This thesis covers researches on the correlation of the principles of uti possidetis juris and external self-determination in case of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Transnistria. Problems on determining international boundaries of newly independent states are very complicated and such processes are closely connected to the principle of territorial integrity. However, it should not be ignorant to human rights issues, including the right to internal self-determination. In this context, research of correlation between uti possidetis juris and external self-determination attracts much attention, whereas almost no fundamental researches on the Post-Soviet area are currently available. Upon the USSR’s dissolution the newly independent states of that area faced serious problems with determination of the state boundaries among themselves. Clashes between states and certain minority groups in the Post-Soviet area led to the sanguinary conflicts which are still awaiting their solution. The main purpose of this thesis is to analyse the legal grounds of application of uti possidetis in determining boundaries of the former USSR republics and a legal evaluation of the separatist movements in their territories. Moreover, it addresses whether there is a real collision between the two principles or whether it is just a simulation for hiding third states’ aggressive actions under the umbrella of self-determination. The thesis comprises five chapters. Chapter 1 is a brief introduction to the historical legal background of the conflicts. Chapters 2 and 3 present a theoretical review of both principles’ evolution and role in international law. Chapter 4 provides an analysis on the correlation of the two principles in the Post-Soviet area. Chapter 5 briefly covers the peace initiatives by various mediators and offers conflict resolution vision under international law. The thesis refers to unique researches and reviews a substantial number of materials and documents that have been unavailable to legal experts from the West.

The present study focuses on the gaps and lacunas of the current international legal system as a unified system, specialising in commercial and investment disputes arising between sovereign states and Multi-National Enterprises (MNEs). As shown extensively throughout this work, the lack of such court in an ever-tightening global economy has some rather severe implications both for the states and (to a lesser degree) for MNEs. Although numerous attempts have been made to rectify the situation, successful and comprehensive outcomes are still lacking. In response, this thesis proposes establishment of an International Court of State and Corporate Disputes (hereinafter ICSCD) as an answer to the various legal problems that the current system does not address. This type of court would give a coherence and finality to an international court system, both of which are mandatory for any legal system. Thus, this work presents an integration of the most important issues demonstrating the need for such a comprehensive system, and deepens the discussion on their inherited complexities and ramifications. Most significantly, it also attempts to show, as an original contribution to this field of study, how the ICSCD may provide satisfying answers for these issues ; i.e. definition of MNEs status and personality, conflict of interest between national and international courts, lack of an international commercial court that has jurisdiction world-wide, compliance, and enforceability of decisions.

In international law, co-operation is a general concept applied in a variety of contexts. In the context of the law of international watercourses, the general obligation to co-operate and the procedural rules it comprises have a crucial role to play in the implementation of the substantive principles of equitable and reasonable utilisation and of diligent prevention of transboundary harm. The problems lie in the identification of the scope of the obligation, its specific content, legal status and application. The principal objective pursued in this thesis is to present a detailed examination of the nature, scope, specific content, application, and consequences of non-compliance with the obligation to co-operate in the particular context of the law of international watercourses, in order to contribute to the clarification of this vague but fundamental principle. To illustrate how the theories relating to the obligation to co-operate on international watercourses can be translated into concrete acts, several examples are provided, including planned works in a basin State such as dams. Due to the variety and the nature of the issues involved in the context of international watercourses, an interdisciplinary approach was adopted between law and geography. This approach permits the sharing of insights and information, and a better understanding of several technical questions presented to the international lawyer when dealing with international watercourses. The thesis finally presents conclusions regarding the evolution and consolidation of the principle of co-operation, and assesses the feasibility of constructing and securing wider acceptance for a model of co-operation and the potential utility of such a model.

