Ugly, dirty and bad: working class aesthetics reconsidered

This article, taking at its starting point the work of Pier Paolo Pasolini, tackles the aesthetic of the working class as an object d'art: how is the aesthetic sense of those who do not belong to the working class, but claim a political interest in its destiny, engaged by the outward appearance of the working class? And, more specifically, has there been a shift from a sense of aesthetic appreciation to what this author perceives as revulsion towards Western working classes? Has our aesthetic gaze wandered off, in search of more distant objects? It is not our goal to answer these questions by means of a quantitative or qualitative sociological analysis, and to this extent, the answers have to be taken as given. The article argues that there is a displacement of our gaze towards the working classes in the developing world, resulting in yet another form of consumption (the campaigns for fair trade would not be so successful without the picture-perfect – and picture-perfect because so completely desolate and objectively poor – sweatshops and small children in the fields). This displacement is not at all innocent. The article will propose that there are legal consequences – by using, and subverting, Luhmann's remark on legal taste; political consequences, where displacement means invisibility and lack of voice; and social consequences, mirroring Pasolini's horror at the cultural genocide, and now looking at the desolate spaces it has left behind.<p></p> The article intends to focus on the aesthetic of the working class as an object d’art: how is the aesthetic sense of those who do not belong to the working class, but claim a political interest in its destiny, engaged by the outward appearance of the working class? And, more specifically, has there been a shift from a sense of aesthetic appreciation to what this author perceives as revulsion towards Western working classes? Has our aesthetic gaze wandered off, in search of more distant objects? It is not our goal to answer these questions by means of a quantitative or qualitative sociological analysis, and to this extent, the answers have to be taken as given. The article argues that there is a displacement of our gaze towards the working classes in the developing world, resulting in yet another form of consumption (the campaigns for fair trade would not be so successful without the picture-perfect – and picture-perfect because so completely desolate and objectively poor – sweatshops and small children in the fields). This displacement is not at all innocent . The article will propose that there are legal consequences – by using, and subverting, Luhmann’s remark on legal taste; political consequences, where displacement means invisibility and lack of voice; and social consequences, mirroring Pasolini’s horror at the cultural genocide, and now looking at the desolate spaces it has left behind

Greening Investment Law

This thesis investigates the relationship between investment law and the power of states to produce and implement environmental measures. Through a strictly legal approach, and by situating the issue within the framework of public international law, this project endeavours to find avenues for the incorporation of environmental legal obligations within the investment legal regime. The thesis examines the main substantive protections granted to investors by the system of bilateral and multilateral investment instruments, before considering the ways in which, through express provisions, general conflict rules, and procedural means, tribunals can take environmental law into account. This taxonomy is tested in the third part of this work, through the analysis of the jurisprudence issuing from investment tribunals in disputes containing an environmental element

Normative conflicts in international investment law: the case of environmental law

This dissertation investigates the relationship between investment and environmental obligations from the perspective of international investment law. In order to do so, the dissertation will consider how these obligations might enter into conflicts and what tools are available to investment tribunals to solve these normative conflicts. The dissertation analyses in order interpretative techniques, conflict resolution tools available in general international law, as expressed in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, and finally express clauses in international investment agreements. The dissertation includes the review of some relevant case law arising from investment agreements in investment treaty tribunals, to discover how in practice these conflict resolution tools are applied and to assess their effectiveness. This dissertation places itself squarely within the debate between the unity and the fragmentation of international law; therefore it tackles the issue of normative conflicts resolution in a dispute settlement environment with the view of gauging their value in maintaining the unity of international law and defuse the risk of fragmentation. The dissertation can only conclude that much work remains to be done, including by providing a more comprehensive taxonomy of possible interventions, both on the legal and political sphere

Excess TPX2 Interferes with Microtubule Disassembly and Nuclei Reformation at Mitotic Exit.

