This dissertation addresses the impact of principles of soft law on the development of international regimes for environmental protection. It focuses on three such principles that have attracted a certain degree of consensus in international environmental law and are therefore influential in international environmental regimes: namely, the principle of common but differentiated obligations; the principle of common heritage of mankind and its corollary, the principle of common concern of humankind; and the precautionary principle. The regimes analysed are the Antarctic regime, the regime for control of trade in endangered species, the regime for protection of the stratospheric ozone layer, and the emerging regime governing conservation and management of straddling fish stocks. It is argued that these principles influence normative development in international environmental regimes through processes of discourse in which participants, both state and non-state actors, seek to determine the rules by which their mutual relations will be governed and their common interests protected. Such discourse also connects the evolution of legal rules with a broader set of concerns relating to the interest of human communities in achieving a certain level of environmental protection. In this respect, the legal rules may be contemplated within a moral framework in which members of international society seek to determine what they ought to do with respect to global environmental protection.

The global crisis of biodiversity depletion sets the stage for a necessary re-definition of State self-interest in the international milieu. That re-definition is effected by a changing perception of 'self'; one that occurs through the mental lens of interdependence and long-term vision. This thesis attempts to challenge conventional precepts and present a submission for change by drawing upon constructivist thought, which asserts that current perceptions are socially constructed and rooted in "collective intentionality", such that what has been human-made can be altered by the same processes through which it came into existence. In so doing, the author employs the notions of international ethics as a shared belief and international law as an ideational instrument to facilitate that change in favor of international cooperation toward the necessary amelioration of global biodiversity diminution in order to assure our future.

Intrigued by the observation that enduring, task-based water treaties have, surprisingly, emerged within protracted conflict settings that lock the riparians in a deadly embrace, I constructed an interdisciplinary theoretical framework to explain the causes of riparian conflict, and the conditions for riparian conflict resolution. Drawing on the literature from international relations, comparative politics, resource economics and public choice theory, I explain how the constraints posed by ecological forces in a conflict setting, and the political opportunities presented by a particular economic-developmental context shape the decisions of policymakers during the negotiation process that precedes regime emergence. / Next, a model is developed that first illustrates the causal pathways among five independent variables, (water scarcity mode, critical environmental threshold, riparian position, state power profile and sustainable development of water resources); three contextual variables, (conflict setting, economic-developmental level, economic-developmental crisis) and the dependent variable of riparian conflict. The pathway is then extended with the addition of two more contextual variables (negotiation structure and strategy) to explain the second dependent variable of regime emergence. Eight hypotheses are then theoretically derived and tested with specifics from four cases covering both developing and developed state riparian conflicts within protracted and non-protracted settings. The Middle East, South Asian, and North American regions are thus studied. / It was evident that the degree of water scarcity has either conflict enhancing or conflict mitigating properties depending upon the patterns of interaction among the variables. Both contextual variable clusters had theoretically significant effects on the nature of the regime. I inferred that the state formation dynamic influenced the economic-developmental context in which water policy is formulated and shaped the domestic configuration of water interests. It appears that the influence of rent-seeking groups opposed to a transboundary water treaty wax and wane once critical environmental thresholds, which aggravate or cause an economic-developmental crisis, are exceeded (especially in the most powerful state). This, along with other economic, international and geographic factors, ultimately, alters the preferences of the policymakers to enable compromise at the international level. A state's institutional capacity to adopt a more sustainable water usage pattern is also relevant in this regard.

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Thanks to the use of satellite technology, mobile personal telecommunications systems are able to provide communications simultaneously anywhere on the Earth's surface. The implementation of such systems raises several regulatory issues: after a brief explanation of the technical characteristics of different satellite systems in the first chapter, the second chapter will introduce the principles of space law relevant to satellite communications, with particular attention to the provisions which the development of global satellite telecommunication system could infringe. In the third chapter, there will be place for further analysis of international regulations established in the framework of the International Telecommunication Union and the World Trade Organisation, dealing more specifically with satellite telecommunications. The discipline established by the former organisation aims to the optimal management of the orbit and spectrum resources, particularly controversial because of the divergence of interests and exigencies of the member countries, whereas the latter intervened in the liberalisation of the telecommunication services, with the purpose to create an open environment for their diffusion. Furthermore, telecommunication activities are subjected to national regulation. The domestic discipline pertaining to global mobile satellite telecommunication services will be analysed in the fourth chapter, with particular attention to the U.S. Federal Communication Commission regulations and to the developments of Italian legislation in the light of the recent European initiatives in the field. National authorisation requirement conditions, in spite of the international effort toward regulatory harmonisation and liberalisation, are the key elements in the deployment of global mobile telecommunications services. National authorities should not continue to function solely on the basis of their national considerations, but be more flexible and open to cooperation, a

