Abstract
Alamad S, Beyond Profit: The Humanisation of Economics through the Theory of Equitable Optimality (Springer 2024)
This book advocates for a transformative shift in economics, emphasising the need to manage finite resources equitably while safeguarding universal well-being. It introduces the Equitable Optimality economic theory, departing from materialistic views and championing a theory deeply rooted in moral economy, values, and ethics. By integrating spirituality, social justice, and ethics into economic analysis, this model contends that economics can serve the welfare of all, offering a unique lens for economic theory and policy. It challenges prevailing materialistic economic paradigms by proposing an interest-balanced/free financial economy. This economic theory prioritises profit-sharing, societal objectives, and equitable resource allocation, aiming to create a more inclusive society. However, practical implementation and comprehensive research are crucial for understanding its impact and overcoming transitional challenges. The Equitable Optimality economic theory provides a valuable perspective within economics, focusing on ethical foundations, acknowledging non-monetary values, and humanising economic agents. It does not aim to replace conventional economic theories but offers an alternative framework to inspire innovative approaches to economic models and policymaking. Its broader policy perspective aims to foster a more prosperous and harmonious society by integrating ethical considerations, equity and justice into economic decision-making and emphasising societal welfare.
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Burgorgue-Larsen L, The 3 Regional Human Rights Courts in Context: Justice That Cannot Be Taken for Granted (Oxford University Press 2024)
At specific moments in the history of Africa, Europe, and Latin America, each region decided to create supranational jurisdictions to protect human rights. These are, in chronological order, the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. While each has been the subject of important, dedicated monographs, no major study has analysed both the institutional and jurisprudential issues of all three regional systems.
The 3 Regional Human Rights Courts in Context: Justice That Cannot Be Taken for Granted is the first book to offer a comprehensive comparison of the three systems. Rather than merely juxtaposing analogous features, the book considers how the three courts operate as parts of a greater, integrated whole. Similarities and differences between the courts are illuminated alongside historical, political, and sociological insights, in addition to the book's primary legal focus.
Close analysis of the processes by which the courts came into being makes it clear that, regardless of distinct political, cultural, or other variances, states on each of the three continents have chafed against international supervision. The book also debunks the common belief that, after the Second World War, the thrust of human rights initiatives was so powerful that states no longer need to discuss them. Justice cannot be taken for granted—a position further supported by the book's analysis of how each court has evolved and how their rulings have been implemented.
Laurence Burgorgue-Larsen's dynamism and multidisciplinary approach makes it possible to truly understand the stakes behind the institutional and jurisprudential developments of the three regional human rights courts. This is a book that will interest not only legal practitioners but also specialists in international relations, human rights, and countless other fields.The European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights are three supranational jurisdictions that protect human rights. This book is the first comprehensive study to compare the three regional courts. It also considers how they operate as parts of a greater whole.
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Chang W-C and others, Gender, Sexuality and Constitutionalism in Asia (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 2024)
This book analyses the equal citizenship claims of women and sexual and gender diverse people across several Asian jurisdictions. The volume examines the rich diversity of constitutional responses to sex, gender and sexuality in the region from a comparative perspective. Leading comparative constitutional law scholars identify ‘opportunity structures’ to explain the uneven advancement of gender equality through constitutional litigation and consider a combination of variables which shape the diverging trajectories of the jurisdictions in this study.
The authors also embed the relevant constitutional and legal developments in their historical, political and social contexts. This deep contextual understanding of the relationship between sex, gender, sexuality and constitutionalism greatly enriches the analysis. The case studies reflect a variety of constitutional structures, institutional designs and contextual dynamics which may advance or impede developments with respect to sex, gender and sexuality. As a whole, the chapters further an understanding of the constitutional domain as a fruitful site for advancing gender equality and the rights of sexual and gender diverse people.
The jurisdictions covered represent all Asian sub-regions including: East Asia (Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea), South East Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia), and South Asia (India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka). The introductory framework chapter situates these insights from the region within the broader global context of the evolution of gender constitutionalism.
