No description available.

No description available.

In the current investment climate, most investor-state disputes are settled through investment arbitration. Investor-state arbitration enables the foreign investor to bring a case before a neutral forum, whose decision is binding and enforceable in countries across the world. In instances where the dispute is governed by an arbitration clause, the clause places the disputing parties under the jurisdiction of an arbitral tribunal. In the event of achieving a victory, the investor may nonetheless come up against the obstacle of state sovereignty, even though the state party has ostensibly waived sovereign immunity from jurisdiction. If a state rejects to comply with an award, then investors must commence a worldwide search (forum-shopping), with a view to retrieving the assets that have been awarded. In instances where the state party is victorious, there is a danger that the award payment will not be made if the foreign investor has already declared bankruptcy. Although there are two Conventions (ICSID and the New York Convention) that facilitate the enforcement of arbitral awards, neither one is sufficient to preclude the emergence of the enforcement issue. In both instances, this issue is damaging as it wastes time and money, ultimately contributing to wider inefficiencies and uncertainties in investor-state arbitration. In addressing themselves to this problem and aspiring to the reduction of the obstacle of sovereign immunity from execution, scholars and practitioners have put forward two practical solutions; firstly, a hybrid sovereignty act has been proposed; secondly, it has been suggested that the World Bank could take punitive action, refusing to provide the state party with further loans until the award is resolved. However, these proposals have, to date, not been practically applied or developed. This thesis has two primary objectives: firstly, it attempts to analyse previous solutions that have been addressed to the enforcement issue of ICSID awards: secondly, it addresses itself to two alternatives: 1) that the ICSID Administrative council can review compliance with awards; 2) that countermeasures can be initiated against the failing state under the law of state responsibility (the ILC Articles on State Responsibility). In concluding, the thesis will consider the various advantages and disadvantages associated with each of the aforementioned solutions, ultimately proposing an approach that is best-suited to upholding the interest of the victorious party at the enforcement stage.

Magister Legum - LLM / The global state of the environment is deteriorating daily because of challenges posed by environmental degradation, including climate change. In recognition of the mounting global environmental crisis and its detrimental impact on the enjoyment of human rights, there is a growing call for the recognition of what is generally referred to as a human right to a clean environment, otherwise referred to in this study as an international environmental right. Proponents of an international environmental right hold a firm view that such a right will prevent or mitigate actions that are responsible for environmental degradation and thus contribute to environmental protection. This study seeks to determine the nature of the relationship between the environment and human rights and whether the proposal for the recognition of an international environmental right to address global environmental concerns that pose a threat to the enjoyment of human rights has merit. In determining the viability of recognising an international environmental right, a number of theories underpinning the recognition of new international human rights, the status of the right in existing international human rights agreements, political willingness and support of states, the notion of global constitutionalism, customary international law sources such as soft law instruments, international declarations etc., are considered.

LL.M. (International Law) / In 2000, the government of Canada set up the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (“ICISS”).1 This was in a response to the request of the erstwhile secretary-general of the United Nations (“UN”) to the general assembly in 1999 and in 2000 to address the dilemma of intervention in situations of mass murder and egregious violations of human rights ...

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether Kenya's national policies of education are consistent with the principles of nation building and state sovereignty. The investigation involved developing eight multiple regression models. Each model utilized one dependent variable, one independent variable and two control variables. The dependent variables were the average boys and the average girls public primary education gross enrollment ratios for 2000-03, the boys and the girls public primary education completion rates for the class of 2003, and the boys and the girls public primary education gross enrollment ratios for 2003. The independent variables were the public primary education pupil/teacher ratios for 2000 and the public primary education pupil/teacher ratios for 2003. The two control variables were the percentage of the population living in towns in 1999 and the percentage of the population in wage employment in 1999. The only significant results were a negative relationship between public primary education pupil/teacher ratios for 2003 and the girls public primary education completion rates for the class of 2003 and, a positive relationship between the percentage of the population in wage employment in 1999 and the girls public primary education completion rates for the class of 2003. The results suggested that Kenya's national policies of education are not consistent with the principles of nation building and state sovereignty and led to the conclusion that Kenya's public primary education may not be playing the nation-building role that it should play. / Ph. D.

