233,949 research outputs found
The Emergence of Norms via Contextual Agreements in Open Societies
This paper explores the emergence of norms in agents' societies when agents
play multiple -even incompatible- roles in their social contexts
simultaneously, and have limited interaction ranges. Specifically, this article
proposes two reinforcement learning methods for agents to compute agreements on
strategies for using common resources to perform joint tasks. The computation
of norms by considering agents' playing multiple roles in their social contexts
has not been studied before. To make the problem even more realistic for open
societies, we do not assume that agents share knowledge on their common
resources. So, they have to compute semantic agreements towards performing
their joint actions. %The paper reports on an empirical study of whether and
how efficiently societies of agents converge to norms, exploring the proposed
social learning processes w.r.t. different society sizes, and the ways agents
are connected. The results reported are very encouraging, regarding the speed
of the learning process as well as the convergence rate, even in quite complex
settings
The Rise or the Fall of International Law?
This Article argues that traditional international law is healthy in the sense that there are more international agreements than ever, and States continue to serve important roles in the international system. It is falling, however, as the sole focus of international legal efforts. It is necessary to redefine international law to include actors other than States among those who make international norms and who implement and comply with them, and to include legal instruments that may not be formally binding. These developments raise three important issues: the need for the new actors to be accountable and for the new norms to be legitimate; the need for consensus about the level or location of authority, be it international, national, subnational, or non-State, at which norms should be negotiated; and the rising need for international law to reflect commonly held values to keep the increasingly fragmented international community together
Geneva rhetoric, national reality: implementing TRIPS obligations in Kenya
The article is about implementing obligations to article 27.3(b) of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property. Using Kenya as a case study, the article seeks to explore how the latitude and space
available in article 27.3(b) has been translated into the domestic architecture of law. At the TRIPS Council,
Kenya locates article 27.3(b) in a wider frame of distribute justice using norms and principles in other
multilateral agreements. However, its domestic law fails to reflect this rhetoric. As such, the latitude and space
in article 27.3(b) was diminished by Kenyaâs accession to UPOV
Global Tobacco Control and Economic Norms: An Analysis of Normative Commitments in Kenya, Malawi And Zambia
Tobacco control norms have gained momentum over the past decade. To date 43 of 47 Sub-Saharan African countries are party to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The near universal adoption of the FCTC illustrates the increasing strength of these norms, although the level of commitment to implement the provisions varies widely. However, tobacco control is enmeshed in a web of international norms that has bearing on how governments implement and strengthen tobacco control measures. Given that economic arguments in favor of tobacco production remain a prominent barrier to tobacco control efforts, there is a continued need to examine how economic sectors frame and mobilize their policy commitments to tobacco production. This study explores the proposition that divergence of international norms fosters policy divergence within governments. This study was conducted in three African countries: Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia. These countries represent a continuum of tobacco control policy, whereby Kenya is one of the most advanced countries in Africa in this respect, whereas Malawi is one of the few countries that is not a party to the FCTC and has implemented few measures. We conducted 55 key informant interviews (Zambiaâ=â23; Kenyaâ=â17; Malawiâ=â15). Data analysis involved deductive coding of interview transcripts and notes to identify reference to international norms (i.e. commitments, agreements, institutions), coupled with an inductive analysis that sought to interpret the meaning participants ascribe to these norms. Our analysis suggests that commitments to tobacco control have yet to penetrate non-health sectors, who perceive tobacco control as largely in conflict with international economic norms. The reasons for this perceived conflict seems to include: (1) an entrenched and narrow conceptualization of economic development norms, (2) the power of economic interests to shape policy discourses, and (3) a structural divide between sectors in the form of bureaucratic silos
An Unreasonable Ban on Reasonable Competition: The Legal Professionâs Protectionist Stance Against Noncompete Agreements Binding In-House Counsel
In the vast majority of jurisdictions in the United States, a business may protect its confidential information and customer goodwill by conditioning employment on an employeeâs acceptance of a covenant not to compete. These covenants are beneficial to the marketplace because they allow employers to provide employees with necessary skills, knowledge, and proprietary information without any fear of misappropriation. Accordingly, noncompete agreements are upheld by courts so long as they pass a fact-specific âreasonablenessâ test.