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This thesis is a work of international jurisprudence and political economy. It argues that the increasing violence of transformative interventions in the Third World represents the intensification of a dynamic inaugurated with the institution of the post-war settlement. The instituted dynamic both reveals and is revealed in the constitution of the space of the international and relations within it. The dynamic is a diffuse 'rationality of rule', operative in terms of an assertion of universality for a constellation of specific values and forms of social, economic and political organisation. It works through establishing a relation between the constituent parts of the ideological-institutional complex we call `international law' and is given impetus and logical coherence by the concepts of development and economic growth. Paradoxically, the dynamic is generated by a `critical instability' at the heart of international law. The instability arises from the aspirational dimension of international law in which it bears an enduring relation to an idea of justice. This relation holds out a promise of universality which has inspired attempts by the Third World to use international law as a site of political struggle. However through a combination of its ongoing movement and transcendent securing, the `critical instability' of international law is stilled. A particular content is (re)ascribed to the universal and stabilised in that `universal' position. Attempts to call on the promise of international law have therefore had the unintended consequence of legitimising an expanding domain of international intervention into the Third World. The unfolding of this universalising logic has produced 6 within international law a project of violent transformation and made the idea(l) of self government in the Third World illusory

In international law, there is no officially accepted definition of a minority. The traditional view on the definition of a minority requires that in order for persons belonging to ethnic, religious or linguistic groups to receive minority status and enjoy relevant minority rights, they must hold the citizenship of their State of residence. This thesis questions the traditional approach to the concepts of minority and minority rights with special reference to the case of the ethnic, linguistic Russians in Estonia and Latvia. It presents an analysis of the international legal and normative bases for justifying the effective protection of the ethnic, linguistic Russians in Estonia and Latvia as persons belonging to minorities with reference to their citizenship status. It is argued that at least three international legal and normative bases may be invoked for the effective protection of the ethnic, linguistic Russians in Estonia and Latvia. Such legal and normative bases can be found in minorities-specific standards with the focus on the protection of cultural identity for minorities, general human rights standards with an emphasis on substantive equality, and the right to internal self-determination. The linkage of these legal and normative bases to the protection of the ethnic, linguistic Russians in Estonia and Latvia as persons belonging to minorities with reference to citizenship in their States of residence strongly suggests that Estonian and Latvian citizenship laws are problematic from the perspective of minority protection. It also implies that Estonia and Latvia should protect the minority rights of the ethnic, linguistic Russians in an effective manner at the domestic legal level through the implementation of concrete protective measures to that effect, by taking into account their various needs and problems, including the matter of citizenship for the ethnic, linguistic Russian non-citizens and stateless persons. The discussion about the legal and normative bases for the protection of the ethnic, linguistic Russians in Estonia and Latvia with reference to their citizenship status also indicates that a State's power to regulate citizenship can be constrained 'to the extent' that it is obliged to protect minority rights in an effective manner at the domestic legal level under international law.

International commercial disputes are distinctive and often exceedingly intricate. The classic influences which make private international law and international business planning multifaceted render international business disputes challenging to dissect and resolve. Conflicts of regulation and putative mandatory laws coincide with multiple languages, cultures, currencies, and interests to generate disputes that pose special problems and implicate tremendous resources. Given these realities, arbitration has emerged as an important fixture in international business planning. States have an interest in being able to offer suitable mechanisms to promote the arbitral process. The FAA Is Outmoded and Discourages Selection of the United States as A Neutral Situs: The main body of the work argues that the Federal Arbitration Act of 1925 should be replaced by the UNCITRAL Model Law for disputes characterized as "international." The present statutory regime is fragmentary and complex; there are many arcane intersections between federal and state law and no centralizing, unifying framework. Anecdotal accounts suggest that these negative attributes discourage selection of the United States as a neutral venue for international arbitration. The UNCITRAL Model Law is the Apt Replacement for the FAA as to International Disputes: The Model Law was drafted by experts, is balanced in its accommodation of the common law and civil law traditions, is becoming increasingly well tested, provides a framework which is familiar to non-Americans and not greatly at odds with existing U.S. doctrine. The arguments against it are, on balance, not compelling, especially given that the basic Model can be augmented to account for certain matters dictated by the U.S. Constitution and by recent developments.

