Explores the ideological, political, and economic stakes of struggles over international law's history and its relation to empire and capitalism.

Provides an accessible, balanced, and nuanced introduction to public international law, with examples of how the law applies in practice.

"Most chapters in this volume were first presented at a symposium held at the University of Bern in December 2006"--Page ix.

In the process of resolving disputes, it is not uncommon for parties to justify actions otherwise in breach of their obligations by invoking the need to protect some aspect of the elusive concept of public order. Until this thoroughly researched book, the criteria and factors against which international dispute bodies assess such claims have remained unclear. Now, by providing an in-depth comparative analysis of relevant jurisprudence under four distinct international dispute resolution systems – trade, investment, human rights and international commercial arbitration – the author of this invaluable book identifies common core benchmarks for the application of the public order exception. To achieve the broadest possible scope for her analysis, the author examines the public order exception’s function, role and application within the following international dispute resolution systems: relevant World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements as enforced by the organization’s Dispute Settlement Body and Appellate Body; international investment agreements as enforced by competent Arbitral Tribunals and Annulment Committees under the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes; provisions under the Inter-American Convention of Human Rights and the European Convention of Human Rights as enforced by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights, respectively; and the New York Convention as enforced by national tribunals across the world. Controversies, tensions and pitfalls inherent in invoking the public order exception are elucidated, along with clear guidelines on how arguments may be crafted in order to enhance prospects of success. Throughout, tables and graphs systematize key aspects of the relevant jurisprudence under each of the dispute resolution systems analysed. As an immediate practical resource for lawyers on any side of a dispute who wish to invoke or strengthen a public order exception claim, the book’s systematic analysis will be welcomed by lawyers active in WTO disputes, international investment arbitration, human rights law or enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. Academics and policymakers will find a signal contribution to the ongoing debate on the existence, legal basis, content and functions of the transnational public order.

This monograph considers the ramifications of the legal regime that governs transborder capital flows. This regime consists principally of a network of some 3,000 investment treaties, as well as a growing body of arbitral decisions. Professor Alvarez contends that the contemporary international investment regime should no longer be described as a species of territorial “empire” imposed by rich capital exporters on capital importers. He examines the evolution of investment treaties and investor-State jurisprudence constante and identifies the connections between these and general trends within public international law, including the increased resort to treaties (“treatification”), growing risks to the law’s consistency (“fragmentation”), and the proliferation of forms of international adjudication (“judicialization”). Professor Alvarez also considers whether the regime’s efforts to “balance” the needs of non-State investors and sovereigns ought to be characterized as “global administrative law”, as a form of “constitutionalization”, or as an increasingly human-rights-centred enterprise.

Now available as an eBook for the first time, this 2000 book from the Melland Schill series looks at the humanitarian intervention at the centre of legal, political and ethical discourse as the ‘century of violence’ ended. Increasing recourse to such a doctrine was occasioning widespread reflection on the big questions of how and why states behave, whether there is a meaningful concept of an international community, how fundamental values are determined and how they relate to each other. Jurisprudence of international law poses challenges to thinking and argumentation, and proposes a redescription of humanitarian intervention. The book presents and evaluates the bearing of legal theories - natural law, positivism, realism and critical theory - on humanitarian intervention and how the legal framework, in particular Articles 2(4) and 51 of the United Nations Charter, is moulded by theoretical arguments and influences state practice. Tsagourias develops a discursive model where the value of human dignity is attained through dialogue, reflection, and projection embedded in a sense of responsibility and human solidarity. The book revisits humanitarian intervention from the perspective of human dignity by re-combining theory, doctrine and practice within a discursive process. This book is written for theorists and practitioners of both international law and international relations.