The Contribution of the International Court of Justice to the Development of International Environmental Law: A Contemporary Assessment

The article provides a detailed and up-to-date assessment of the contribution of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to the development of International Environmental Law (IEL), including the potential in this respect of the cases currently pending before the Court. The author argues that the ICJ\u27s contribution to IEL can be organized in two main waves of cases. The legacy of the first wave, which covered essentially the Corfu Channel and the Nuclear Tests cases, as well as an important obiter dictum made in the Barcelona Traction case, was the confirmation of previous case-law on transboundary damages as well as the introduction of the concept of obligations erga omnes, potentially applicable to some environmental norms. The second wave, constituted mainly by the Nauru and the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros cases, the Advisory Opinion on the Legality of Nuclear Weapons, and a number of separate/dissenting opinions, was important in consolidating the previous achievements and pointing to a number of interconnections between IEL and other sub-fields of international law such as boundary delimitation and international humanitarian law. In this context, the Pulp Mills and Aerial Herbicides cases, currently pending before the ICJ, could potentially pave the way for a third wave, providing much needed clarifications of issues such as the specific contents of IEL as well as the hierarchy and enforceability of its principles

Reflections on the institutional balance, the Community Method and the interplay between jurisdictions after Lisbon. Research Papers in Law, 04/2012

[Introduction.] Over the last two years, not only inside but also outside the framework of the EU treaties, far reaching measures have been taken at the highest political level in order to address the financial and economic crisis in Europe and in particular the sovereign debt crisis in the Euro area. This has triggered debates forecasting the “renationalisation of European politics.” Herman Van Rompuy, the President of the European Council, countered the prediction that Europe is doomed because of such a renationalisation: “If national politics have a prominent place in our Union, why would this not strengthen it?” He took the view that not a renationalisation of European politics was at stake, but an Europeanization of national politics emphasising that post war Europe was never developed in contradiction with nation states.1 Indeed, the European project is based on a mobilisation of bundled, national forces which are of vital importance to a democratically structured and robust Union that is capable of acting in a globalised world. To that end, the Treaty of Lisbon created a legal basis. The new legal framework redefines the balance between the Union institutions and confirms the central role of the Community method in the EU legislative and judiciary process. This contribution critically discusses the development of the EU's institutional balance after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, with a particular emphasis on the use of the Community Method and the current interplay between national constitutional courts and the Court of Justice. This interplay has to date been characterised by suspicion and mistrust, rather than by a genuine dialogue between the pertinent judicial actors

Reaping the rewards of learning within agricultural knowledge systems: An account of a PhD learning system

Despite the existence and application of mandatory agri-environmental policy for many decades, significant environmental sustainability problems remain attributable to the agricultural sector. Participatory types of extension practices are believed to have a potential to enable extension organisations to enhance the supports provided to farmers to help meet the requirements and objectives of these policies. To test this proposition, the PhD researcher used a learning systems approach for exploring the interplay between farmer subjectivities, the European Union’s policy of cross compliance and the extension practices of Teagasc, the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority. Three learning sub-systems were employed in the investigation. The first used the principles of Participatory Action Research for revealing stakeholders’ perceptions of Teagasc’s cross compliance extension service. This process resulted in the attainment of rich insights about extension practices, however it also revealed that a significant number of farmers were experiencing socio-cultural difficulties with the application and enforcement of cross compliance. To better understand the implications of these subjectivities, a second sub-system was created to learn about farmers’ experiences of the policy. This process surfaced diverse insights about farmers’ personal experiences of cross compliance. A final sub-system employed systems thinking and practice for appraising the utility of the learning arising from the previous sub-systems for improving interactions between farmers, extension organisations and cross compliance. The combined findings of the thesis indicate that there is considerable potential for extension organisations to use participatory practices for developing rich understandings of farmers’ preferences for mandatory agri-environmental policy and its related extension practices. However, a limitation in realising participant preferences is that extension organisations appear to have little influence over the application and enforcement of mandatory agri-environmental policy. Overcoming this participatory barrier will require sustained collective learning targeted at understanding how stakeholders can work together to develop agri-environmental policies that are socially, financially and environmentally sustainable. This paper explores how this ‘sustained collective learning’ may be realised taking a specific account of the learnings developed within and following the completion of the PhD Learning System. The insights elucidated will be of interest to scholars and extension practitioners involved in similar learning endeavours

War and the Coronavirus pandemic

Catherine Connolly reflects on the use of war metaphors in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, the violence of ongoing sanctions, and the need for solidarity in the face of alienation

‘Facultative’ and ‘Functional Mixity’ in light of the Principle of Partial and Imperfect Conferral. College of Europe Research Paper in Law 03/2019

The concept of ‘facultative mixity’ as first coined by Allan Rosas3 has sparked a much heated debate.4 Is it a matter of political expediency in the EU Council to decide on the mixed nature, or not, of a given agreement in so far as it falls within shared competence of the EU and its Member States? Considered as such, this concept is offset against ‘obligatory’ or ‘compulsory mixity’ which would then arise only where the Member States retain an exclusive competence for part of the agreement. It is apparent that the concepts of facultative and obligatory mixity so understood both rest on the premise that the mixed nature of an agreement is to be determined solely on the basis of the division of competence under the EU Treaties. The crucial exercise then lies in the correct appraisal of the ‘partial nature’ of the conferral of competence under the EU Treaties which, of itself, may prove to be a difficult exercise not least in a post- Lisbon setting.

2008-2009 Fordham Law School Faculty Bibliography

https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/fac_bib/1011/thumbnail.jp