During the course of the second half of the nineteenth century, the rules regulating the conduct of armies during hostilities were internationally codified for the first time. The conventional narrative attributes the codification of the laws of war to the campaign of civil society, especially...

The aim of this essay is to identify a legal basis for accountability obligations of international organizations (IOs) toward individuals affected by their policies. More specifically, I ask why should, for example, the European Union or the World Trade Organization be accountable to individuals...

In this article, we challenge the canonical narrative about civil society’s efforts to discipline warfare during the mid-nineteenth century—a narrative of progressive evolution of Enlightenment-inspired laws of war, later to be termed international humanitarian law (IHL). On the basis of...

The ever-intensifying trends of global interdependence have created a complex reality in which decisions of sovereign states, like those of international courts, radiate far beyond their traditional confines, affecting the interests of a range of strangers (third-states, individuals,...

The debate over whether property is a limit on or the product of sovereignty envisages a tension between “the individual owner” and “the state.” But “the state” is not more than the aggregate of individuals who define theirs and others' property rights through the political process....

The negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) exemplify the efficacy and the consequences of fragmentation as a “divide and conquer” strategy. By choosing this negotiating strategy and by maintaining secrecy over the...

Since its modern genesis, the claim to sovereignty has been inherently tied to the notion of freedom: from the Church, from empires, from colonial powers. More specifically, the freedom that sovereignty promised was the freedom “to be left alone,” given the premise that unfettered...

In the 1997 decision of the International Court of Justice in the dispute between Hungary and Slovakia regarding the uses of the Danube, Judge Weeramantry invoked ancient Asian traditions concerning the utilization of shared water resources to offer novel insights for the development of...

In 2000 all federal German ministries were ordered to avoid international obligations as much as they could. The directive stipulated that negotiators should explore alternatives to formal undertakings based on international law. Bureaucrats in other administrations report similar expectations...

This essay describes the emerging legal battleground between states engaged in transnational armed conflict and the role of third parties — courts, international institutions, NGOs, and civil society — in developing and enforcing the law. This legal conflict has led to the formation of two...