The role of the Asia Pacific Partnership in discursive contestation of the international climate regime

After withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol, the US Bush Administration and the Australian Howard Government pursued an international climate change policy focussed on voluntary international agreements outside the UN climate negotiations. This strategy included the formation of several climate agreements directed at technology development, including the 2005 Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP). The APP provides a model for international climate change policy directed at voluntary national greenhouse gas intensity targets, technology development through sectoral public–private partnerships and technology diffusion through trade. This article situates the APP within these US and Australian inspired climate agreements formed outside the UN negotiations. Bäckstrand and Lövbrand’s (in M. Pettenger (ed.) The social construction of climate change: power knowledge norms discourses, 2007) discourse analysis in relation to the international climate negotiations is used to explore differences between the APP and UN climate treaties. We find the APP embodies a discourse of what we call ‘deregulatory ecological modernisation’ that promotes limited public funding to ease informational failures in markets for cleaner technologies and management practices. The deregulatory ecological modernisation discourse is a deeply intensive market liberal approach to international climate change policy, which contests binding emission reduction targets and the development of a global carbon market. The USA, Australia, Japan and Canada represented a core group of countries that used the APP to promote the deregulatory ecological modernisation discourse and thereby contest any deepening of developed nations' emission reduction targets for the post-2012 period. However, with changes of leadership and new parties in power in the USA and Australia, it appears that the deregulatory ecological modernisation discourse has lost ground compared to a reengagement with discourses supportive of developed country emission reduction targets and equity-based adaptation and technology transfer assistance for developing nations.     

Introduction: Authority Building in International Administered Territories

This introduction to the special section on “Authority Building in International Administered Territories” begins by summarizing the relevant literature on international administrations. To conceptualize authority building as an ongoing process in which international and local actors confirm – or refuse – authority claims, secondly, two types of authority are differentiated: ‘interpretative authority’ and ‘performing authority’. This sociological conceptualization of authority building allows, thirdly, a discussion on the restrictions and challenges that international administrations face in their attempts to establish authority on the ground. Finally, an overview of the section’s articles is provided.     

联合国经济制裁中的人权保护问题研究

联合国经济制裁通常以安理会决议的形式出现,安理会决议具有法律效力,各国有义务全面、严格地执行安理会决议。安理会决议应当遵循《联合国宪章》的宗旨及原则,不得与一般国际法强制规律相抵触。当一国出现严重侵犯人权的罪行并怠于履行人权保护义务时,安理会可以代表国际社会对其采取保障人权的必要措施。联合国制裁经历了从"传统制裁"到"聪明制裁"的转变。由于缺少对公正审判权的保护,各国执行"聪明制裁"面临选择困境。针对"聪明制裁"可能引发的人权危机,有必要从制度设计层面入手,明确安理会决议的授权范围,完善"和平之威胁"的判断标准,加强对各国执行安理会决议的监督与审查,保障制裁对象的公正审判权,建立多元化的人权保护救济渠道。在联合国经济制裁中加强人权保护,有利于积极应对国际安全形势变化,有利于促进和平解决国际争端,有利于推动构建人类命运共同体。     

The Sri Lankan Transitional Justice Process: Too Little,Too Late?

ABSTRACT

Three years after Sri Lanka committed to a comprehensive transitional justice (TJ) process through the co-sponsoring of UN Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1, progress on the TJ front has not been satisfactory. In fact, delays in decision-making have hindered progress on transitional justice. First, the nation-wide consultations that were supposed to precede the establishment of the proposed TJ mechanisms lasted for nearly a year. This prevented swift progress at a time when political conditions for TJ were arguably most favourable. In addition, decisions were made to implement the 2015 reform agenda in a way that would not give priority to TJ as a whole and would further delay the implementation of its most controversial measures. These delays have been constructed or exploited by those—including within government—who do not support the TJ agenda. In fact, since 2015, the President as well as ministers have made statements that cast doubt on their commitment to TJ. The government’s lack of genuine interest in TJ was further evidenced by its failure to present a comprehensive plan for the implementation of UNHRC Resolution 30/1 and carry out a public outreach campaign based on such a plan.     

