Traditionally, African states have played an active and relevant role in the formulation and development of international investment law. Generally, the contribution of African states is demonstrated through the active participation of African states in deliberations of the Non-Aligned Movement, the role of African states in the creation of specialized institutions such as UNCTAD and the strategic use of numerical strength by African states to sponsor numerous United Nations Resolutions. During the epitome of Africa’s active participation, African states aggressively resisted the internationalization of foreign investment rules. However, the practice of African states appears to have changed through the conclusion of BITs containing far-reaching treaty provisions. On the basis of the foregoing, the thesis reviews the types of BITs concluded by African states with the objective of establishing the investment treaty practice of African states. In so doing, the thesis examines whether African treaty practice conforms or differs from general investment law. While reviewing the treaty practice of African states the thesis also explores the extent to which the emerging investment treaty practice interferes or restrains legitimate policy making of African states. This thus raises awareness to (i) African specific concerns with respect to the international law of foreign investment (ii) the controversy entrenched in substantive treaty standards (iii) the suitability of treaties concluded by African states and (iv) the possibility of drafting more acceptable rules that balance the interests of African states vis-à-vis interests of foreign investors. The thesis argues that there has been a paradigm shift in the investment treaty practice of African states. Specifically, the present treaty practice of African states suggests that African states have retreated from previously held positions augmenting for state sovereignty to a more peculiar position of acquiescence. Broadly, the current state of African investment treaty practice is all surprising when contrasted with the fierce resistance African states mounted against the internationalization of foreign investment rules in the last century. The thesis demonstrated the extent to which African treaty provisions restrain legitimate policy making and suggests how African states can contribute to the further development of international investment law.

This thesis explores the nature, cause and dynamics of the conflict in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The region has become a hot spot for increased oil insurgency and well-organized criminal activity in the wake of the 1999 transition to democratic rule. The main contribution of this study lies in its use of the political economy theory of the state and the post-colonial characterization of the Nigerian state to analyse and explore specific role of the Nigerian state in the oil conflict. The research critiques past studies in the field as “grand narratives” based on assumptions of international political economy of resource conflicts not least the rentier state and resource curse theses. Through a case study of the state-owned oil industry the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Vanguard Newspaper representing a section of the media the thesis problematized the oil conflict in the Niger Delta to failure of democratization to address decades of conflict, politicization of ethnicity, descent to terminal spoils via oil bunkering and flaws in the country’s federalism. The study critically interrogates the legal/institutional as well as militaristic response of the state to the conflict as state-centric and factors spurring the conflict. The findings reveal that the conflict is rooted in factors affecting the control, management and distribution of oil resources by a centralized federal structure characterized by a failure of governance. In other words, the conflict dynamics of the Delta is explained by total failure of oil-wealth to foster development. Instead, it impedes political development, generates conflict over resource distribution, fuels ethnic conflict and fragmentation, and institutionalized corruption all spawned by rise in government oil largesse. Since the return of democracy in 1999, lack of genuine democratization in Nigeria, has crippled even nascent attempts at reform resulting to socio-economic stagnation, which relates directly to the rising trend of violence in the region. One of the key contributions of the study also is through an analysis of “illegal oil bunkering” as an empirical case of how legal/institutional failure of the state to response to the crisis and a reflection of descent to terminal spoil in the Nigerian oil industry led to spoils of oil violence. The research critically examines how oil bunkering has damaged the environment through oil spillage and contributes to proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the region. Finally, the thesis also suggests that, the potential solution to the Niger Delta crisis lies in governance and constitutional reform that focuses on correcting the structural imbalances embedded in the nature of Nigerian fiscal federalism, its revenue allocation formula and to effectively fight corruption at all levels of governance. The Nigerian state should also abrogate or review specific oil-related laws that serve as a fault-line of conflict with the oil producing communities. Failure to tackle this problem will allow the self-destructive cycle of violence to continue to undermine reform initiatives and perpetuate the region’s instability.

For several historical and political reasons, the decision-making processes and institutional structures of environmental governance has been greatly impacted by the North-South dimension, which creates enormous challenges for Southern states when they try to present their concerns to global forums. These challenges have many dimensions, such as political, economic, social, and legal. This thesis recognises the “poverty of influence” that has become endemic as a result of the lack of resources, expertise, research facilities, technology and other practical deficiencies that exist in the negotiating procedures and which have hampered the South’s participation in global environmental governance. Such participatory inequalities between North and South have seriously hampered the application of equity, fairness and justice – principles that are considered to be vital ingredients in any balanced governing system. This thesis proposes the utilisation of the diverse capacity of transnational NGO networks to enable the Southern voice to be effectively heard in global decision-making processes, and it questions the traditional legal structures that currently allow for NGO involvement by determining the need for wider opportunities to be considered, thereby enabling them to express their concerns. The thesis includes a Case Study that examines from a North-South perspective the different capacities of NGOs to influence global forests negotiations. Consequently, it is hoped that the thesis will contribute towards a greater understanding of the benefits that might accrue from the utilisation of transnational networks to voice hitherto unheard global forest issues. This thesis, which is timely, in that 2011 was the International Year of Forests, argues that transnational NGO networks could help mitigate the inequalities suffered by the South caused by the historic North-South divide. However, it also stresses the importance attached to transnational NGO networks incorporating measurable values of legitimacy and accountability when they represent the South at global governance forums.