The microtubule-associated protein TPX2 is a key mitotic regulator that contributes through distinct pathways to spindle assembly. A well-characterised function of TPX2 is the activation, stabilisation and spindle localisation of the Aurora-A kinase. High levels of TPX2 are reported in tumours and the effects of its overexpression have been investigated in cancer cell lines, while little is known in non-transformed cells. Here we studied TPX2 overexpression in hTERT RPE-1 cells, using either the full length TPX2 or a truncated form unable to bind Aurora-A, to identify effects that are dependent-or independent-on its interaction with the kinase. We observe significant defects in mitotic spindle assembly and progression through mitosis that are more severe when overexpressed TPX2 is able to interact with Aurora-A. Furthermore, we describe a peculiar, and Aurora-A-interaction-independent, phenotype in telophase cells, with aberrantly stable microtubules interfering with nuclear reconstitution and the assembly of a continuous lamin B1 network, resulting in daughter cells displaying doughnut-shaped nuclei. Our results using non-transformed cells thus reveal a previously uncharacterised consequence of abnormally high TPX2 levels on the correct microtubule cytoskeleton remodelling and G1 nuclei reformation, at the mitosis-to-interphase transition

Kairós and Clinamen: revolutionary politics and the common good

This article sets out to offer a new reconceptualisation of the common good as the mechanism providing the temporal coordinates for revolutionary politics. The first section investigates the pairing of commonality and goodness, revealing its nature as a synthesis of apparently irreconcilable opposites. The second section examines how this irreconcilability is overcome, advancing the argument that to heal the divide, a double movement of definition and concealment is necessary, whereby the process of definition of what constitutes the common good is accompanied by an expropriation, or hollowing out, of meaning. The third section offers a proposal for overcoming this epistemological impasse about the nature of the common good, by contrasting chronos and kairós, chronological time and what in English can be translated as ‘opportune time’, and offering kairós as the chance to create, within the fissures of the totalitarianism of chronological time, the timescape for revolutionary politics. This proposal is carried on in the second part of this article, starting with ‘ Chronos and Kairós ’ section, where the concept of kairós is expanded upon and coupled with the Epicurean and Lucretian idea of the clinamen, the swerve of the atoms that introduces the element of chance against Democritean determinism. With the support of Antonio Negri’s reading of kairós and clinamen, the article argues in ‘Alma Venus: Love, Desire and Revolution’ section that these two concepts provide the spatial and temporal coordinates for revolutionary politics, in tension and critical engagement with Ackerman’s idea of constitutional moments, to conclude in ‘Conclusions: Kairós and Revolutionary Politics’ section, that the common good is to be defined as that which takes place and is identified/identifiable within these coordinates

Regulatory expropriation claims in international investment arbitrations: a bridge too far?

The relationship between investment law, environmental law and sustainable development is highly complex, involving policy, economic and legal elements. In the common perception, and one that is adopted in this article, the goals of investment promotion and the protection of the environment against unrestrained development are prone to result in policy and legal conflicts and bring about shifts in economic decision-making by the main actors, investors and states. Amongst the consequences of this tension between investment and environmental goals, alarmist calls have been raised on the possibility of ‘regulatory chill,’ where states refrain from adopting environmental regulation – either in the hope to attract further investment or to avoid costly arbitrations – and ‘investment chill’, where investment flows to countries perceived to impose an excessive regulatory burden is reduced. In this context, sustainable development can be interpreted as expressing awareness at the policy level to this kind of conflicts and the need for a systemic approach to the negative environmental externalities of development.<p></p> In this article, I analyse how the investment legal regime accommodates exogenous environmental and sustainable development demands through the legal tools at its disposal, examining how tribunals respond to claims of regulatory expropriation. A comparative analysis of domestic and other sectoral international law approaches can be helpful in coming to terms with the legal issues involved. Therefore, US and European experiences in regulatory expropriation claims will be analysed, in order to ascertain if there is any value in a comparative approach from which international investment law can learn useful lessons on how to deal with similar claims.<p></p> Following the comparative analysis, I will show how some investment tribunals have either adopted the ad hoc balancing characteristic of the United States Supreme Court’s approach to regulatory taking claims, or have attempted the proportionality analysis derived from European constitutional traditions. The ‘balancing’ and ‘proportionality’ approaches to regulatory expropriation claims will be explored in detail in this contribution. The second section of the article reviews the normative content of regulatory expropriation in international law, while sections three and four provide a comparative analysis of the jurisprudence of the United States Supreme Court in Fifth Amendment cases dealing with regulatory taking claims and of the European Court of Human Rights in cases involving alleged breaches of Article 1 Protocol 1 of the Convention accompanied by a review of their respective use in investment arbitrations. These two examples are chosen because of the normative pull exercised by the US Supreme Court in the context of the NAFTA and the influence of US foreign trade and investment policy and conversely, the recent calls for the adoption of the proportionality analysis as practised by the ECHR. The analysis will be conducted in order to assess, which, if any, of these approaches is more conducive to due consideration being given to sustainable development’s objectives. Finally, section five points to new developments in investment treaty law and practice in the direction of ‘sustainable investment protection’ and the role of regulatory expropriation provisions in this context, with section six offering some concluding remarks

