlingh Onnes Building on the Steenschuur in Leiden. Working for the Leiden Law School means working in an inspiring scientific environment. For more information, see our website.

Terms and conditions
We offer an one
 year term position, with the possibility of renewal based on need, funding and performance. Salary range from € 3,637.- to  4,978.- gross per month on a full-time basis (pay scale 11, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities). The principal place of work is Leiden. The intended starting date is 1 September 2020.
Leiden University offers an attractive benefits package with additional holiday (8%) and end-of-year bonuses (8.3 %), training and career development and sabbatical leave. Our individual choices model gives you some freedom to assemble your own set of terms and conditions. For international spouses we have set up a dual career programme. Candidates from outside the Netherlands may be eligible for a substantial tax break. More information can be found here 
UTQ
Leiden University requires teaching staff to obtain the University Teaching Qualification. If the successful applicant does not already possess this qualification or its equivalent, he/ she must be willing to obtain this Qualification within two years.

Diversity
Leiden University is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from members of underrepresented groups.

Information
Enquiries can be made to Nathalie Walstra, email
 n.walstra@law.leidenuniv.nl.
Applications
Please submit online your application no later than 15 June 2020 via the blue button in our application system. Applicants should submit online a letter of interest accompanied by a CV.


(source: University of Leiden)

Thursday 28 May 2020

CALL FOR CHAPTERS: Springer Encyclopedia of Territorial Rights

(image source: Springer)

We received the following call by e-mail:


Dear Friends,
 I’m writing because I am the international law area editor of the Springer Global Encyclopedia of Territorial Rights. The Encyclopaedia is an interdisciplinary project, which examines the law, politics and sociology of territorial claims.
 I’m looking for authors willing to contribute articles on some outstanding cases. I think it’s a good opportunity for law students or junior academics to get a peer-reviewed publication. Articles will be in the 3000-5000 word range (generally).
 
I’m looking in particular for individuals to write on the following cases and disputes:
 ICJ
 Obligation to Negotiate Access to the Pacific Ocean (Bolivia v. Chile)
 PCIJ Cases
 Minquiers and Ecrehos (France/United Kingdom)
 Territorial Jurisdiction of the International Commission of the River Oder
 Free Zones of Upper Savoy and the District of Gex
 PCA
 Bangladesh v. Myanmar (Judgment of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, 14 March 2012)
 Judgments and Awards in Maritime Boundary Delimitation Disputes, Barbados v. Trinidad and Tobago (Award of the Arbitral Tribunal, 11 April 2006)
 Maritime Boundary Delimitation Disputes, Newfoundland and Labrador v.
Nova Scotia
 Maritime Boundary Delimitation Disputes, Canada v France
 Maritime Boundary Delimitation Disputes, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland v. French Republic (Decision of the ad hoc ‘Court of Arbitration’, 30 June 1977)
 Maritime Boundary Delimitation Disputes, Bangladesh v. India
 Dispute Concerning Coastal State Rights in the Black Sea, Sea of Azov, and Kerch Strait
 Trinidad-Tobago
 Other Arbitrations and Issues
 Dubai/Sharjah Boundary Arbitration of 1981
 Sykes-Picot Agreement
 Emergent Rights over Territory: The Finnish-Swedish Agreement
 Impacts of the Canada/Denmark Boundary Treaty
 Impacts of the Lapp Codicil to Strömstad Treaty
 Land Acquisition and Transfer in the Polish-Soviet Territory Exchange
 Treaty of Wanghia
 Treaty of Paris of 1898
 Pikney's Treaty/Treaty of Madrid
 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and Gadsden Purchase
 Florida Purchase
 Treaty of Kanagawa
 Treaty of Ghent
 Oregon Boundary Treaty
 Peace of Utrecht
 Locarno Treaties
 Treaty of Sèvres
 Otherwise, I hope you’re well in the trying times.
 Best regards,
 Kevin”
 Kevin W. Gray, PhD

