The purpose of this study is an inquiry into the present state of customary international law on the use of armed force by individual States. It deals with the historical evolution of the law towards the current rule of the prohibition of the use of force, the content of this prohibition and the purported exceptions to it that are invoked in the practice of States as justifications of lawful resort to force. The present author does not deal with the use of force under the authority of competent organs of the United Nations and regional organisations, as well as questions of individual criminal responsibility for resort to armed force. The present author has adopted an analytical and empirical approach towards the phenomenon of the use of armed force by States. The study is based on an examination of the practice of individual States, both within and outside the framework of United Nations organs. More specifically it concentrates on the practice of States that perpetrated the use of force, the States that were the targets of this force and the reactions of third States (in the sense of not those directly involved) to instances of use of force. Moreover, the present author considers certain resolutions adopted by the Security Council and the General Assembly as part of the practice of States and evidence of opinio juris of this practice. By this it is meant that the adoption (or not) of resolutions, especially in the Security Council, is not insulated from statements by individual members of these U. N. organs. Hence, in the case of the Security Council the lack of condemnation is not automatically considered as approval of the action that is the object of debate at the Council, beyond and apart from the attitude of individual Members. At the same time the adoption of a resolution is treated as a projection of the position advocated by individual States, while account is taken of the voting pattern and dissent or reservations expressed upon adoption. The study of State practice is compared with the ruling of the International Court of Justice in the Nicaragua Case (Merits) (the issues of use of armed force dealt with by the Court) with the aim of proving that the restrictive interpretation of the law on the use of force upheld by the Court corresponds to the actual practice of States as a component of general customary law. The position of the law of the use of force rests on a twofold basis. First, the rule of the prohibition of resort to armed force that constitutes the foundation and the starting point of the legal regulation of unilateral resort to armed force, and secondly, the purported exceptions to the rule. It is undoubtedly the case that the legal force of the rule of non-use of armed violence is not diminished. The numerous resorts to armed force by individual States have been justified either on the basis of restrictive interpretation of the content of the prohibition itself or of the purported exceptions to it. In the subsequent sections it is shown that State practice does not admit a restrictive interpretation of components of the rule and is unanimous only with regard to one of the purported exceptions to it : the right of defensive action. With regard to other exceptions, there exists extreme controversy as to their existence and scope. The content of the prohibition of the use of force, the scope of the "universally admitted" exception of defensive action, and, finally, the controversial exceptions to the rule of non-use of force constitute the three main thematic issues that are dealt with in this study. Hence the structure of the present thesis reflects this contingency. The present study considers the evolution of the law on the regulation of the use of force as marked by continuity from the period of the League of Nations to the present, and it is divided in three parts. Part One deals with the rule of the prohibition of the use of armed force by individual States. It considers the historical evolution of the rule and focuses greatly on the important developments in the practice of States during the period of the League of Nations that culminated in the total prohibition of armed force as a result of the Conclusion of the Pact of Paris (1928) and the establishment of the United Nations Organisation (Chapter 1). The remainder of Part One deals with the content of the prohibition of the threat or use of force by focusing, mainly, on the practice of States in the period 1945 - 19913. The issues that are dealt with are related to the phenomena of indirect use of force by way of armed bands (Chapter 2); armed reprisals (Chapter 3); the concepts of threat of force (Chapter 4); economic coercion (Chapter 5); anti-colonial armed struggles in relation to the rule of non-use of force (Chapter 6); and territorial integrity and political independence as the object of forcible action. Part Two examines the historical evolution (Chapter 8) and the content of the right of self-defence (Chapters 9& 10), as the only universally accepted ground for lawful unilateral resort to armed force. Chapter 9 deals with the content of individual defensive action and Chapter 10 concerns the concept of collective self-defence. Finally, in Part Three the present author considers justifications for lawful resort to armed force that are surrounded by controversy: Namely, the use of force by States for the protection of the lives and property of nationals or under the doctrine of "humanitarian intervention" (Chapter 11) and the concept of military intervention on the basis of the consent of the State on whose territory military action is taking place (Chapter 12). By way of last word it must be pointed out that in this study the term "intervention" is considered as wider than the concept of "armed force" - the latter is included in the former but not vice-versa. A study of intervention necessarily includes, in this writer's view, instances of nonforcible State activity detailed consideration of which was beyond the scope of this thesis.

The Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was conceived of as the Court’s gatekeeper and empowered in the Rome Statute to provide an essential counterbalance to the significant discretionary powers granted to the Prosecutor. This thesis analyses in detail the PTC’s powers at the different stages of the Court’s proceedings in which it is called to intervene – ie pre-investigation, investigation and pre-trial stages – and argues that, in general terms and save some limitations, the PTC has the necessary tools to carry out its function. In particular, the PTC has been empowered to prevent possible abuses of power and shield the Prosecutor from external pressures through the judicial review of his most critical discretionary decisions. By way of that judicial control, the PTC is meant to examine the rationale behind the Prosecutor’s decisions in order to guarantee that the exercise of discretion is not abusive or the result of improper political pressures. This is necessary to safeguard the legitimacy of the institution as a whole and to protect the rights of those that can be affected by the Court’s investigations and prosecutions. However, a systematic evaluation of the way in which these powers have been applied reveals that the PTC’s judges have adopted a rather cautious approach to their role, showing some reluctance to firmly scrutinise the Prosecutor’s exercise of discretion. As a result of the Court’s inherent limitations and the political climate in which it operates, there is a concrete risk that external actors may try to politicise the role of the Court, exerting political pressures on the Prosecutor. The adoption of a more proactive and firm role by the PTC will not only encourage a more transparent decision-making process by the Prosecutor, but will also urge cooperation and genuine investigations and prosecutions at the national level, therefore minimising the risk of the Court’s political instrumentalisation. Accordingly, this thesis argues that, for as long as the PTC boldly embraces its full powers, the ICC will function smoothly and strengthen its reputation as a fair and impartial means by which to obtain international criminal justice.

Dissenting opinions, separate opinions and declarations are a familiar aspect of the international jurisprudential landscape. Despite this, in comparison to domestic judicial systems, there has been comparatively little by way of attempts to rationalise the institutional and systemic implications of this practice. While there is widespread agreement that the impact of additional opinions lies in their effect upon the authority of the court or tribunal and its decisions (‘institutional judicial authority’), the nature of that impact is open to greater contestation. How should additional opinions be viewed? An unnecessary and counterproductive distraction or an important mechanism of accountability for the exercise of judicial power? By conceiving additional opinions as the expression of individual judicial authority, this thesis examines the interplay between individual judicial authority and institutional judicial authority within two paradigms of international justice. The first – comprising the ICJ and PCIJ – represents the traditional paradigm of international justice wherein the culture of expressing individual judicial authority in international law was born. The second paradigm is international criminal justice as pursued by two institutions in particular, the ICTY and the ICC. By comparing these two paradigms, and the nature and purposes of judicial authority therein, this thesis considers how individual judges through their additional opinions have contributed to the evolving international judicial culture, and how that practice affects the manner in which the institutions in question advance the project of international justice. Drawing upon Mirjan Damaška’s work demonstrating how procedural choices and practices have implications upon authority, and the relationship between procedure and the purposes for which authority is claimed, this thesis demonstrates that not only is the expression of individual judicial authority consistent with institutional authority but it is constitutive of it. The final section of the thesis turns to consider a form of judicial expression – defined as judicial dissent – that places institutional and individual authority in conflict with one another. Despite the negative implications of judicial dissent upon judicial authority (both institutional and individual) and judicial collegiality, the final section considers whether such practice can play a legitimate systemic function.

The thesis considers the educational function of the trials of Nazis by the British and American authorities after the Second World War. As has generally been overlooked in the literature, legal proceedings were instituted not only to punish the abhorrent actions of the Third Reich, but also to provide an historical record for the edification of victors, vanquished and posterity alike. The route from this Allied intention to its fulfillment was not a straightforward one, however, bedeviled by enduring preconceptions of Nazi criminality on all sides, and by the very nature of the legal process. To illustrate by case study the difficulties of disclosing information through the trial medium, the theme of the murder of the European Jews has been selected. The limiting influence of British and American socio-cultural and politico-legal norms on the parameters of the trials is developed in the first section. This analyses the prosecutorial methods with which it was considered the didactic aims would best be achieved, alongside the prevailing trend towards downplaying the particular identity of the chief victims of Nazism. The image of the Jewish catastrophe thus compiled as theory was translated into reality in the Allied courtrooms is the initial focus of the second section. That deals with the problematic image of the 'concentration camps' established in a selection of trials; and with the influence of such proceedings upon the academic historiography of the Holocaust. Finally, the thesis confronts the popular receptivity in Britain, the USA and West Germany to the information made available.