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Forde A, European Human Rights Grey Zones: The Council of Europe and Areas of Conflict (Cambridge University Press 2024)
This book examines the effectiveness of the human rights system of the Council of Europe (CoE) in conflict-affected regions and advances a novel approach to understanding how the European Convention on Human Rights can better serve the 10 + million rights-holders living in so-called human rights ‘grey zones’. Building on the premise that nowhere in Europe should be deprived of access to Europe's human rights architecture, Andrew Forde argues that areas of conflict give rise to a collective public order imperative on Member States to seek maximal effectiveness of the CoE human rights system. Despite Kosovo's sui generis status, much of the CoE's experience of engagement with Kosovo could inspire more proactive efforts in relation to other areas of conflict. This book advocates a judicious engagement of the CoE's unique assets and acquis in affected regions based on the collective responsibility of Member States and the normative will of the Secretary General.
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Kendall C, Between Possibility and Peril: Domestic Courts and the Selective Enforcement of International Human Rights (University of Pennsylvania Press 2024)
Between Possibility and Peril explains how the highest courts in three young democracies—Colombia, Mexico, and South Africa—used international law to protect human rights while building their own institutional legitimacy, carefully balancing the demands of advocates, politicians, and international law itself.
When do domestic courts protect international human rights? By the end of the twentieth century, the world had witnessed an unprecedented flourishing of international human rights law and a growing number of democratic states whose domestic institutions promised to protect those rights. A single institution often became the center of these efforts: the court. Advocates in newly democratized states could look to high courts to demand that their governments comply with international law and bring policy into line with liberal rhetoric.
This process, however, put these young courts in a difficult position. With no deep well of historical legitimacy to draw on in new political environments, courts had to weigh high-minded legal principles against the limited resources or political preferences of elected governments. In such situations, how did these courts respond, and what strategies allowed some to successfully build their legitimacy over time while others faltered, succumbing to political pressure or suffering political backlash?
In Between Possibility and Peril, Chris Kendall explores this dynamic in three states—Colombia, Mexico, and South Africa—in the twenty years following each country's democratic transition. The case studies reveal a common pattern: what matters most is not international law itself, but a court's ability to control its procedural environment. Control over these “rules of the game” allows a court to selectively engage international human rights issues that can enhance its legitimacy and build public support while avoiding those issues likely to put it in direct conflict with hostile political actors. The result is paradoxical—the most successful courts in the long term are those who in the short term often choose to disappoint rights advocates.
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Lin J and Peel J, Litigating Climate Change in the Global South (Oxford University Press 2024)
While climate change litigation in developed countries of the ‘Global North’ is a well-studied phenomenon (from its distinctive characteristics and the contribution it is making, to the implementation of international climate laws like the Paris Agreement), relatively few studies focus on climate case law emerging elsewhere.
Litigating Climate Change in the Global South sheds light on emerging and accelerating climate litigation in developing countries across the three regions of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia and the Pacific. It is the first monograph-length work to provide a comprehensive assessment of this jurisprudence.
Amid growing scholarly and policy interest in climate change litigation and its impact on international climate governance, the book examines which Global South countries are seeing climate cases, what is driving these trends, the coalitions of actors involved, and the early impacts this litigation is having on global goals of climate mitigation and adaptation
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Stone Sweet A, and Sandholtz W, The Law and Politics of International Human Rights Courts: The Dilemma of Effectiveness (Oxford University Press 2024)
Combining perspectives from law and the social sciences, this book provides an account of the origins and evolution of six regional human rights courts. In each of these cases, judges sought to overcome political forces and legal obstacles that threatened to render the regime stillborn. Alec Stone Sweet and Wayne Sandholtz focus on the struggle to raise standards of rights protection within multi-level “transnational systems of justice.” A transnational system of justice is comprised of three components: a charter of rights; a court tasked with enforcing the charter; and the right of individuals to petition the court with a claim that their rights have been violated. The book analyzes the law and politics of such systems in diverse areas, including torture, inhuman treatment, non-discrimination, due process and access to justice, free expression, privacy and family, and other freedoms. In some cases, state officials have at times strongly supported enhancing the effectiveness of rights protections. In others, the activities of the courts have generated significant political “backlash,” leading state officials to act to curb the court's authority, or to exit the regime altogether. The book describes and evaluates these attempts, the results of which have been mixed, with most court-curbing exercises failing.
