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14481. When you Come to a Fork in the Road, Take it; Reflections on North American Integration: Regional and Multilateral

Author:
Sylvia Ostry
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Law and International Relations
Institution:
Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto
Abstract:
The title of this article was coined by the great American philosopher Yogi Berra. There are many roads that lead to greater economic integration or ever-tighter linkages among countries. Globalization is, indeed, an ongoing process of deepening integration fed by trade, financial flows, direct investment, production networks and increasingly by the technological revolution in information and communication. So it is not necessary to choose one route in, for example, trade policy. In the Western Hemisphere bilateral, regional and multilateral policies are all being pursued. Moreover, there are many facets of integration that go beyond economic linkage but we tend to think mainly of trade and investment as primary and pay far less attention to other avenues.
Political Geography:
North America

14482. Marriage and Civil Partnership for Same-Sex Couples: The International Imperative

Author:
Kenneth McK. Norrie
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Law and International Relations
Institution:
Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto
Abstract:
Within the single month of November 2004, Saskatchewan became the latest Canadian province to accept same-sex marriage, South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal held the limitation of marriage to opposite-sex couples to be unconstitutional, the United Kingdom became the latest European country to introduce civil partnerships as an institution for same-sex couples analogous to marriage, and the government of New Zealand presented a Bill to the New Zealand Parliament to do the same thing in that country. In the 15 years since Denmark became the first country in the world to introduce such an institution most jurisdictions in Western Europe and in Canada, and a handful of states in the United States of America, have followed Denmark's innovation and some have opened up the institution of marriage itself to same-sex couples. The peculiarly North American debate whether civil partnership is a second-rate alternative to marriage as a means of achieving gay and lesbian equality has not been engaged with elsewhere in the world, and it will not be engaged with here. This article intends, rather, to explore the remarkable phenomenon that such a debate is today one of practical reality rather than hypothetical aspiration.
Political Geography:
United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Canada, South Africa, Denmark, and New Zealand

14483. Canada is a Blue State: Global Jurisprudence and Domestic Consciousness in American Gay Rights Discourse

Author:
Jonathan Goldberg-Hiller
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Law and International Relations
Institution:
Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto
Abstract:
Over the past century we have seen many changes in American culture. We have witnessed an explosion of new travel opportunities, access to information and advances in medicine. Certainly social norms have shifted. We have made progress, in the truest sense, such as recognizing the fundamental human rights of all people no matter their color or creed. And we have also made egregious regressions such as legalizing the aborting of unborn children. Even in this advanced age, we must continue to wage battles against injustices. … If we do nothing and allow the courts to re-define marriage, State and Federal governments will soon have little or no authority to ultimately restrain any imaginable form of marital contract between couples and groups of people and even animals.
Political Geography:
America

14484. We are the World? What United States Courts Can and Should Learn from the Law and Politics of Other Western Nations

Author:
Evan Gerstmann
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Law and International Relations
Institution:
Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto
Abstract:
The United States is often perceived as a nation that prefers not only to go its own way, but also to take almost a perverse pride in ignorance of foreign ways and indifference to the opinion of our international peers. Until recently, this perception has certainly extended to America's most powerful court, the Supreme Court of the United States of America. In 2003, for example, an article in The Legal Times, referred to the Court as an 'ostrich' that had only just begun to take its head out of the sand. This perception, however, is likely to change over the next several years. In a single seven-day period in 2003, the United States Supreme Court cited international sources, such as foreign laws and documents, in three high-profile cases in which it interpreted the American constitution.
Political Geography:
United States and America

14485. The West Bank Barrier Debate: Concept, Construction and Consequence

Author:
Michael Bell
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Law and International Relations
Institution:
Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto
Abstract:
Debate over the construction of the West Bank separation barrier has been ongoing and acrimonious since its inception in June 2002, when the Israeli government announced its intention to erect a fence to control strictly Palestinian entry into Israel and thereby impede terrorist activity directed against the citizens of the Jewish state. Strikes by Palestinian terrorists groups, most notably the fundamentalist Hamas and Islamic Jihad, had reached unparalleled levels against the civilian population following the commencement of the Palestinian uprising against Israel, the Al Aqsa Intifada, in the fall of 2000.
Political Geography:
Israel and Palestine

14486. A Sacred Trust of Civilization

Author:
Frédéric Mégret
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Law and International Relations
Institution:
Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto
Abstract:
In its advisory opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the International Court of Justice (hereinafter, 'the Court' or 'the ICJ') reminds us that Palestine—'certain communities, formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire'—was once a class 'A' mandate entrusted to Great Britain by the League of Nations. The Court also reminds us that the Pact of the League once described 'the well-being and development of … peoples (under mandates) as forming “a sacred trust of civilization.”'
Political Geography:
Turkey and Palestine

14487. The Impact of the Advisory Opinion on Israel's Future Policy: International Relations Perspective

Author:
Moshe Hirsch
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Law and International Relations
Institution:
Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto
Abstract:
The recent International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory stirred widespread interest in the international community and in Israel. The Opinion includes judicial statements regarding controversial questions that lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, such as the legal status of the West Bank and the Palestinians' right of self-determination. Following a brief survey of the central legal rules arising from the Court's Opinion, the article will examine the expected impacts of the Opinion on Israel's future policy regarding the separation barrier's route and the West Bank.
Political Geography:
Israel and Palestine

14488. The Law of Betrayal in the Wild West Bank

Author:
Ed Morgan
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Law and International Relations
Institution:
Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto
Abstract:
The response by Israel's Foreign Minister to the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has struck a chord that echoes with history. As Silvan Shalom put it, in condemning his state's defences the Court has condemned its own set of legal norms, in the process becoming 'equally guilty of betrayal.' Other commentators, pointing to the failure of the Court to address the catalogue of violence presented in the Israeli submissions, have accused the United Nations of 'a betrayal of its Charter commitment to peace and security.' It is as if in denying Israel's claim to self-defence with respect to the barrier that snakes along the Green Line and through the West Bank, the Court has both sentenced the country to death and sealed its own fate as a normative authority.
Political Geography:
Israel and Palestine

14489. Complications of American Democracy: Elections Are Not Enough

Author:
Demetrios James Caraley
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
DEMETRIOS JAMES CARALEY discusses the major features critical to the working of our democratic institutions: free elections, separation of powers with checks and balances, and government limited by constitutional guarantees. He looks at some evidence that suggests our democracy may be shifting to an “elective despotism” of the majority—something that Jefferson declared “was not the government we fought for.”
Topic:
Elections, Democracy, and Institutions
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

14490. Why the Bush Doctrine Cannot Be Sustained

Author:
Robert Jervis
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
ROBERT JERVIS argues that despite some successes, the Bush Doctrine cannot be sustained because it has many internal contradictions, requires more sustained domestic support than is possible, makes excessive demands on intelligence, places too much faith in democracy, and is overly ambitious. It will, however, be difficult to construct a replacement foreign policy.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Intelligence, Democracy, and George W. Bush
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America