Assessing the G77: 50 years after unctad and 40 years after the nieo

This article views the history of the Group of 77 through the lens of its relations with unctad’s establishment in 1964, its unsuccessful struggle for the nieo in the 1970s, and the subsequent loosening of ties. The debt crisis of the 1980s, the Uruguay Round negotiations, and the arrival of the wto are seen as crucial forces unravelling the previously close links. Growing differentiation among developing countries and the changing leadership of the G77 are also cited as important influences on its current relationship with unctad.     

International Law,European Union,and Case of Kosovo in 1991 and 2008

As the extraordinary session of Kosovo＇s parliament held on February 17, 2008, the declaration for independence of Kosovo was enacted. From the aspect of European Union （EU） which consists of 28 member states, Kosovo was recognized by 23 member states of the union until the present. This means that the process of the international recognition of Kosovo by the member states of the EU is carried out in satisfactory direction for the Kosovo＇s authorities, unlike the first attempt in 1991 when Kosovo also demanded international recognition from the union during the process of the dissolution of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia （SFRY）, however, this application of Kosovo＇s recognition was not reviewed at all. Hence, in conditions of the same legal status of Kosovo in Serbia as well as the same legal foundation in 1991 and 2008, we can notice the double criteria in application of the international law by the EU. Therefore, the issue that we would like to raise is whether the international law for the EU is a true law or moral/law of choice. In other words, the author would like to present the idea whether the international recognition of Kosovo meets the international law.     

Technology and democracy: validity in measurements of e-democracy

The use of information and communication technologies in democratic processes, often summarized by the term e-democracy, has seldom been analysed from a global perspective. Although the United Nations E-Participation Index provides one of the few examples of an international measurement of e-democracy, it has been thoroughly criticized; at the same time, however, a number of studies have broadened our understanding of the global determinants of e-democracy by using this very index. In this study, I approach this problem by considering (i) whether the UN E-Participation Index is a valid measurement of e-democracy and (ii) whether any alternative measurements of e-democracy present themselves. In answer to these questions, it would seem that the index, despite its flaws, is not necessarily as problematic as is assumed, although there are observations that violate essential theoretical assumptions and so reduce its validity. Furthermore, its use in combination with measurements of democracy agrees with the emphasis in the literature on e-democracy being embedded in democracy, and results in a measurement that better corresponds with theoretical ideas of e-democracy.     

联合国安理会改革的国际法思考

在国际和平与安全方面,确立二战后国际秩序的规则和制度,已不能完全适应全球化时代的需求,建立在以安理会为核心、以联合国为基础之上的国际集体安全体制,面临新问题时显得危机重重。国际情势的变迁,严重震荡着安理会原有的权力结构以及由此确立的权力秩序,与此相关,国际法律秩序也遭遇严重挑战。安理会改革的主张各有利弊,其中涉及诸多的国际法律问题,解决好这些问题,有助于安理会改革的顺利进行,并期望由此推动和平稳定的国际新秩序的形成。     

"为和平而来"——解析中国参与非洲维和行动

中国是联合国维和行动的坚定支持者和参与者。目前,中国为联合国第十二大出兵国,在五大常任理事国中名列第一。近几年,中国参与维和行动的积极姿态已引起全世界的高度关注。特别是,非洲已经成为中国参与维和的重点区域,这也引发了外界对中国意图的警惕与忧虑。因此,在新时期如何正确解读中国在非洲的维和行动,并对其进行客观分析,具有十分重要的理论与现实意义。     

联合国反腐败公约与跨国商业贿赂犯罪的法律控制

《联合国反腐败公约》是联合国历史上第一部关于指导国际反腐败斗争的法律文件,它以联合国公约的形式规定了预防、禁止和惩治腐败行为的定罪、刑事司法程序和国际合作,虽然贿赂外国公职人员犯罪只是作为腐败犯罪其中的一种予以规定,但是,探讨《联合国反腐败公约》有关控制腐败的规定,对于完善跨国商业贿赂犯罪的法律控制是极其必要的,也有利于中国进一步健全和完善相关的法律机制。