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Among the examples of civil wars, armed secessionist movements and minority uprisings in the world today, many involve conflict between a minority group’s aim for political self-determination, and the nation state’s resistance to any diminution of sovereignty. With the expansion of the international regime of human rights, minority groups have reconceptualised their struggle with the understanding that a minority which is linguistically, religiously or ethnically distinctive is entitled to self-determination if their aspirations cannot be met. This book explores the relationship between minority rights, self-determination and secession within international law, by contextualising these i...
Among the examples of civil wars, armed secessionist movements and minority uprisings in the world today, many involve conflict between a minority group’s aim for political self-determination, and the nation state’s resistance to any diminution of sovereignty. With the expansion of the international regime of human rights, minority groups have reconceptualised their struggle with the understanding that a minority which is linguistically, religiously or ethnically distinctive is entitled to self-determination if their aspirations cannot be met. This book explores the relationship between minority rights, self-determination and secession within international law, by contextualising these i...
How is religion, particularly non-Christianness, conceptualised and represented in English law? What is the relationship between religion, race, ethnicity and culture in these conceptualisations? What might be the socio-political effects of conceptualising religion in particular ways? This book addresses these key questions in two areas of law relating to children. The first case study focuses on child welfare cases and reveals how the boundaries between race and theological notions of religion as belief and practice are blurred. Non-Christians are also often perceived as uncivilized but also, at times, racial otherness can be erased and assimilated. The second examines religion in education and the increasing focus on 'common values'. It demonstrates how non-Christian faith schools are deemed as in need of regulation, while Christian schools are the benchmark of good citizenship. In addition, values discourse and citizenship education provide a means to 'de-racialise' non-Christian children in the ongoing construction of the nation. Central to this analysis is a focus on religion as a socio-political, contingent, fluid and invented concept.
In Self-determination and Minority Rights in China, Linzhu Wang examines the rights of China’s minorities from the perspective of self-determination. The book offers an insight into the ethnic issues in contemporary China, by examining the principle of self-determination in shaping China’s ethnic grouping and appraising the rights of the minorities and their limits. Based on a comprehensive survey of the practice of self-determination in the Chinese context and the Regional Ethnic Autonomy regime, the author seeks to answer the questions of how the ethnic policies and laws have come to be, why they are problematic, and what can be done to promote minority rights in China.
The Democracy Manifesto is about how to recreate democracy by replacing elections with government that is truly of, by and for the people. Written in engaging and accessible dialogue form, the book argues that the only truly democratic system of government is one in which decision-makers are selected randomly (by sortition) from the population at large, operating much the way trial juries do today, but 100% online, enabling people to govern together even across great distances. Sortition has a storied history but what sets The Democracy Manifesto apart is its comprehensive account of how it can be implemented not only across all sectors and levels of government, but throughout society as wel...
When studying international law there is often a risk of focusing entirely on the content of international rules (i.e. regimes), and ignoring why these regimes exist and to what extent the rules affect state behavior. Similarly, international relations studies can focus so much on theories based on the distribution of power among states that it overlooks the existence and relevance of the rules of international law. Both approaches hold their dangers. The overlooking of international relations risk assuming that states actually follow international law, and discounting the specific rules of international law makes it difficult for readers to understand the impact of the rules in more than a ...
In international relations, reciprocity describes an environment in which States support one another for short- or long-term advantage through the balancing of rights, duties and interests. This book examines reciprocity in the context of international law. It considers the role reciprocity plays in the creation and development of international law as well as in the interpretation and application of international law. The book illuminates the reciprocal framework of international law and international relations by examining the role reciprocity plays in different types of States’ obligations, including bilateral, bilateralisable multilateral, non-bilateralisable multilateral and obligations erga omnes. The book examines how reciprocity is intertwined with the principle of equality, as the rights and obligations of States are equal irrespective of size and economic or military strength, and the beneficial effects of reciprocity in creating stability and cooperation amongst States.
The United States embargo against Cuba was imposed over fifty years ago initially as a response to the new revolutionary government's seizure of US properties, which was viewed by the US as a violation of international law. However, while sanctions can be legitimate means of enforcing established norms, the Cuban embargo itself appears to be the wrongful act, and its persistence calls into question the importance and function of international law. This book examines the history, legality and effects of US sanctions against Cuba and argues that the embargo has largely become a matter of politics and ideology; subjecting Cuba to apparently illegitimate coercion that has resulted in a prolonged...
As governmental and non-governmental operations become progressively supported by vast automated systems and electronic data flows, attacks of government information infrastructure, operations and processes pose a serious threat to economic and military interests. In 2007 Estonia suffered a month long cyber assault to its digital infrastructure, described in cyberspace as ‘Web War I’. In 2010, a worm—Stuxnet—was identified as supervisory control and data acquisition systems at Iran’s uranium enrichment plant, presumably in an attempt to set back Iran’s nuclear programme. The dependence upon telecommunications and information infrastructures puts at risk Critical National Infrastr...
This book will consider a rapidly emerging guiding general principle in international relations and, arguably, in international law: the Responsibility to Protect. This principle is a solution proposed to a key preoccupation in both international relations and international law scholarship: how the international community is to respond to mass atrocities within sovereign States. There are three facets to this responsibility; the responsibility to prevent; the responsibility to react, and the responsibility to rebuild. This doctrine will be analysed in light of the parallel development of customary and treaty international legal obligations imposing responsibilities on sovereign states to the...