Tacitean Elements in Grotius's Narrative of the Capture of Breda (1590) by Stadtholder Maurice, Count of Nassau (Historiae, Book 2)

This article is part of the Dossier on Tacitus published in last year's issue of Grotiana . It offers a combined study of both the content and the language and style of Grotius' account of the capture of Breda in the second book of the Historiae , published in 1657 together with the Annales under the title Annales et Historiae de rebus Belgicis . A thorough analysis of Grotius' account of this eventful and dramatic turning point in the Dutch revolt reveals that it is nothing but a defective and occasionally unclear rehearsel of the standard narrative of the capture based on the well-known and in Grotius' day widely read history-books written in French and Dutch. The rather artificial imitation of Tacitus's brevitas on the stylistic level does not suffice to qualify Grotius's account as a masterful piece of Tacitean writing, because it does not highlight the motives of the chief characters in the story nor the connection between the events and their effects, and because Grotius fails to present his own perspective on this important episode in the war against Spain.

Narrative and the Reading Public in 1870s Beirut

This paper reads narrative published in the journals of 1870s Beirut in the context of an emerging bourgeois readership and argues that the significance of this archive to modern Arabic fiction has been neglected by critics. Taking the intensification of the silk trade with France following the civil war of 1860 as a point of historical departure, this paper traces the nexus of multiple influences upon narrative forms published in the burgeoning press of this period. Reading two serialized novels of 1870 alongside one another, this paper reveals the centrality of suspense to the proliferation of the press and the novel form. Anticipation, anxiety and hope pervade the pages of these periodicals as readers and writers negotiate changing notions of class and gender. The final portion of the paper returns to the question of influence, exposing the overdetermined narrative weave that connects these early serialized Arabic novels to not only the European novel, but also the heritage of popular Arabic storytelling epitomized by A Thousand and One Nights.

Regionalizing International Criminal Law?

This article examines the initially cooperative but increasingly tense relationship between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and Africa. It assesses the various legal and political reasons for the mounting criticisms of the ICC by African governments, especially within the African Union (AU), following the indictment of incumbent Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir. The author situates the ICC within broader African efforts to establish more peaceful societies through the continent-wide AU. He submits that the ICC, by prosecuting architects of serious international crimes in Africa’s numerous conflicts, could contribute significantly to the continent’s fledgling peace and security architecture which aims to prevent, manage and resolve conflicts and to anticipate and avert crimes against humanity. On the other hand, the author suggests that the ICC also has much to gain from Africa, especially in these early years when it is seeking to become a functional court of law with global legitimacy. By undertaking independent, fair and credible prosecutions without alienating States Parties, the world criminal court is more likely to fulfill its mandate and to win over powerful hold outs, such as the United States, China, and India. This will help it co-opt the support necessary for its universal reach and future success. However, he cautions that given Africa’s sensitive historical experience with foreign interventions, including the slave trade and colonialism, the international criminal justice regime anchored on the ICC may be undermined, or perhaps even falter, if it is perceived as having a biased, politicized or insensitive application to a single region of the world.

Henrik VIGH, Navigating Terrains of War. Youth and Soldiering in Guinea-Bissau

Judicial Interpretation and Substantive Legality in Criminal Law: A Comparative Study on Distribution of Power in Albania and The Netherlands

The problem of the Spanish Succession kept the European diplomatic system in suspense from 1659 until 1713. Statesmen and diplomats tackled the question. Their practical vision of the law is a necessary complement to legal doctrine. Louis XIV and Emperor Leopold I used incompatible and absolute claims, which started in private law and Spanish succession law. At the Peace of Utrecht, these arguments completely dissolved. The War of The Spanish Succession thus not only redesigned the political map of Europe. It altered the norm hierarchy in public law, strengthening international law as the framework of the “Société des Princes”

Portrait of an Institution: The US Embassy in London, 1945-53

War's Legacy in International Investment Law

This article discusses the role war has played in shaping the rules of international investment law from the late nineteenth century. At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, the move towards institutions, such as arbitration forums, and rules as an alternative to the use of force gave new impetus to the growth of international commercial law and related institutions. These rules and institutions represented the hope that the use of force would be eclipsed as States moved forward towards more cooperative, consensual and non-coercive mechanisms of dispute settlement. Capital-importing states in Latin America however became acutely aware that these institutions and rules did not completely erase the coercive and uneven relations they had with capital-exporting states. In era after era of reformism from the Calvo era, to the NIEO and to the era in opposition to neo-liberal economic governance, capital-importing States have continued to resist and sometimes adapt to the coercive realities of the rules of international investment law. The article begins by tracing the origin of the Drago doctrine as a response to the practice of European states that engaged in aggression and conquest against militarily and economically weaker Latin American states as a means of collecting debts owed to their citizens. It then shows that while the denouement of forcible measures to resolve contract debt was overstated by early twentieth century international lawyers, international law nevertheless provided avenues for dispute settlement outside the use of force in international commercial relations. Thus while protecting commerce from the scourge of war was a primary inspiration for the post-Second World War international economic order, the author shows how war has nevertheless continued to be an animating factor for former colonies particularly with regard to their State responsibility for war damage in the context of foreign investment.

Beyond Collapse: Reclaiming Rationality and Scientific Method from the Global Disorder

This analysis explains why the currently instituted value-sets of “rationality” and “scientific method” select for unforeseen consequences of economic, social and ecological system collapse. Laying bare the era's unifying paradigm of “rational choice” across theory (e.g., game theory, contractarianism, prisoner's dilemma) and practice (global business, geostrategic analysis, armed war and mass-media sport), the analysis exposes the systematic disconnection of rationality and its lead vector of scientific method from the needs and capacities of life-systems. Only if rational and scientific standards are grounded in life-enabling purpose and means consistent with it, the argument shows, can they be made coherent with life support systems through generational time.

Under a Global Mask: Family Narratives and Local Memory in a Global Social Movement in Japan

! e present paper examines motivational aspects of the global peace movement, using as a case the World Peace Now movement in Japan. ! is campaign, which has extensive international networks and synchronized actions with global “waves of protest”, is part of a global anti-war protest movement. Using data collected from interviews and a protest survey to gauge participation motives and attributed meanings to the participation, the paper argues that the campaign, despite its global outlook, is localized and historically idiosyncratic. Indi" erent to the global, participants’ motives are drawn from personal experiences and family narratives, and localized collective memory of the past. ! e paper o" ers “surface interaction” as concept to understand current global social movements among movement organizations in di" erent countries.

R2P: From Idea to Norm—and Action?

The most dramatic normative development of our time-comparable to the Nuremberg trials and the 1948 Convention on Genocide in the immediate aftermath of World War II-relates to the 'responsibility to protect', the title of the 2001 report from the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty. It no longer is necessary to finesse the tensions between sovereignty and human rights in the UN Charter; they can now be confronted because sovereignty no longer implies the license to kill. This essay outlines the origins of the R2P idea, describes the background factors in the 1990s that paved the way for the advancement of this norm by norm entrepreneurs, champions, and brokers. It continues with an account of the process by which the ICISS arrived at its landmark report, a description of the sustained engagement with the R2P agenda from 2001, when the ICISS report was published, to its adoption at the 2005 World Summit. The essay concludes with a sketch of the tasks and challenges that lie ahead to move R2P from a norm to a template for policy and action.Full Tex