Notwithstanding the widespread acceptance of reasonable noncompete agreements for all other professionalsâincluding doctors and corporate executivesâforty-eight states, following the American Bar Associationâs lead, prohibit all noncompete agreements among lawyers. This prohibition is purportedly designed to protect both an attorneyâs professional autonomy and a clientâs right to choose his counsel. Despite legal commentatorsâ criticism of the prohibition, several state bar associations have recently extended it beyond the traditional law-firm context to agreements between companies and their in-house counsel. This expansion has transformed a questionable policy of professional self-regulation into an unjustifiable infringement on the legitimate interests of corporate employers. In addition to providing an analysis of the history and ethical norms that justify rejection of the banâs application to in-house counsel, this Note argues that bar committees that issue opinions supporting the banâs extension may be susceptible to antitrust liability under the Supreme Courtâs new Dental Board standard pertaining to state-action immunity
EU bilateral trade agreements and the surprising rise of labour provisions
Surprisingly, labour provisions in EU bilateral trade agreements have widened and deepened over the past decade. One would have expected the opposite, given the coming to power of centre-right governments in the early 2000s and a stronger liberalization agenda since 2006. This article addresses this rather remarkable development. First of all it dismisses the argument that protectionist motives underlie the stronger social clauses in EU trade agreements. Instead, drawing on the theory of the life-cycle of norms, it suggests that social trade has become an unobjectionable norm within the EU. The article then offers several explanations for why the social-trade nexus has been barely disputed, and indeed has further expanded through subsequent trade arrangements. These include the stronger influence of the European Parliament, path-dependencies stemming from the EUâs previous template, and the need to gain public support in the face of criticism of free trade agreements. Most importantly, it stresses that the framing of core labour rights as part of a broader âsustainable developmentâ agenda has contributed to their unobjectionable status. While this framing has helped to forge a consensus with regard to the social trade agenda, giving equal status to labour and environmental provisions under the sustainable development umbrella might also have adverse consequences for the concept of labour provisions
An Alternative to âRulesâ in Practice Approaches to Distinguishing Art Kinds
Numerous contemporary philosophers have invoked the idea that art is best understood as a social practice in order to distinguish among art kinds or to distinguish Art from closely related practices such as Design. Many general accounts of social practices and of art practices in particular claim that sets of shared assumptions or norms are a key constituent of practices. But some standard accounts of social practices interpret these shared norms with the concept of ârulesâ or âagreements.â I argue that the idea of rules or agreements is theoretically inadequate and should be replaced by what the philosopher of science, Joseph Rouse, calls âmutual normative accountability.â I then illustrate the theoretical value of such a replacement by discussing the differences between Art practices and Design practices
Eksistensi Hukum Internasional terhadap Hukum Nasional dalam Pembuatan Perjanjian Internasional
The existence of international law has been accepted, recognized and respected as a legal norm that governs the international community. The rules of international law can be accepted and adapted in the national law of countries. The mechanisms and procedures used by each country to apply international law at the national level are not uniform. One of the main reasons is because they consider this a part of state sovereignty.
As a system of norms, international law is based on the highest norms that function as an assessor of the validity of international agreements made between countries. The highest norms in international law are called peremptory norms (jus cogens). Therefore, an international agreement cannot be valid when an international agreement conflicts with the highest norms in international la
The International Trading System and Its Future
This chapter describes the evolution and structure of the international trading system, focusing on the tension between the fundamental GATT/WTO principle of most-favored-nation (MFN) treatment and the proliferation of discriminatory trading arrangements, including regional agreements as well as new versions of special and differential treatment of low-income countries. It also discusses the increasing pressure to use the enforcement power of the GATT/WTO system to achieve member compliance with social norms in the areas of labor and environment. The chapter concludes by considering some significant challenges that currently face the international trading system and possible directions of the systemâs evolution in response to these challenges.
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