Many scholars perceive state sovereignty as absolute, inviolable, indivisible, final, binding and stagnant. That perception emanates from inter alia political, social, cultural and environmental contexts of the modern era. Most literature converge that the doctrine of sovereignty first received official codification at the Peace Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. Contemporary international norms, particularly the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, are arguably an environment and culture of current global politics. With human rights and democracy having taken centre-stage in contemporary political discourses, sovereignty is affected and influenced by such developments in international politics. Hence the argument that globalisation, among others, has eroded, weakened and rendered the doctrine of sovereignty obsolete. This study, using Zimbabwe‟s Operation Murambatsvina as a case study, demonstrates that sovereignty is neither unitary in practice, nor sacrosanct; it is dynamic and evolves, thus, in need of constant reconfiguration. To this end, the study uses the qualitative research methodology. / Political Sciences

Research conducted in this thesis revolves around the issue of state sovereignty. More precisely, this thesis aims at examining the foreign policy of the United States of America and its impact on sovereignty of Georgia and Serbia. Different attitude towards the recognition of unilateral declarations of independence of South Ossetia and Kosovo, breakaway regions of Georgia and Serbia, by the US officials represents the starting point of this study. Following state-centric approach this thesis presents an assessment of bilateral relations between the USA and case study countries Georgia and Serbia. The purpose of this study is to enable better understanding of different approaches by the US officials towards the issue of respecting state sovereignty.

Thesis advisor: S.J., David Hollenbach / This dissertation explores the possible contribution of the Catholic tradition to the current debate in the field of international studies regarding the appropriate role of state sovereignty in global governance. The dissertation addresses the issue from the perspective of ideas, and is divided into three parts. First, it describes how the modern sovereign states system emerged as a result of prior revolutions in ideas about justice and political authority thereby drawing on the work of Daniel Philpott. It then examines the writings of three twentieth-century Catholic writers who treated the issue of sovereignty as part of their reflections on international affairs: Luigi Sturzo, Jacques Maritain, and John Courtney Murray. Finally, the dissertation correlates the work of Sturzo, Maritain, and Murray with a number of contemporary political theorists of cosmopolitan democracy. It argues not only that there are significant similarities between Sturzo, Maritain, and Murray and cosmopolitan theory, but also that the Catholic tradition can complement cosmopolitanism in a helpful manner. Thus the dissertation suggests a way forward for the Catholic tradition with respect to the issue of state sovereignty and global governance, and it provides a challenge to the Catholic community regarding this matter. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

<p>The purpose of this study is to analyze how the parties (USA, Great Britain, UN and the European Union) legitimize their intervention in Bosnia-Herzegovina as seen from without the conceptions of sovereignty and intervention. </p><p>USA and the UN have legitimized their intervention on security reasons. The American president, George W. Bush, claimed that democracies never engage in war with each other and that democracies were prosperous just because they were democracies. According to the president, that is why it is important to democratise the whole Balkan region to protect the international community from terrorism which grows in unstable and undemocratic states. UN resolutions claim that the situation in Bosnia is a threat to international peace and security and urged all state members to do everything they can for stability in Bosnia-Herzegovina. </p><p>European Union and Great Britain saw the organized crime that spreads through Balkan as a major threat to Europe. To be able to deal with his problem, EU is asking for more cooperation among the European states. Bosnia is a member of the Council of Europe and is also involved in the Stabilisation and association process for South eastern Europe with the EU. The purpose of these memberships is to foster the political and economic development in Bosnia and lead to full membership in the European Union, but only if Bosnia fulfils all the reforms that EU demands. To get economic aid from the EU, Bosnian leaders are forced to reform and engage in regional cooperation. </p><p>In the long run democratisation is the goal for all the parties, while security is the main issue at short-term. That is why the main concern for USA is for now the war on terrorism and organized crime for the EU. When signing the Dayton peace agreement, Bosnian leaders have agreed upon sharing sovereignty with the international community indefinitely. Dayton agreement calls also on all the parties to help Bosnia develop stable and democratic institutions and help the Bosnian leaders in theirs strive for peace. </p><p>The international community is based on principles of state sovereignty and non-intervention. Sovereignty can be defined as the right for autonomy and the right for non-intervention. These principles are not as important today as they were during the Cold War. Globalisation and marginalisation has made it more acceptable to intervene and share sovereignty with other states and ganisations. That means that the traditional view on sovereignty as a mean for maintaining order and view on interventions as a threat to the sovereignty is less significant in modern times. The reason for this is that the definition on sovereignty and intervention changes to able to adjust its self to the political situation in the world. That is, definition on sovereignty and interventionwill differ from time to time.</p>