This thesis considers the nature and extent of the United Nations’ obligations to protect the lives and physical integrity of civilians. Over 100,000 UN peacekeeping personnel are currently deployed on missions with authority from the Security Council to protect civilians at risk . Chapter VII of the UN Charter provides a UN mission with the jus ad bellum authority to use force, but is silent on the rules that would govern the resulting actions, which must either be found in the jus in bello provisions of international humanitarian law (IHL) or the regulations on the use of force contained in international human rights law. Most existing UN guidance stresses the applicability of IHL . This thesis argues that the positive and negative obligations of international human rights law will usually be more appropriate. Chapter VII contains no references to international human rights law and nor was this initially considered a concern of the Security Council. This has changed considerably in recent decades. It is increasingly accepted that humanitarian crises can justify the Security Council’s use of its Chapter VII powers, although this has been accompanied by growing concern about the lack of accountability with which they are sometimes used. The UN Charter specifies that its provisions take precedence over all other international treaties. There is no mechanism to judicially review the Security Council’s actions and the legal immunities that cover UN missions, makes it difficult to scrutinise their records. UN missions mandated to protect civilians have repeatedly failed to do so. Yet there does not appear to be a single case where the UN has taken disciplinary action against senior staff for failing to protect civilians in line with a mission mandate. Mechanisms need to be created to improve the accountability of UN missions to those that they are responsible for protecting.

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This study examines the contentious issues relating to the exploitation of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) within the context of the expanding regime of intellectual property law (IP law). The study focuses specifically on the area of indigenous medical knowledge (IMK) within the geographical context of Zimbabwe as a country case study. The study examines the centrality of knowledge in the global economy and using international political economic theory and practice, demonstrates why it is a key site of struggles between and among nations and various stakeholders. While it considers the narrow issue of the applicability or otherwise of IP law to IKS, this study takes the approach that it is necessary to understand the socio-historical developments that account for the peripheral status of IKS in relation to the dominant western knowledge systems (WKS). A key argument of this study is that the lack of legal protection of IKS is directly connected to their marginal status in social, intellectual, cultural and economic terms arising from the dominance of the predominantly WKS. It is argued that far from being a narrow legalistic debate, the matter of the protection of IKS is a wider socio-cultural, economic and political issue that centres on the power relations between and among people, corporations and states. Through a combination of theoretical and field investigations, the study seeks to explore the factors that account for the marginalisation of IKS generally and IMK systems in particular. The “struggle thesis” demonstrates that from an historical viewpoint knowledge systems are in a state of constant interaction and struggle resulting in problems. The key to resolving the problems is to acknowledge difference and accept the legitimacy and validity of different knowledge systems and to democratise the regime of knowledge protection both nationally and globally. It proposes that solutions lie in not only reconstructing the legal architecture but also in ensuring that the social, economic and political structures are reconstructed to safeguard and nurture the IKS. The study investigates the needs and expectations of the indigenous communities including their rationale for the protection of their knowledge systems. Finally, it also contributes to the development of indigenous research methodologies.

The 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement established the principle of compatibility envisaging that conservation and management measures adopted within national Exclusive Economic Zones and those adopted on the adjacent high seas should be compatible. However, the aforementioned principle has been regarded as representing one of the most contentious elements in the new law of the sea régime. The ambiguity lies in the existent legal uncertainty about the measures which shall be regarded as the referential basis for international regulatory schemes. The above controversy becomes more acute in the shade of the doubtful application that the available disputes settlement provisions under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea might have on this kind of disputes. The present disquisition studies the rationale behind an obscure system of clausal construction which was conceived by, and for first time emerged from the drafts of, the UN International Law Commission in early 1950s. This clausal construction refers to the peculiar pattern of legal drafting wherein procedural clauses are amalgamated into articles of substantive law. It is argued that treaty articles containing such clauses are predisposed to establish an inextricable connection between the substantive provisions and the provisions of procedure for the settlement of disputes. This kind of blended provisions represents a sui generis law, the peculiarity of which derives from its own insusceptibility to State auto-interpretation. The purpose of this analysis is to argue in favour of the compulsory application of the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement's settlement procedures on compatibility disputes in remaining unaffected by the operation of the procedural limitation. In advancing this argument the present thesis aims at developing a theory over the functional role of the procedural clauses which initially seem that for no obvious reason have been extracted from Part VIII of the Agreement and been embedded into the substantive article of compatibility. By analysing thus the textual formation of embedded clauses the present thesis constructs its argument upon – and further advances – an existing proposition in the literature that views compulsory dispute settlement procedures as indispensable element of the substantive principle insofar as compatibility is vaguely construed in neutral terms; i.e., without a predetermined orientation in its geographical scope.