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Tamas K, Migration Statecraft: The European Migration and Development Regime (Edward Elgar Publishing 2024)
Applying realist constructivist theory, this innovative book investigates the migration-development nexus in the European Union's approach to cooperation with its external partner countries. It explores the reasons why action in this field appears to be irrational and counterproductive and surveys contemporary political dialogues and funding.
Combining migration and development policy research, it examines policies and practices on both an international and domestic level. Chapters cover major trends in crisis management and long-term impacts funding between 1985 and 2020, outlining a clear tendency for the EU to bring together ideas, identities and knowledge with self-interest and strategic action. The author introduces two novel concepts: leveraged statecraft and migration statecraft, which amalgamate theoretical traditions in order to construct recognition and partnerships. Case studies analysed in this book include the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of states; the African Union; the European Neighbourhood; the Rabat, Budapest, and Prague processes; and bilateral mobility partnerships.
Balancing theory and practice, this is an indispensable read for scholars of European politics and policy, international relations, international political economy, migration, and development studies. It is also highly beneficial to policymakers in the EU as well as external cooperation specialists.
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Triandafyllidou A (ed.), Handbook of Migration and Globalisation (2nd edn, Edward Elgar Publishing 2024)
This thoroughly revised and updated Handbook brings together an international range of contributors to highlight the deep interdependence between migration and globalisation and explore the impact of economic, social and political globalisation on international population flows. It provides an interdisciplinary perspective on a discussion that has been intensifying and diversifying over the past 25 years. Chapters provide an overview of important research questions, relevant literature, main approaches and findings in the field, and set out future challenges facing the international community. Particular focus is paid to the global economy, dynamics of interregional and internal migration, links between global migration and climate change and the cultural ramifications of migration. In this revised second edition chapters consider the interlinking issues of migration and health, climate change and human mobility, and the use of digital technologies in the governance of migration and asylum systems. Exploring the multifaceted linkages between two of the most important socio-economic phenomena of our time, this Handbook will prove an ideal resource for researchers and journalists focused on international relations and migration. It will also be useful for scholars and students of social and public policy, sociology, political science, geography, migration development and legal theory
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Trindade AAC and Gonzalez-Salzberg DA, International Law of Human Rights (Oxford University Press 2024)
International Law of Human Rights takes students through a rigorous exploration of the theoretical foundations and principles of the subject, alongside current practice and procedures. It provides a Global South perspective, offering a broad view of the subject area. The book focuses on the historical and philosophical foundations of human rights before exploring global and regional systems for their protection, and key substantive rights. It presents a clear and accurate account of current human rights law practice, and its deep discussion and thorough analysis is supported by ‘further reflections’ and ‘critical debate’ sections and summaries of key cases. The book includes an insightful testimonial from the distinguished Judge Cançado Trindade, which helps to bring a complex discipline to life.
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Yahyaoui Krivenko E, The Logic of Human Rights: From Subject/Object Dichotomy to Topo-Logic (Edward Elgar Publishing 2023)
Conceptualising the nature of reality and the way the world functions, Ekaterina Yahyaoui Krivenko analyses the foundations of human rights law in the strict subject/object dichotomy. Seeking to dismantle this dichotomy using topo-logic, a concept developed by Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitarō, this topical book formulates ways to operationalise alternative visions of human rights practice.
Subject/object dichotomy, Yahyaoui Krivenko demonstrates, emerges from and reflects a particular Western worldview through a quest for rationality and formal logic. Taking a metaphysical and epistemological perspective, this book explores the alternative views of reality and logic, developed by Kitarō, to demonstrate how topo-logic can enable both a theoretical and a practical renewal of human rights and overcome the subject/object dichotomy. Examining the recent growth of social movements, decolonisation and diversification of discourses about human rights, and substantive equality, the book identifies these developments in contemporary human rights as indications of a movement towards a topo-logical view beyond the subject/object dichotomy.
Students and scholars of critical legal studies, legal theory and philosophy, and international human rights law will find this book to be an invigorating read. Laying ground for the possible renewal and enhancement of human rights law, it will also be a useful resource for practitioners of human rights law.