Born in the aftermath of the Second World War, the doctrine of command or superior responsibility provides that a military commander or a civilian leader may be held criminally responsible in relation to crimes committed by subordinates even where he has taken no direct or personal part in the commission of these crimes. The basis of this type of liability lies in a grave and culpable failure on the part of a superior to fulfill his duty to prevent or punish crimes of subordinates. Command responsibility is not a form of objective liability, nor is it a form of accomplice liability although it borrows elements from various types and forms of liability. It is a form of liability that is personal in nature and which is triggered by a personal and culpable dereliction of duty. Liability is entailed, however, not for a specific crime of 'dereliction of duty', but instead in relation to the underlying offence that has been committed by subordinates of the superior. In that sense, the responsibility of a superior is entailed and is closely linked to the crimes of his subordinates for which he may be convicted. Contrary to most other forms of criminal liability, the doctrine of command responsibility first developed as a norm of international law, rather than under domestic law. It is central to the ability of international law to ensure compliance with standards of humanitarian law and it remains a most important legal instrument in the fight against impunity. The present thesis provides a comprehensive and insightful dissection of that doctrine, its scope of application, its elements as well as the evidential difficulties involved in establishing those elements in the context of criminal prosecutions.

Competition law is a tool first employed by countries more than a hundred years ago, to address issues relating to restrictions on competition conducted by private firms. Competition law is still predominantly an instrument to resolve national problems while the dominance of market based economies in the last fifty years, particularly following the collapse of the eastern block, in combination with improvements in transport, communications and technology have progressively dismantled national borders and internationalised trade. Trade liberalisation has in turn led to practices by firms that have an effect on the territories of more than one country. Attempts to address this paradox - national rules to address international issues - have appeared on several occasions in the last 80 years at the international, regional and lately bilateral level. The research question that the thesis addresses is: What is the role of the competition law and policy of the EU in the formation of international competition rules (norms). This question encompasses two main concepts: international agreements with competition elements, and the role of EU competition law and policy. As to the former, four main forms of agreements are discussed in separate chapters of the thesis: bilateral and tripartite enforcement cooperation agreements, bilateral trade agreements with competition provisions, plurilateral trade agreements, and the negotiations over a possible multilateral agreement on competition. As to the latter, the EU is the focus of examination of these agreements. In this regard, the study analyses all the relevant agreements signed by the EU and the socio-political environment under which these agreements are negotiated and (where relevant) applied in practice, as well as the influence that these agreements have had on the conclusion of similar agreements by other countries.

This narrative addresses the issue of fisheries law, a specialist area combining aspects of international law, EU law, legislation from the UK and the devolved administrations and the common law. The research appraised and analysed marine fishing rights, the ownership of the UK marine fishery and the establishment of marine protected areas both under UK and aspects of EU law. The research adopted a doctrinal method triangulated via professional examples adopting aspects of action research. The scientific research, on which this research drew, established that there is a serious decline in UK fisheries and an urgent need to bring in measures to safeguard the fishery. The research found significant failings in the common law public right to fish, which designated the UK’s entire marine area as a fishery without apparent reasonable limitations as to use. It found that the absence of a stated public owner of the fishery with clear public duties makes it difficult to secure the public interest. It also highlighted the absence of clarity in the creation of derivative rights in the public fishery such as fishing quota, estimated in 1999 to be worth £1 billion. The research demonstrates the significant shortfall in the number of statutory marine protected areas created under the Marine Acts and raises concerns that these statutory measures could lead to paper parks with no active management measures. It shows the effectiveness of the application of the Habitats Directive to protect European marine sites and concludes that other European legislation could similarly be used to protect the marine environment from fisheries. It also found a lack of a coherent narrative relating to the mechanics and powers and duties of UK fisheries managers and concluded that there should be more comprehensive guidance on UK fisheries law, as the last comprehensive fishery texts date from the nineteenth century. The research recommends new Fisheries Acts to remedy some of the apparent defects in UK fisheries law.