Evolving together: transboundary water governance in the Colorado River Basin

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics - Transboundary collaboration between the United States (US) and Mexico in the Colorado River Basin has heightened in recent...     

The weakness of the strong: re-examining power in transboundary water dynamics

This article proposes a re-examination of how power is conceptualized within transboundary hydropolitics by arguing that power has been misrepresented in the water resources literature. Overemphasis on the factors of a country’s relative power, riparian position, and technological potential to exploit the resource has led to assumptions that the non-hegemon(s) is often unable to achieve their own positive outcomes and that the outcomes of interactions between hegemons and non-hegemons are predictable and detrimental. However, it appears that there are many examples that run counter to the power narrative that employs these factors. This study argues that this overemphasis neglects hegemonic vulnerabilities, which, when included with hegemonic capacities, are much more instructive in explaining transboundary water dynamics. The sources of the weakness of the strong of the alleged hegemon originates from several sources, including interlinkages between water and non-water issues, internal and external expectations, and consideration of whether the water-related issue at hand is crucial to each party’s survival or whether the party has the luxury to survive the outcome of the resolution. These factors allow for non-hegemons to achieve more favorable outcomes and, when incorporated in analysis, provide a fuller picture of the true power balance in each transboundary water interaction. We therefore call for a reconceptualization of power dynamics in transboundary waters that accounts for structural weaknesses present within all parties.     

Process-focused analysis in transboundary water governance research

Previous analysis of transboundary water governance has been focused primarily on state-centred approaches. The articles in this special section move us forward from this focus in three ways. First, they highlight the crucial role played by non-state actors in shaping water governance outcomes. Second, they show us how these actors can increase the ‘room for manoeuvre’ in negotiations. Third, they provide an entry point for developing process-focused approaches in transboundary water governance research. This article argues such an approach might improve our understanding of transboundary water outcomes and suggests new focus on how key actors form networks of alliances and shape decision-making landscapes at multiple governance levels and arenas. From a scholarly perspective, it brings to light the blurred boundary between state and non-state actors, as derived from a better understanding of the elusive links between actors and organisations; it unravels additional layers of complexity in the hydro-hegemony concept and bends the rigid notion of power asymmetry, towards the subtleties of power relations and interplays in transboundary decision-making processes.     

Regional cooperation,patronage and the ASEAN Agreement on transboundary haze pollution

Transboundary haze pollution is an almost annual occurrence in Southeast Asia. Haze originates from peat and forest fires mostly in Indonesia, with Malaysia and Singapore suffering the worst of its effects. Most of these fires are man-made and linked to land-clearing activities of local and foreign commercial oil palm plantations. The regional nature of the haze has resulted in a concentration of haze mitigation activities at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) level. However, these initiatives continually fail to effectively mitigate haze. This article argues that this failure is due to the influence of patronage politics in the sector, which is linked to the ASEAN style of regional engagement that prioritises the maintenance of national sovereignty. States are compelled to act in their national interests, as opposed to the collective regional interests. The economic importance of the oil palm sector to the states involved, coupled with the political importance of the clients populating this sector to elite patrons in the governments, meant that the maintenance of the status quo, where clients could continue to clear land using fire, was of crucial national interest. Therefore, the ASEAN style of regional engagement has enabled political elites to shape ASEAN initiatives to preserve the interests of their clients, while the public continue to suffer the haze. This article demonstrates this through a close analysis of the negotiations, outcomes and the implementation of the ASEAN Agreement on transboundary haze pollution, with a special focus on Indonesia’s decision to withhold ratification of the treaty.     

Special educational needs and the law: Some practical implications

This article focuses on the law relating to special educational needs. It discusses the impact which the growth in the area of parental rights has had on LEA administrative and executive functions. It highlights varying circumstances leading up to the processes of statutory assessment and statementing in which parents and the LEA may find themselves in a position of conflict and tension. This article provides an analysis of how one specific LEA has sought to respond to the burgeoning workload and associated pressures brought about by changes in educational legislation, regulations and case law and the general increase in the number of appeals lodged against it.     

Messages from a middle power: participation by the Republic of Korea in regional environmental cooperation on transboundary air pollution issues

This paper addresses the question whether or not regional middle power states are capable of making a significant contribution to enhancing regional cooperation via regime creation processes. A combination of “nonregime” and the middle power analysis is applied to produce hypotheses about less-developed cases of regime creation in Northeast Asia. Among the attractions of such an approach are that (1) cases of failure to create international regimes as well as cases of success are important to understand the emergence of global governance institutions, and (2) the different roles of various state actors should be understood beyond hegemonic power. The explanatory power of this approach is illustrated by transboundary air pollution issues in Northeast Asia, chosen because the international relations literature has emphasized the development of European regional environmental cooperation and global environmental issues. The paper examines participation by the Republic of Korea (ROK) in both comprehensive and issue-specific environmental cooperative mechanisms to tackle transboundary air pollution. It concludes that the ROK as a middle power has played a promising role to initiate and lead some positive competition between member countries, but at the same time, it highlights challenges that need to be met for creating solid regional environmental cooperation.     