Article 21 TEU and the EU’s common commercial policy: a test of coherence

This contribution investigates the role of Article 21 TEU in the context of the EU’s common commercial policy (CCP), with specific reference to its new investment competence. Section 2 will briefly review the role of foreign investment in the CCP, while section 3 will do the same for the non-commercial objectives pursued by the EU in the context of its CCP competences. Section 4 is dedicated to an analysis of Article 21 TEU and its legal value. In doing so, the section will consider issues such as to what extent Article 21 TEU constrains the foreign policy of the EU and its effect with specific reference to the CCP. Further, the article will consider the relationship between Article 21 TEU and other programmatic articles of the TEU, such as Article 3 TEU, and the incorporation of non-commercial objectives in the EU’s Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Preferential Trade Arrangements (PTAs). Finally, section 5 will offer some concluding remarks

Environmental law in investment arbitration: procedural means of incorporation

The present article explores the relationship between investment and environmental law by examining the use of counterclaims and jurisdictional and applicable law clauses in IIAs. Environmental issues arising contextually to investment disputes have given rise to sustained debates on the legitimacy deficit of the system; one possible way forward for the debates is through the incorporation of environmental law in the investment regime, and many substantive avenues have been explored, including the reconceptualisation of certain provisions, the adoption of proportionality and balancing by tribunals, and the adjustment of the quantum of compensation. This article focuses on the procedural means of incorporation as the first, inevitable step towards any of the above solutions. Additionally, the article deals in detail with the possibility of asserting counterclaims as a little explored avenue potentially allowing for international and domestic environmental obligations to enter the investment dispute

Excess TPX2 Interferes with Microtubule Disassembly and Nuclei Reformation at Mitotic Exit.

The microtubule-associated protein TPX2 is a key mitotic regulator that contributes through distinct pathways to spindle assembly. A well-characterised function of TPX2 is the activation, stabilisation and spindle localisation of the Aurora-A kinase. High levels of TPX2 are reported in tumours and the effects of its overexpression have been investigated in cancer cell lines, while little is known in non-transformed cells. Here we studied TPX2 overexpression in hTERT RPE-1 cells, using either the full length TPX2 or a truncated form unable to bind Aurora-A, to identify effects that are dependent-or independent-on its interaction with the kinase. We observe significant defects in mitotic spindle assembly and progression through mitosis that are more severe when overexpressed TPX2 is able to interact with Aurora-A. Furthermore, we describe a peculiar, and Aurora-A-interaction-independent, phenotype in telophase cells, with aberrantly stable microtubules interfering with nuclear reconstitution and the assembly of a continuous lamin B1 network, resulting in daughter cells displaying doughnut-shaped nuclei. Our results using non-transformed cells thus reveal a previously uncharacterised consequence of abnormally high TPX2 levels on the correct microtubule cytoskeleton remodelling and G1 nuclei reformation, at the mitosis-to-interphase transition