Delay in marine adventure is an important and frequent phenomenon of maritime transport and it affects various parties and their interests under several types of marine insurance policies, including but not limited to hull and machinery, cargo, freight and loss of hire. Losses arising from delay are almost always excluded under the standard forms of these policies and under the Marine Insurance Act 1906 (MIA). This thesis traces back the common law origins of the exclusion, identifies the motivations behind the exclusion and submits that the risk of delay and some types of losses arising therefrom were not always excluded under the common law. By introducing distinctions among the types of delay, the work argues that the judgments in favour of the exclusion of delay losses shall be interpreted according to the type of delay and shall not be authority for all types of delay. The findings of the work accordingly clarify and considerably restrict the scope of the exclusion. The thesis also tackles the MIA provisions pertaining to the impact of delay on voyage policies. It argues that the relevant provisions are not clear and do not entirely reflect their common law background. On the ground that they have not been litigated since the enactment of the MIA, the research assesses whether they are obsolete and proposes that the provisions should be retained subject to reforms.

Most often in an investment agreement between a State entity and a foreign investor the arbitral tribunal is faced with the question of the liability of the State for the conduct of its entities. To make it precise the crucial findings of this research is whether or to what extend the States hall be liable for the commercial conduct of its entities? State affiliates in general includes, ‘state organ, ‘state agency’, ‘instrumentality’, ‘state-owned entity’, ‘state-owned company’, ‘publicly owned corporation’, ‘government business enterprise’, ‘public sector undertaking’ and ‘parastatal entity’. ‘State entities’ with separate legal personality do not include the ‘state organ’, ‘agency’ and ‘political subdivision’ for which a State is responsible under the principle of customary international law. The main highlights of this research is whether the State shall be liable for the commercial, non-governmental activities of ‘State entities’ with separate legal personality having substantial structural and functional government control over them while they enter into investment agreements with foreign investors. This leads to the critical arguments to establish in the first place whether the State is a party to the investment agreements of its separate legal entities with foreign investors. To respond this, findings of this research leads to the point that has been highlighted in relation to the true separation of these State entities from the government. It is that the significance of structural and functional control by the governmental over the habitual affairs of these entities. For this purposes two significant reasons are taken into consideration. First, whether the government officials or members of the cabinet preside as the head of the corporations or entities? Second, whether they administer the daily affairs of the entities such as participating in the negotiation and decision making process while entering into the agreement with foreign investors. If that is satisfied then the requirement for a State to be a party to the investment agreement of its entities is considered fulfilled. The most striking point of this research is then whether the State and its entities are entitled to immunity both from jurisdiction and execution. However, following the greater participation of State through State entities in the international trade and foreign investment the restrictive approach of immunity has seen a resultant raise in relation to the jurisdiction of arbitral tribunal. As regard to immunity from the enforcement measure the final stumbling block is the process of identification of public assets which are held by the State to perform its sovereign non-commercial functions often mixed with the assets allocated for commercial purpose against which enforcement can be done, is continued to be an issue at large. The emphasis of this research has been extended to have a closer look at the State immunity laws internationally in relation to the limitations of various conventions and codifications and judicial precedent that address the issue of enforcement in investment arbitration.

The Right to Information (RTI) – a right every individual has to access public information held by governments – is now established in more than 100 countries. RTI laws set up a new logic in government: availability of public information is the principle and secrecy the exception. RTI laws create new public information arenas where several actors request, release and use public information for several purposes. In this work, I seek to explore why RTI arenas based on similar principles, work differently leading to different outputs. My explanation is based on a historical- institutionalist perspective arguing that origins of these laws and previous institutional structures matter. I argue that three factors help to shape these arenas: the level of participation in the policy-making process, the professionalisation of state bureaucracy and RTI enforcement institutions. The combination of these factors gives us three different kinds of arenas: functional, mixed and contested. I develop a conceptual framework, operating at a middle-range theory level, to analyse the role RTI laws, requesters, the state, and the existence of RTI enforcement institutions play in each configuration. I show how these arenas evolve and work, running a structured and focused comparison of three case studies: Uruguay, Chile and New Zealand. This work shows how these arenas ended up differing in outputs such as availability of public information and efficiency in processing RTI requests, as well as the existence of effective accountability mechanisms to resolve disputes about public information.