The following flyer was attached to the message:
Global Encyclopedia of Territorial Rights AIMS AND SCOPEThe aim of this encyclopedia is to bring together the expanding field of scholarship on “territorial rights” in a single tool for advanced researchers.
The study of territorial rights has grown by leaps and bounds over the past decade. It combines the work of political scientists, philosophers, lawyers, geographers, demographers, scholars of war studies and many others. Until now, however, the literature on territorial rights has generally remained confined inside standard disciplines.The goal of this new volume is to provide a reference tool for scholars working across traditional boundaries. Several hundred entries, researched by area experts with advanced knowledge of the scholarly literature, are written in language comprehensible to a wide academic audience. Each entry surveys typical concepts and terminology and offers an up-to-date synopsis of leading scholarship on one or more of the component disputes that surface when territorial rights are contested, such as cross-border migration, resource extraction, secessionism, state sovereignty, border-drawing, restorative justice. The most important conflicts about territorial rights in the world today are explored alongside some of history’s pertinent and informative disputes.
The volume is a comprehensive introduction to these issues for non-specialists and for advanced students who wish to be acquainted with this growing field of study. Its principal objective is to consolidate interdisciplinary knowledge about territorial rights in a research tool designed to facilitate advanced scholarship in this critical area for years to come.
 SECTION EDITORS
“International Law” 
Dr. Kevin W. Gray
Osgoode Hall Law School (CANADA)
“Theorists”
Laura Lo Coco
Hertfordshire Law School
Hatfield (UK)
“Indigenous Territories” 
Dr. Lavonna L. Lovern
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, Georgia (USA)
“Concepts of Territorial Rights”
Dr. Nick C. Sagos
Seneca College
Toronto (CANADA)
 




Contact dr. Kevin W. Gray for more information.

Wednesday 27 May 2020

ARTICLE: Hannah DAWSON, "The Normativity of Nature in Pufendorf and Locke" (Historical Journal LXIII (2020), 3, 528-558

(image: John Locke; Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Abstract:
At the beginning of De jure naturae et gentium (1672), Samuel von Pufendorf proposed a radical dichotomy between nature and morality. He was followed down this arid path by his great admirer John Locke. This article begins by exploring their descriptions of this dichotomy, examining the ways in which human animals were supposed to haul themselves out of the push and pull of the mechanistic world in order to become free moral agents. The article then argues that bubbling up from within this principal account of morality is an alternative account according to which virtue seems to infuse nature, thereby blurring the lines between obligation and motivation, and refiguring the character of moral and political agency. In uncovering this refiguration, I highlight the importance of Aristotelianism and Stoicism for Pufendorf and Locke, suggest continuities rather than breaks between the natural lawyers of the seventeenth century and the theorists of moral sentiment of the next, and gesture towards a hitherto underappreciated discourse in early modern thought: the normativity of nature.
Read more here

Friday 22 May 2020

CALL FOR PAPERS: Imperial Artefacts: History, Law, and the Looting of Cultural Property (Leiden, 28-29 JAN 2021) (Deadline 31 AUG 2020)


(image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Conference organised by       Dr Diana M. Natermann (Leiden University) &
Dr Inge van Hulle (Tilburg University)

Date:                                       28.-29. January 2021
Location:                                 Leiden University, The Netherlands
Abstract deadline:                  31. August 2020        

Keynote Speaker:                   Prof. Dr. Jürgen Zimmerer
(Chair for Global History at Hamburg University & Head of the Research Centre ”Hamburg’s (Post)Colonial Legacy”)



This interdisciplinary conference aspires to bring together (post-)colonial historians, legal historians, curators, international lawyers, and others engaged with the field to establish research collaborations by critically investigating stories of colonial looting, the framing of colonial history within museums, the origins of the legal framework concerning European laws of war and restitution, as well as a way forward for restitution claims.

The notion that cultural treasures are not legitimate spoils of war, contradicts norms that were accepted according to the law of nations for centuries. However, after the public outrage occasioned by the plunder of Belgium and Italy by Napoleon’s forces, the nineteenth century saw a gradual rise of several initiatives such as the Lieber Code (1863), the Brussels Declaration (1874), the Oxford Manual (1880) and the Hague Convention II (1899) that sought to limit or outlaw the seizure and confiscation of cultural and private property. Within this nineteenth-century development the spoliation of non-Western countries by imperial powers was largely ignored or even explicitly condoned. Arguments that bolstered the expropriation within imperial contexts were framed in an explicitly racist and dehumanising discourse, which placed non-Western states wholly or partially outside of the application of European laws of war. The result was the destruction of indigenous heritage and the steady flow of cultural artefacts and valuable manuscripts from the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Australasia to Western archives, museums, and public spaces.