Governments have funded the development and production of advanced technology in order to establish supply security and/or to achieve economic growth. The policy of government funding includes three alternatives: the two basic options of maintaining a national project or participating in international collaboration involving a number of sovereign states, and the third option of doing both in parallel. The study examines international collaboration in such a way as to assist in the selection of the appropriate policy option. Particular attention is paid to the perspective of small and large, advanced and less advanced European countries. The research problem is addressed by focusing exclusively on those results which distinguish international collaboration from a national project, summarised under the concepts of collaborative sharing and collaborative efficiency. The former identifies the sharing of funding and technology not to be found in a national project. The latter identifies the difference in efficiency between international collaboration and a national project. Efficiency, indicated by cost, quality and time, is examined under the headings of policy-making, executive management, industrial rationalisation and production volume. Furthermore, collaborative sharing and efficiency are examined in the context of parallel national projects. This focus on the differences between the policy options provides the basis for selecting the appropriate one. Previous studies fail to give convincing answers to the research problem: they concentrate on collaborative efficiency while neglecting collaborative sharing, and they disagree over whether international collaboration or a national project is more efficient. This study attempts to overcome these shortcomings by examining a major case study of international collaboration, namely the European Communication Satellite Programme. The following conclusions are established. To achieve supply security, the collaborative option is considered appropriate for the large, advanced European country, and the parallel option for the large, less advanced countries. To achieve economic growth, the national option is appropriate for the advanced European countries. The smaller, less advanced countries are seen to play only a limited role in government funding of advanced technology.

This thesis is concerned with the relation between bank regulation and the risk-taking behaviour of banks. Two major instruments of regulatory intervention are considered: bank levy and bank bailouts. The major objective of this thesis is to provide an answer to the following questions: Do bank levies increase the risk-taking of banks in a competitive environment? When do bank bailouts decrease banks` risk-taking? Does the international coordination of bank bailouts affect the relation between bailouts and the risk-taking behaviour of banks? Who should rescue subsidiaries of multinational banks? How could an efficient bailout policy be designed and implemented? The bank levy and cooperation between national regulators play an important role in the recently adopted Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD). This directive is a cornerstone of bank regulation in Europe. Although the conversion of debt into equity (bail-in) in emergencies is the key component of the current regulation, bailouts, or at least the assistance to struggling banks, should not be excluded. As the ordinary resolution tools, for instance, bail-in, have not yet been tested in a real crisis, and due to the fact that it will take time to prepare global institutions for such a tool, it may be useful to have an adequately designed tool of last resort available, such as an adequate bailout policy, in order to avoid the disruption of critical economic functions. We show that a bank levy may decrease banks`risk-taking behaviour. Bank bailouts can also decrease the risk-taking of banks. This depends on the regulator`s ability to condition his bailout policy in accordance with the macroeconomic environment, which has an impact on the banks` probability of success, or on his ability to condition the bailout policy on the banks` systemic relevance. Coordination of bailouts through a multinational regulator can improve welfare. The desirability of internationally coordinated bailouts depends on the dimension of the crisis. If the crisis is severe, it may be more efficient to delegate bank bailouts to a multinational regulator. However, such a delegation is not always feasible. Therefore, a predefined burden sharing of bank bailouts is necessary in order to achieve an efficient resolution of banks in distress.

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Photocopy of typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1980. / Bibliography: leaves 406-428. / Microfiche. / xiii, 428 leaves, bound ill. 28 cm

This study was an investigation of the relationship between political conditionality and self-determination using Zimbabwe as a case study. The Zimbabwean land issue illustrates the challenges posed by external influences on supposedly autonomous domestic policy decision-making processes.