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11181. Response to Kanbur

Author:
Colin Hottman
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Within the economic development discourse, few ideas have been as contested as the “Washington Consensus.” It is widely considered to be both synonymous with neo-liberalism and hegemonic within the discourse. By placing the Washington Consensus within a historical context, Professor Kanbur shows that it emerged as a response to the statist development consensus of the 1950s–1970s. Several important lessons can be drawn from this circumstance. First, each distinct period of development policy, both the early state-directed policies and later the Washington Consensus, were promoted by economists and international financial institutions at the time. Second, the economic development discourse is event driven. Third, the new economic development consensus differs fundamentally from previous prescriptions since it is not “one size fits all.” Each of these lessons will be covered in Section II of this essay.
Political Geography:
Washington

11182. Response to Kanbur - 2

Author:
Amy Damon
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Economic development theory and practice have been both highly contentious and vigorously debated over the past several decades. The debate ignites passion from civil society, academics, development professionals, communities in the Global South, and owners of global capital, all of whom, at times, disagree as to how to reduce global poverty, decrease inequality, and promote the equitable distribution of resources. For many years, development professionals have been looking for a “magic bullet” to achieve poverty reduction. Some serious candidates include international trade, foreign aid, and economic growth, or a combination of the three. However, after more than a half a century of effort, almost half the world still lives on less than $2.50 per day, and stark inequality and poverty persist.

11183. Response to Watts

Author:
Christine Chung
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
First, I would like to take the opportunity to thank Professor Michael Watts for, to put it simply, a great presentation. After first reading a sample of Dr. Watts' work in my Geography Senior Seminar, coincidentally with Professor Moseley, I did not expect I would find myself sitting next to him for the purpose—of all things—to critique his work at the 15th Macalester International Roundtable. Perhaps I should have paid more attention in class! Not only was I intimidated by this feat because of the great length of his essay (which I might add is rivaled only by his cv), but also because at that moment I knew very little about the subject at hand: Oil, Development, and the Politics of the Bottom Billion. And I will confess to you now, I still know very little. My purpose in this article is not to tell Professor Watts where he went wrong or where he was out of line because I believe that after studying this subject for about thirty years, he probably knows what he is talking about. What I hope to bring to the table are my own questions that arose from the essay and my own perspective, as a Macalester student, as a budding Geography major, and as someone born and raised in the Global South, the developing world.

11184. Response to Watts - 2

Author:
William G. Moseley
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Let me start by noting what a pleasure and inspiring opportunity it is to be commenting on the scholarship of Michael Watts. When I embarked on my field research for my master's thesis in the West African nation of Mali in 1991, I carried three texts with me into the field. These books were Paul Richards' Indigenous Agricultural Revolution (1985), Piers Blaikie's Political Economy of Soil Erosion in Developing Countries (1985), and Michael Watts' Silent Violence: Food, Famine and Peasantry in Northern Nigeria (1983). While the books by Richards and Blaikie were fairly compact, Michael Watts' tome added considerable heft to my baggage (so I showed real commitment in lugging it along). At the time I was not familiar with geography as a field of study, but rather was a student of natural resources management. It was Richards, Blaikie, and Watts who brought me to geography, and in particular to an interdisciplinary subfield known as political ecology. Only later would I learn in my Ph.D. studies what a pivotal figure Michael Watts had been in my chosen discipline and subfield.
Political Geography:
Africa and Nigeria

11185. The Strengths and Weaknesses of Jihadist Ideology

Author:
Nelly Lahoud
Publication Date:
10-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
CTC Sentinel
Institution:
The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
Abstract:
The central argument espoused by jihadist ideologues and leaders is that the Muslim world is plagued by grievances and injustices, many of which are caused by the West. According to their logic, the United States and corrupt, oppressive Muslim regimes are two sides of the same coin. Jihadist leaders warn Muslims not to fall for Western “deceptive” ideas such as democracy and human rights because they are designed to divert the umma (Islamic community) from jihad and ultimately paralyze it. Ayman al- Zawahiri, for example, asserts that the United States has only achieved its interests “by spreading oppression and terrorism at the hands of its [Islamic] allies.” According to al-Zawahiri, Western civilization sings the praises of human rights and liberties as long as such singing serves and benefits its interests. Jihadists have thus determined that jihad is the only path toward genuine change in this world and divine reward in the hereafter. Their jihad, they claim, is to fight to make God's Law supreme on earth. Only then can all Muslims, rulers and citizenry, be equally accountable to God's Law.
Topic:
Islam
Political Geography:
United States