            Since decolonisation, several former colonies of the Global South have led the way in mounting public pressure on Western governments and museums to address the legacy of colonial looting and have started legal procedures for reclaiming cultural property. However, since the beginning of the twentieth century the international legal framework for reclaiming cultural property has expanded considerably, many of these instruments remain ill-adapted to the legal relationship that existed between coloniser and colonised. Also, legal proceedings that have restitution as their objective are further complicated by the confluence of public international law, private law, and constitutional law of various jurisdictions which provides for a legal Gordian knot. Procedurally, the burden of proof lies with the requesting state, which might have insufficient financial or legal means at its disposal to pursue lengthy legal procedures.

Meanwhile, many Western museums fear the depletion of their collections and voice their scepticism of political endeavours to return said artefacts – especially since French President Macron’s statement in 2017 during a visit through Burkina Faso in 2017. In a report commissioned by President Macron and written by Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy it is stated that artefacts taken without consent from Africa during French colonialism shall be repatriated. And yet, in spite of political, financial, and legal difficulties, restitution claims are mounting in frequency. Also, over the past decade, Western governments have shown increasing openness towards collaboration with the Global South to trace looted artefacts and to return these to their countries of origin. This is especially the case in relation to the issue of giving back human remains.

In light of these developments we welcome contributions that focus on (but are not necessarily limited to) following topics:

-          Histories of specific cases of misappropriation, of colonial violence, of how objects travelled and ended up in Western museums and archives (provenance)
-          Histories of the laws of war in colonial contexts in legal practice and in legal theory
-          Histories of domestic constitutional and private law concerning restitution
-          Histories of the actors involved: imperials agents, indigenous resistance to spoliation, NGO’s, etc.
-          Museology: how are colonial objects framed, styled and/or contextualised
-          Historiography: histories of the critical debate concerning law, colonial museums and restitution
-          De lege ferenda: how can/should legal restitution move forward?
-          (Post)colonial debates on the restitution of heritage objects
-          Interconnectedness of identity and historical artefacts
-          Experience with restitutions concerning art looted by Nazis and its (possible) impact on restituting looted colonial art.

If you would like to propose a paper for a 20-minute presentation, please send a brief abstract of about 250-300 words to d.m.s.m.natermann@hum.leidenuniv.nl. When sending your abstract, please also provide a one-page CV or short bio with details of your academic experience, affiliation, and publications. The deadline for submitting proposals is Monday, 31 August 2020. The selection committee will make their final decision on submitted abstracts by mid-September 2020. Further information about the programme, registration, travel and accommodation will be announced after that date. Based on the discussion during the conference the organisers will invite conference delegates to prepare a chapter for an edited volume or special issue of papers presented at this event.

This event is generously supported by the MA International Relations Programme at Leiden University, the History Department of Leiden University, and the African Studies Centre Leiden.

Please note: depending on how the current Covid-19 situation unfolds come winter, this conference may ultimately take place online or be postponed to a later date in 2021.

Our twitter handle is #imperialartefactsconference

Wednesday 20 May 2020

SEMINAR SERIES: Global History and International Law – Online (April-June 2020)



We recently learned of an online seminar series on “Global History and International Law”, with weekly sessions. The sessions are also uploaded on a dedicated Youtube channel here.

Sessions:

The Nuremberg Moment, April 29, 2020
Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity in Historical Perspective, May 6-7, 2020
Theory and History of International Law, May 13, 2020
Imperial Origins of the World Order, May 20, 2020
International Law and Global Governance, May 27, 2020
International Law and Imperial Constitutions, June 3, 2020
Colonial Law and Assimilation Policies, June 10, 2020
International Law, Slavery and Forced Labor, June 17, 2020
Concluding Thoughts, June 24, 2020

More info about the Seminar series can be found on the dedicated website globalhistoryandil.com

(source: ESCLH Blog)

Tuesday 19 May 2020

CALL FOR PAPERS: Beiträge zur Rechtsgeschichte Österreichs (DEADLINE 1 SEP 2020)

(image Source: ÖAW)

Beiträge zur Rechtsgeschichte Österreichs (Contributions to Austrian Legal History) is a peer-reviewed journal that is published twice a year at the Austrian Academy of Sciences Press both online as well as in print. The journal covers all aspects of Austrian legal history (constitutional history, history of private law, criminal law etc.), including its involvement in larger legal communities, from the Holy Roman Empire to the EU. The editors of the journal are also members of the Commission for Austrian Legal History of the Austrian Academy of Sciences; the journal‘s editorial office is provided by the Legal Sources Research Center at the University of Vienna.