This thesis begins with the observation that a gap exists between the universal consensus among all States regarding the criminalisation of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes on the one hand, and the prevalence of impunity on the other. It then puts forward the hypothesis that this gap may be explained by the unsuitability of the approach taken by the international community to address the issue of responsibility for core international crimes. In order to test this hypothesis, this thesis critically examines the different forms of responsibility for core international crimes available in International Law. One of the important characteristics that distinguish core international crimes from other international crimes or ordinary crimes is that they are often committed with the simultaneous participation of several actors, including individual perpetrators, the State and, in some instances, non-state actors. Addressing the impunity for the commission of core international crimes cannot, therefore, be limited to the lack of consequences for individual perpetrators. This thesis challenges the focus of International Criminal Justice on individual criminal responsibility and argues for a comprehensive approach to responsibility for international crimes, including State and collective responsibility, in order to convey the collective and political features of these crimes. The issue of responsibility for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes has been widely discussed in the scholarly literature, in particular with the development of International Criminal Law. One can observe, however, an imbalance between the amount of research dedicated to the issue of individual criminal responsibility for core international crimes and the issue of State responsibility for international crimes. This imbalance is partly due to the fact that the notion of State criminal responsibility was rejected by a large majority of States, and discussions on these issues were abandoned. The originality of this thesis comes from the broad approach it adopts to examine the issue of responsibility for core international crimes with the aim of bridging the gap between the distinct academic perspectives. It weaves together different approaches to responsibility, from individual responsibility to State responsibility, in order to identify the weaknesses of the current forms of responsibility and to highlight the complementary aspects of the main questions discussed in these different fields of law. The thesis goes beyond highlighting the complementary aspects of the different forms of responsibility for core international crimes and puts forward a concrete proposal to develop a comprehensive normative framework, based on the model of the Responsibility to Protect concept, to implement a comprehensive approach to responsibility. This framework relies on the emergence of a duty to end impunity that lies with the territorial State as well as the international community. The purpose of this comprehensive normative framework is to promote the cooperation and interactions between the different mechanisms available in International Law and designed to deal with issues of responsibility for core international crimes. The proposal is based on the assumption that including the different norms and measures which aim to end impunity within one framework would optimise their synergy to respond to core international crimes and protect the interests of humanity as a whole.

The thesis critically analyses the legal problems associated with the recognition and enforcement of domestic and foreign arbitral awards in Saudi Arabia. The aim is to illuminate whether or not the new Saudi Arbitration Law 2012 (SAL) and the new Enforcement Law 2012 (SEL) will be able to resolve these problems. In the thesis, we investigate the reasons for the problems with regard to the SAL 1983, and then discuss the SAL 2012 in terms of the possibility of resolving such problems. Moreover, the study includes a semi-comparative study in the light of Sharia Law and international practice. The thesis deals with Saudi judicial practices by looking at a significant number of Saudi judicial cases that relate to the enforcement of arbitral awards. This is what enhances the view that the thesis will make an effective contribution to the field of arbitration. A number of legal problems, such as the lack of identification of the limited grounds for a challenge, the competent court to decide such a challenge, the arbitration having the authority of res judicata, and the potency of the competent court to review the merits of the dispute, should all be considered due to their negative impact on the enforcement process. In this thesis, we have concluded that the new SAL 2012 and SEL 2012 can cope with and resolve many of the legal dilemmas associated with the matter of the enforcement of arbitral awards. These new pieces of legislation will be able, to some extent, to reassure and comfort national and international parties without violating Sharia law. However, some potential legal obstacles may emerge in terms of the enforcement process as it relates to arbitral awards. Therefore, the author of the thesis believes that the level of satisfaction may not be as much as is hoped for.