Water resources data and information exchange in transboundary water treaties

Despite international calls for data and information sharing in transboundary waters and basin-specific evidence of its importance to cooperative management, no systematic research has been undertaken to answer questions of where, how frequently, and which water resources data and information are exchanged. This paper examines all available transboundary water agreements signed between 1900 and 2007 to determine the degree to which water resources data and information is exchanged in the world??s regions, how the level of exchange has developed over time, and the different ways in which data and information sharing has been codified in practice. In doing so, we reveal important trends regarding the mechanisms, types, and frequencies of water resources data and information sharing??as well as differences across temporal and spatial scales, by treaty type and function, and regime type. The results indicate that data and information exchange as already practiced is more nuanced and, in some senses, widespread than may commonly be recognized. Further, the results reveal key linkages between democracy and data and information exchange and provide a basis to test analogous linkages related to data sharing and other variables in transboundary water settings.     

经济全球化视野下的法学实践教学

中国法学教育必须正视经济全球化带来的机遇与挑战,重新定位法学教育的主要目标,加快实用型法律人才的培养,突出实践教学在法律人才培养过程中的重要地位,明确实践教学的目的,建立科学的实践教学体系及评价标准,保障充足的实践教学时间,确保稳固的实践教学基地和场所,加强对实践教学中各个环节的指导。     

Diplomatic water cooperation: the case of Sino-India dispute over Brahmaputra

This article adopts the case study of resource management dispute over the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers (GBM) that cross national boundaries between China, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and India. Sino-Indian diplomatic initiatives over the GBM give rise to a complex and unbalanced geographical situation, which presents the need to seek solutions. This article investigates the significance of the arrangement to share hydrological data resulting from Sino-Indian diplomacy. The scope and extent of formalization are key indicators of success in cooperative activity between states. This paper argues that India and China have developed a form of preliminary cooperation through the sharing of water data to resolve disputes. However, the two countries have vested varying interests in the resolution mechanism. No substantial cooperation has been established to tackle conflict resolution and water resource management. This case indicates that relating to the geographical features of the shared river-water resolution is substantially affected by historic tensions.     

Asymmetric barriers in atmospheric politics of transboundary air pollution: a case of particulate matter (PM) cooperation between China and South Korea

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics - Existing studies have argued that regional cooperation is urgent in order to tackle transboundary air pollution. However, few...     

Getting the stories straight: allowing different voices to tell an ‘effective history’ of special education law in the United States

Traditional historical narratives can serve to mask injustices that exist beneath a celebratory surface of statistics, legislative enactments, and judicial decision-making that may present an impression of continuous progress. With this understanding, this article adopts a framework applying Foucault's distinction between ‘traditional’ and ‘effective’ history to examine the legal foundations of special education in the United States. The ultimate goal of this article is to challenge the assumption that ‘societies follow a developmental pathway, away from superstition, prejudice and cruelty, and in the direction of greater enlightenment and humanity.’ The comparison of ‘traditional’ and ‘effective’ historical narratives is necessary to illustrate some basic—and perhaps flawed—assumptions inherent in traditional narratives.     

对我国政府与非政府组织合作的实践探索——以公共社区管理为基点

近年来,政府与非政府组织在公共事务管理领域中的合作一直受到学术界的关注。本文阐述了政府与非政府组织合作的现实基础,并以公共社区管理为基点,对我国政府与非政府组织在实践中的合作做了初步的探索。     

Who controls the Naomi Campbell information flow? A practical analysis of the law of privacy

Legal context. The House of Lords held that the medical privacyof the glamorous supermodel Naomi Campbell was violated by publicationof details of her drug addiction treatment and a paparazzi picture.English law is developing under the influence of Article 8 (theright of privacy) and Article 10 (the right of freedom of expression)of the European Convention of Human Rights. The court explainedhow the action for breach of confidence protects privacy. So,who controls the Naomi Campbell information flow? Key points. Primarily, the courts control the flow of privateinformation. They do so through the cause of action of breachof confidence and remedies. In deciding liability, the courtsshould ask whether the benefit of publication is proportionateto the harm done by the invasion of privacy. To answer the question,they must balance the public interest in the right of privacyagainst the public interest in the right of freedom of expression.They may settle on a Reynolds type test by considering a numberof non-exhaustive factors. The article examines seven suggestedfactors and the remedies which can be deployed by the courts.Judgments from the English courts and the European Court ofHuman Rights are considered, including Campbell v MGN (HL),Douglas v Hello! (CA), McKennitt v Ash (HC), Peck v UK (ECtHR),Édition Plon v France (ECtHR), and Von Hannover v Germany(ECtHR). Practical significance. There are an increasing number of privacyclaims against the media. The article includes a checklist ofseven factors to help determine where the balance lies betweenprivacy and freedom of expression.     

论经济法视域的水权市场法治化

水资源管理者与民众的法治信仰缺失、原有社会体制惯性作用、社会价值本位选择的偏离等,构成了水权市场法治化建设的根本性障碍。从经济法的视域对该障碍进行检视后发现,从强化法治理念、跟进水权制度和革新水权经营机制等层面着手,可以有效地推进水权市场法治化。