The journal uses double-blind peer review by an international academic advisory board.
We invite you to submit a manuscript, not longer than 40.000 characters (exceptions may be granted in special cases), by 1 September 2020. Only original manuscripts in German or English will be accepted. A style guide (in English and German), a list of standard abbreviations and our standards of good scientific practice are available at www.rechtsgeschichte.at/beitraege.


Please submit your manuscript in electronic form to: thomas.olechowski@oeaw.ac.at
christoph.schmetterer@univie.ac.at

Friday 15 May 2020

BOOK: Stefano MANNONI, Da Vienna a Monaco (1814-1938). Ordine europeo e diritto internazionale (Torino: Giappichelli, 2019). ISBN: 9788892120426, pp. 256, € 25,00

Da Vienna a Monaco (1814-1938)



ABOUTTHE BOOK

Saggio di storia del diritto internazionale, questo contributo ruota intorno alla questione del rapporto tra la ricerca dell’ordine europeo e l’adozione del diritto come semantica delle relazioni internazionali. I due temi sono intrecciati poiché tratto saliente dell’esperienza europea è stato quello di avere tentato di costruire l’ordine in un sottile rapporto tra diritto e politica.
Era pertanto inevitabile che l’itinerario partisse dal Congresso di Vienna, momento fondatore tanto del Concerto europeo che della centralità del droit de gens, si snodasse lungo le convulsioni di fine Ottocento, attraversasse la Grande Guerra e la creazione della Società delle Nazioni, per approdare infine al capolinea della diplomazia continentale, ossia l’effimero patto di Monaco del 1938. Adottando il lessico tipico delle relazioni internazionali si direbbe che le fasi di questa vicenda sono quattro: equilibrio, deterrenza, sicurezza collettiva e di nuovo, per pochissimo, equilibrio.
Il diritto internazionale è stato, volta a volta, con i suoi istituti, istituzioni e dottrina, partner, comprimario, protagonista e , melanconicamente, succube. Malgrado però gli alti e bassi delle sue fortune, il diritto internazionale ha conosciuto una crescita e uno sviluppo senza precedenti che ne fanno a pieno titolo uno degli elementi qualificanti della identità europea, di oggi come di ieri.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stefano Mannoni Professore ordinario di storia del diritto all’Università di Firenze. Ha scritto sulla storia del diritto internazionale "Potenza e ragione. La scienza del diritto internazionale nella crisi dell’equilibrio europeo", Milano, 1999.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A pdf version of the the index can be download here


More information here

(source: ESCLH Blog)


Thursday 14 May 2020

SSRN PAPER: Jean d'ASPREMONT, Comparativism and Colonizing Thinking in International Law

(image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Paper abstract:
Comparison is a very common tool for international lawyers. In fact, international law is built around, and draws upon constructions necessitating an exercise of comparison. In recent years, however, calls have been made to turn the familiar tool of comparison into a central way to engage with international law. This is the idea of those spearheading the rise of a new field called Comparative International Law (‘the comparativist project’). The comparativist project has attracted enormous attention and enthusiasm in the international legal literature. This article critically examines the promotion of comparison as a central mode of engagement with international law and scrutinizes some of the main features of the comparativist project. It particularly shows that the comparativist project, far from laying bare the plurality of international legal thought and practice, enables a dangerous thought-colonizing enterprise. The article ends with some observations on the need to promote counter-comparability thinking as a guarantee against colonizing thinking in international legal studies.
Download the paper here.