Sammanfattning Titel: CSR-prestations påverkan på tillgång till kapital Nivå: Examensarbete på Grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Erika Sörell och Johanna Svarfvar Handledare: Jan Svanberg Datum: 2020 – juni  Syfte: Företags sociala ansvarstagande (CSR) blir en allt viktigare fråga i samhället och olika intressenter ställer högre krav på företagen. Det finns olika åsikter om CSR-aktiviteter är en onödig kostnad för företag. Att ha tillgång till kapital är dock av stort värde för alla sorters företag och påverkas av huruvida företag upplever kapitalbegränsningar eller inte, vilket kan mätas på olika sätt. Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka om CSR-prestationer kan påverka företags tillgång till kapital, med avseende på kapitalbegränsningar inom EU. Metod: Studien utgår från en positivistisk forskningsfilosofi med en hypotetisk-deduktiv ansats. Studien har en kvantitativ design med sekundärdata inhämtad från databasen Thomson Reuters Eikon. Urvalet består av 272 publika bolag inom EU med data för åren 2010–2019. Data har analyserats genom multipla regressionsanalyser i statistikprogrammet SPSS. Resultat och Slutsats: Resultatet påvisar inga tydliga samband mellan CSR-prestationer och de tre undersökta måtten på kapitalbegränsningar: KZ-index, WW-index och SA-index. Gemensamt för dessa är dock att sambanden är svaga. Det finns därmed inga bevis för att bra CSR-prestation skulle ha en positiv påverkan på företags tillgång till kapital, utan kapitalbegränsningar verkar yttra sig olika i olika företag och är därför svårt att mäta.  Examensarbetets bidrag: Studien bidrar till att utöka forskningen kring CSR-prestation och tillgång till kapital, och signalerar att kapitalbegränsningar är ett komplext mått och att det finns brister i hur kapitalbegränsningar mäts. Studien ger också ett praktiskt bidrag i form av stöd för företag i att engagera sig i CSR eftersom det kan ge positiva effekter för företaget.  Förslag till framtida forskning: Ett förslag till framtida forskning är att utöka studien till att omfatta andra delar av världen men också att undersöka andra mått på CSR-prestation, eller att dela upp ESG-måttet och studera de olika dimensionerna var för sig.  Nyckelord: CSR, ESG, tillgång till kapital, kapitalbegränsningar, KZ-index, WW-index, SA-index / Abstract Title: CSR performance affect on access to capital Level: Student thesis, final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration  Author: Erika Sörell and Johanna Svarfvar Supervisor: Jan Svanberg Date: 2020 – June  Aim: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming an increasingly important issue in the society and various stakeholders place higher demands on companies. There are different opinions about whether CSR activities are an unnecessary expense. Having access to capital is of great value to all kinds of companies and is affected of whether or not the company experiences capital constraints, which can be measured in different ways. The aim of this thesis is to investigate if CSR performance can affect companies’ access to capital, with regard to capital constraints within the EU. Method: The study applies a positivistic research philosophy with a hypothetical-deductible approach. The study has a quantitative research design with secondary data retrieved from the database Thomson Reuters Eikon. The sample consists of 272 public companies within the EU with data for the years 2010–2019. Data has been analyzed in the SPSS statistics program. Result och Conclusion: The results show no obvious relationship between CSR performance and the three measures of capital constraints examined: KZ-index, WW-index and SA-index. A shared characteristic is that the relationship is weak. There is thus no evidence that a good CSR performance would have a positive impact on companies’ access to capital. Capital constraints appear different in all companies and are therefore difficult to measure. Contribution of the thesis: The study contributes to expanding the research on CSR performance and access to capital, and signals that capital constraints are a complex measure and that there are shortcomings in how they are measured. The study also makes a practical contribution in form of support for companies in engaging in CSR as it can have positive effects. Suggestion for future research: One suggestion for future research is to extend the study to other parts of the world but also to study other ways of measuring CSR performance, or to split the examined ESG Score and study the different dimensions of CSR separately. Keywords: CSR, ESG, access to capital, capital constraints, KZ-index, WW-index, SA-index