11186. Editorial: Copyright, Law Journals and a Romantic View of EJIL

Author:
J.H.H. Weiler
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
For at least 20 years I have been conducting guerrilla warfare against legal publishers on the matter of copyright. Whenever I get a copyright form I either 'forget' to send it back to the publisher (in more than half the cases no one seems to notice or care) or, if they do insist, I always cross out the critical language concerning my intellectual property (they usually ask you to make them a gift of your copyright) and replace it with a handwritten grant of a non-exclusive licence. I was challenged only once. I informed the publisher of the journal in question (Blackwell) that if they were unhappy they should feel free to drop my piece. That did not happen. The first footnote proudly displayed.

11187. The Interpretation of Treaties – A Re-examination Preface

Author:
J.H.H. Weiler
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
Several interconnected factors call for a re-examination of treaty interpretation. I will mention only three of many. First is the much noted – and contested – notion of fragmentation of international law. Here the focus is on the emergence of different regimes, self-contained or otherwise, which manage different jurisdictions and confront different materials. One important question which follows is, do they or should they all share a similar hermeneutic?
Topic:
International Law

11188. Strasbourg's Interpretive Ethic: Lessons for the International Lawyer

Author:
George Letsas
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
The article offers an account of the judicial philosophy which underpins the European Court of Human Rights' approach to treaty interpretation. The first part argues that Strasbourg's interpretive ethic has been dismissive of originalism and textualism and has favoured instead the moral reading of the Convention rights. The second part of the article explains why Strasbourg's interpretive ethic is fully justified, by offering an account of the nature of treaty interpretation in general. It argues that treaty interpretation is intrinsically an evaluative task in identifying the moral values which normatively constrain the projects that states pursue on the international plane. Treaty interpretation is only derivatively an exercise in discovering drafters' intentions and in determining the meaning of treaty provisions. Which interpretive methods an adjudicative body should use depends on the nature of the treaty in question and the moral value in play.
Topic:
International Relations
Political Geography:
Europe

11189. A Call to Arms: Fundamental Dilemmas Confronting the Interpretation of Crimes in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

Author:
Leena Grover
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This article seeks to initiate a dialogue within international criminal law (ICL) on treaty interpretation. The state of the art is reviewed and three fundamental interpretive dilemmas are identified and analysed. In the author's view, these dilemmas need to be addressed before a method of interpretation for crimes in Articles 6, 7, and 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court can be formulated and operationalized. The 'normative dilemma' highlights how the normative tensions underlying ICL might be perpetuated by the interpretive imperatives in Articles 21(3) and 22(2) of the Rome Statute. The 'interpretive aids dilemma' concerns the respective roles of the Elements of Crimes and custom as aids to interpreting crimes in the Rome Statute. The 'inter-temporal dilemma' pertains to whether these crimes are 'frozen' or are to be interpreted in light of relevant and applicable legal developments. Throughout, the aforementioned dilemmas are grafted onto Article 31 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties to illustrate that they are, at their core, universal problems of interpretation.
Topic:
International Law
Political Geography:
Vienna

11190. Treaty Interpretation by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights: Expansionism at the Service of the Unity of International Law

Author:
Lucas Lixinski
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
The article examines the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in several areas of adjudication which initially did not fall under the instrument, such as environmental rights, international humanitarian law, and investors' rights. In all these areas, the Court has used instruments 'foreign' to the Inter-American system as a means to expand the content of rights in the American Convention. As a result, the umbrella of protection of this instrument, and the reach of the Court, is far greater than originally envisaged. After analysing the specific provision on interpretation of the American Convention on Human Rights as compared to the equivalent mechanisms in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, the article analyses several case studies of expansionism in the case law of the Court, asking throughout the analysis the question whether this helps the unity or the fragmentation of international law. The article argues that this exercise in expansionism, albeit imperfect, eventually contributes to the unity of international law. In this sense, this expansionism happens within controlled boundaries, and the use of external instruments is more of a validation of findings the Court could make based solely on the Inter-American instruments, rarely creating new rights.
Topic:
Human Rights and International Law
Political Geography:
America and Vienna