Wednesday 13 May 2020

BOOK: James UPCHER, Neutrality in Contemporary International Law [Oxford Monographs in Public International Law] (Oxford: OUP, 2020), 336 p. ISBN 9780198739760, 80 GBP


(image source: OUP)

Book abstract:
The law of neutrality - the corpus of legal rules regulating the relationship between belligerents and States taking no part in hostilities - assumed its modern form in a world in which the waging of war was unconstrained. The neutral State enjoyed territorial inviolability to the extent that it adhered to the obligations attaching to its neutral status and thus the law of neutrality provided spatial parameters for the conduct of hostilities. Yet the basis on which the law of neutrality developed - the extra-legal character of war - no longer exists. Does the law of neutrality continue to survive in the modern era? If so, how has it been modified by the profound changes in the law on the use of force and the law of armed conflict? This book argues that neutrality endures as a key concept of the law of armed conflict. The interaction between belligerent and nonbelligerent States continues to require legal regulation, as demonstrated by a number of recent conflicts, including the Iraq War of 2003 and the Mavi Marmara incident of 2010. By detailing the rights and duties of neutral states and demonstrating how the rules of neutrality continue to apply in modern day conflicts, this restatement of law of neutrality will be a useful guide to legal academics working on the law of armed conflict, the law on the use of force, and the history of international law, as well as for government and military lawyers seeking comprehensive guidance in this difficult area of the law.
On the author:
Dr James Upcher is Lecturer in Law at Newcastle University. He has worked in private practice in a wide range of international law disputes, including disputes before the International Court of Justice and the Permanent Court of Arbitration. He also acts as a consultant on a wide range of international law issues for governments and non-governmental organisations.

(source: IL Reporter)

Tuesday 12 May 2020

BOOK: David MORGAN-OWEN & Louis HALEWOOD (eds.), Economic Warfare and the Sea. Grand Strategies for Maritime Powers, 1650-1945 [Research in Maritime History, 55] (Liverpool: Liverpool UP, 2020), 280 p. 9781789621594, 96 GBP

(image source: Liverpool UP)

Abstract:
Economic Warfare and the Sea examines the relationship between trade, maritime warfare, and strategic thought between the early modern period and the late-twentieth century. Featuring contributions from renown historians and rising scholars, this volume forwards an international perspective upon the intersection of maritime history, strategy, and diplomacy. Core themes include the role of ‘economic warfare’ in maritime strategic thought, prevalence of economic competition below the threshold of open conflict, and the role non-state actors have played in the prosecution of economic warfare. Using unique material from 18 different archives across six countries, this volume explores critical moments in the development of economic warfare, naval technology, and international law, including the Anglo-Dutch Wars, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the First World War, and the Second World War. Distinct chapters also analyse the role of economic warfare in theories of maritime strategy, and what the future holds for the changing role of navies in the floating global economy of the twenty-first century.
On the editors:
 David Morgan-Owen is Lecturer in Defence Studies, Defence Studies Department, King's College London. Louis Halewood is the Philip Nicholas Lecturer in Maritime History at Plymouth University.
More information here.

Monday 11 May 2020

BOOK: Matthew H. EDNEY & Mary SPONBERG PEDLEY (eds.), The History of Cartography, Volume 4. Cartography in the Enlightenment (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, May 2020), 1920 p., ISBN 9780226184753, 500 USD


Book description:
Since its launch in 1987, the History of Cartography series has garnered critical acclaim and sparked a new generation of interdisciplinary scholarship. Cartography in the European Enlightenment, the highly anticipated fourth volume, offers a comprehensive overview of the cartographic practices of Europeans, Russians, and the Ottomans, both at home and in overseas territories, from 1650 to 1800. The social and intellectual changes that swept Enlightenment Europe also transformed many of its mapmaking practices. A new emphasis on geometric principles gave rise to improved tools for measuring and mapping the world, even as large-scale cartographic projects became possible under the aegis of powerful states. Yet older mapping practices persisted: Enlightenment cartography encompassed a wide variety of processes for making, circulating, and using maps of different types. The volume’s more than four hundred encyclopedic articles explore the era’s mapping, covering topics both detailed—such as geodetic surveying, thematic mapping, and map collecting—and broad, such as women and cartography, cartography and the economy, and the art and design of maps. Copious bibliographical references and nearly one thousand full-color illustrations complement the detailed entries.
(source: University of Chicago Press)