The argument of this thesis is that measures taken by international bodies to establish the rule of law in postconflict situations are undertaken in the mistaken belief that they will automatically enhance conditions for the rule of law to flourish. In fact, examination of the situation in Southern Sudan demonstrates that there is a wide disconnection between the measures pursued and the outcome of the process. This study will therefore inquire into the different meanings attributed to the concept of the rule of law in order to establish what the concept signifies in the context of statebuilding, with a focus on Southern Sudan. How does the theoretical understanding of the rule of law correlate with the legal and institutional measures taken by international organizations such as the United Nations and the African Union to build the effectiveness of the state in Southern Sudan? The study will further address issues such as what kind of state institutions are envisaged by rule of law reforms, together with the historical and theoretical imperatives which orient and drive the rule of law building process in post-conflict situations. The research is envisaged as a contribution to the debate on how to make ‘rule of law work on the ground’. It is hoped that if practitioners and policy makers take into account the findings of this study, their contribution to rule of law reforms in countries like Southern Sudan that have experienced protracted conflicts will not only achieve their objectives of reforms but also significantly improve the social and economic wellbeing and human rights protection of the people in whose name these reforms are pursued.

This research aims to contribute to the analysis of the laws and regulations related to remuneration practices. It is also intends to offer recommendations and solutions to the problem of setting levels and Structures of remuneration in Saudi Arabia, an area which is currently neglected despite its importance. Remuneration is a crucial tool in solving the agency problem between shareholders and managers in public companies where the separation of ownership and control exists by providing incentives. However, in Saudi Arabia this practice shows a tendency towards high fixed remuneration and variable remuneration set without any clear links between this and performance, causing variable remuneration to become another salary. Since inadequate laws and regulation have been found to be at least partially responsible for this state of affairs, solving this problem requires careful analysis of the most important jurisdictions which have developed laws and regulations. Thus, the thesis adopts a comparative legal study of the relevant laws and regulations within a descriptive and analytical framework, presenting a detailed discussion of remuneration regulation in the UK, EU and USA. Moreover, informal discussions have been conducted with individuals in the public sectors of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) and the Capital Market Authority (CMA), in order to complement the black letter law analysis of the research, by providing a realistic insight into the nature of the challenges in formulating the policy process in Saudi Arabia. Serious flaws and shortcomings were found in the existing law and regulation regarding remuneration in Saudi Arabia, and recommendations for reform of these are provided.

Malicious cyber-attacks, those cyber-attacks which do not rise to the level of force in international law, pose a significant problem to the international community. Attributing responsibility for malicious cyber-attacks is imperative if states are to respond and prevent the attacks from continuing. Unfortunately, due to both technical and legal issues attributing malicious cyber-attacks to the responsible state or non-state actor is difficult if not impossible in the vast majority of attacks. Even if an injured state may recursively trace the malicious cyber-attack to the responsible IP address, this is not enough under the current international customary law to hold a state or non-state actor responsible for the cyber-attack as it is virtually impossible to bridge the air gap between the computer system and end user to demonstrate affirmatively who initiated the attack. Even if a state could demonstrate the identity of the end user that initiated the attack, this is not enough to link the end user to the state for responsibility to lie under existing customary international law. As such this study was conducted to analyze the issue of malicious cyber-attacks as a matter of customary international law to ascertain mechanism to hold states responsible for malicious cyber-attacks which originate from a state’s sovereign territory. Specifically, this study addresses the issue of legal and technical attribution of malicious cyber-attacks for the purposes of holding states responsible for those attacks. This study argues that under existing customary international law attributing malicious cyber-attacks for the purpose of ascertaining state responsibility is difficult if not impossible. As such, this study proposes alternative theories, which already exist within customary international law, for holding states responsible for malicious cyber-attacks which originate from their sovereign territory. This study addresses alternative theories of state responsibility existing in customary international law such as those put forth in Trail Smelter and Corfu Channel and the theory of strict liability for ultra-hazardous activities. In addition, this study addresses the theory of indirect responsibility, the duty to prevent harm, and due diligence in cyber-space. Lastly this study analysis the impact of the post-9/11 invasion of Afghanistan by the United States and NATO forces and determines that a burgeoning rule of attribution may be present which would impact the attribution of malicious cyber-attacks to states. This study makes an original and important addition to the corpus of international law by addressing the issues of technical and legal attribution, state responsibility, and the duty to prevent malicious cyber-attacks as a matter of customary international law. This study is needed; malicious cyber-attacks implicate international law, as the majority are interstate in nature. However, international law currently has no paradigm, per se, in place to effectively deal with the issue of malicious cyber-attacks.