Friday 8 May 2020

BOOK: Edward CAVANAGH (ed.), Empire and Legal Thought Ideas and Institutions from Antiquity to Modernity, (Leiden/Boston: Brill/Nijhoff, 2020). ISBN: 9789004430983, € 170.00


(Source: Brill)


ABOUT THE BOOK

Series: Legal History Library, Studies in the History of International Law, Volume: 41/16

Emphatic of the importance of legal thought to the rise and fall of empires, this book highlights the centrality of empires to the development of legal thought. 
Comprehension of the development of legal thought over time is necessary for any historical, philosophical, practical, or theoretical enquiry into the subject today, it is argued here. When seen against the background of broad geopolitical, diplomatic, administrative, intellectual, religious, and commercial changes, law begins to appear very resilient. It withstands the rise and fall of empires. It provides the framework for the establishment of new orders in the place of the old. Today what analogies, principles, and authorities of law have survived these changes continue to inform much of the international legal tradition. 

Contributors are: Clifford Ando, Lia Brazil, Joseph Canning, Edward Cavanagh, Zachary Chitwood, Emanuele Conte, Matt Crow, Alberto Esu, Tiziana Faitini, Dante Fedele, Naveen Kanalu, Alexandre A. Loktionov, P. G. McHugh, Jordan Rudinsky, Mark Somos, Joshua Smeltzer, Lorenzo Veracini, Halcyon Weber, and Sarah Winter.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Edward Cavanagh was a Fellow (2016-2019) of Downing College, after attaining his PhD from the University of Ottawa (2012-2015). His scholarly interests lie at the crossroads of law and history.
img src="https://brill.com/cover/covers/9789004431249.jpg?width=300"/>


More information here

Image result for Series: Legal History Library, Volume: 41/16 Studies in the History of International Law, Volume: 41/16
(source: ESCLH Blog)

Thursday 7 May 2020

BOOK: Haakon A. IKONOMOU & Karen GRAM-SKJOLDAGER (eds.), The League of Nations. Perspectives from the Present (Aarhus: University Press, 2019). ISBN: 9788771846201, 299 DKK, pp. 284



ABOUT THE BOOK

The League of Nations – Perspectives from the Present is an accessible and richly illustrated edited volume displaying a wide variety of cutting-edge research on the many ways the League of Nations shaped its times, and continues to shape our contemporary world. A series of bite-size studies, divided into three thematic parts, investigates how the League affected the world around it and the lives of the people who became part of this ‘first great experiment’ in international organisation. Recent research has reinterpreted the League as a laboratory of global economic, political and humanitarian governance. Expanding on this, the volume aims to show that the League is an ‘academic site’, where international history – as a discipline – has re-invented itself by integrating new approaches from social, cultural and media history. With an introduction by Director-General Michael Møller of the United Nations Organisation in Geneva, this work is a timely reminder of the fragile, varied and enduring history of multilateralism, on the centenary of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Karen Gram-Skjoldager is Associate Professor at the Department of Culture and Society - History, 
Aarhus University.
Haakon Andreas Ikonomou is Associate Professor at the SAXO-Institute for Archaeology, Ethnology, Greek & Latin, History in Copenhagen.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

A pdf version of the table of contents is available here.


More information here.

(source: ESCLH Blog)

Wednesday 6 May 2020

PHD DEFENCE: Vile Kari (University of Helsinki), On the Classical Doctrine of Civil War in International Law (livestream, 14 MAY 2020)

(image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Vile Kari will defend his PhD in Law at the University of Helsinki on 14 May.
Opponents: Prof. Anne Orford (Melbourne), Prof. Jan Klabbers (Helsinki).

The defence will be livestreamed.

(source and more information: University of Helsinki)

Monday 4 May 2020

BOOK: Vera FRITZ, Juges et avocats généraux de la Cour de Justice de l’Union européenne (1952–1972). Une approche biographique de l’histoire d’une révolution juridique (Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann, 2018). ISBN: 9783465043508, pp. IX-396, € 79,00

Fritz, Vera: Juges et avocats généraux de la Cour de Justice de l´Union européenne (1952-1972)
(Source: Klostermann)

ABOUT THE BOOK

En s’appuyant sur des archives rassemblées dans les six pays fondateurs de l’Union européenne, cet ouvrage propose un regard nouveau sur le "processus de constitutionnalisation" des traités européens lancé dans les années 1960 par la Cour de Justice de l’UE. En mettant en lumière les parcours professionnels et personnels des premiers juges et avocats généraux européens, il étudie les dynamiques qui règnent à l’intérieur de l’institution pendant ses années "révolutionnaires" et s’intéresse aux relations que la juridiction entretient avec les Etats membres. À travers une étude détaillée du processus de sélection des membres de la Cour, il apporte notamment des réponses inédites à la question de savoir si les gouvernements ont tenté de mettre un terme à sa jurisprudence audacieuse.

Drawing on archives gathered in the six founding member states of the European Union, this book offers a new perspective on the "constitutionalization" of the European treaties, which was launched in the 1960s by the Court of Justice of the EU. By highlighting the professional and personal backgrounds of the first European judges and advocates general, its author studies the dynamics which prevailed within the institution during its "revolutionary" years and analyzes the Court’s relationship with the Member States of the European Communities. Through a detailed study of the selection process of the members of the Court, it also provides new answers to the question of whether governments tried to put an end to its bold jurisprudence.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vera Fritz is a postdoc researcher/research associate at the Center for Contemporary and Digital History, Université du Luxembourg. 


More information with the publisher.

(source: ESCLH Blog)

Friday 1 May 2020

BOOK: Michael POZNANSKY, In the Shadow of International Law Secrecy and Regime Change in the Postwar World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020). ISBN 9780190096595, $49.95


(Source: OUP)

Oxford University Press is publishing a new book on the role of secrecy in the postwar international order.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Secrecy is a staple of world politics and a pervasive feature of political life. Leaders keep secrets as they conduct sensitive diplomatic missions, convince reluctant publics to throw their support behind costly wars, and collect sensitive intelligence about sworn enemies.

In the Shadow of International Law explores one of the most controversial forms of secret statecraft: the use of covert action to change or overthrow foreign regimes. Drawing from a broad range of cases of US-backed regime change during the Cold War, Michael Poznansky develops a legal theory of covert action to explain why leaders sometimes turn to covert action when conducting regime change, rather than using force to accomplish the same objective. He highlights the surprising role international law plays in these decisions and finds that once the nonintervention principle-which proscribes unwanted violations of another state's sovereignty-was codified in international law in the mid-twentieth century, states became more reluctant to pursue overt regime change without proper cause. Further, absent a legal exemption to nonintervention such as a credible self-defense claim or authorization from an international body, states were more likely to pursue regime change covertly and concealing brazen violations of international law.

Shining a light on the secret underpinnings of the liberal international order, the conduct of foreign-imposed regime change, and the impact of international law on state behavior, Poznansky speaks to the potential consequences of America abandoning its role as the steward of the postwar order, as well as the promise and peril of promoting new rules and norms in cyberspace.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael Poznansky is Assistant Professor of International Affairs and Intelligence Studies in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh with a secondary appointment in the Department of Political Science. He is also a Non-Resident Fellow with the Modern War Institute at the United States Military Academy at West Point during the 2019-2020 academic year. Before arriving at the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Poznansky was a predoctoral research fellow with the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. He received his Ph.D. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. Dr. Poznansky has published in a wide range of scholarly journals, including American Journal of Political ScienceEuropean Journal of International RelationsInternational Studies QuarterlyJournal of Global Security Studies, and Journal of Peace Research. He has also published in a variety of policy-oriented outlets, including the Council on Foreign Relations' Net Politics Blog, Political Violence at a Glance, War on the Rocks, and The Washington Post.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1. Introduction

PART I: Background and Theory
Chapter 2. The Evolution of Nonintervention
Chapter 3. The Politics of Secret Interventions

PART II: Covert Regime Change
Chapter 4. Operation ZAPATA: Cuba
Chapter 5. Project FUBELT and Track II: Chile

PART III: Overt Regime Change
Chapter 6. Operation Power Pack: Dominican Republic
Chapter 7. Operation Urgent Fury: Grenada

PART IV: Conclusions and Implications
Chapter 8. The Future of Covert Regime Change

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(source: ESCLH Blog)