Lex pacificatoria Colombiana:Colombia’s peace accord in comparative perspective

In this short piece, I open a conversation over how the Colombian Final Peace Accord provides evidence of, and a contribution to, a more generallex pacificatoriaor “law of the peacemakers” (lex paxfor short). In light of the Accord’s recent ballot defeat, I integrate into this assessment the merits of using a referendum to approve (in Colombia’s case “affirm or deny”) the Agreement as a whole. Throughout, I draw on a peace agreement database which has coded over one thousand four hundred peace agreements since 1990 for comparative insight.</jats:p

From Retribution to Reconciliation, from Spoiler to Peace Envoy

Is there a tension between justice and peace? That debate I leave to my co-panelists, because the most interesting and important thing about this month\u27s centerpiece, without a doubt, is not its well-judged (if slightly ill-informed) take on the ICC, but the name of the author at its end

Waving Hello to Democratic Renewal

Khanna’s argument is simple. American hegemony and the unipolar world have collapsed—without America noticing. The new world is tri-polar. America must compete with Europe’s soft power influence, and China’s economic power influence. The new global game for the “second world” (Turkey, South America, the former USSR “Stans”) is to play all three superpowers against each other, while pretending to be the friends of all

Sport and Politics

I found the reflection interesting, but unsurprising. Protestors use the Olympic spotlight (or should we say torch?) to shine on China’s flaws, and China tries to re-direct or extinguish its beams

Who Let the Dogs Out? R, R2P

As a long-time human rights advocate I find myself uncomfortably sharing Rieff\u27s central concern over the link between military intervention and human rights advocacy, forged through the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine. This common concern is uncomfortable because I don\u27t share his broader sentiments. However, it is also uncomfortable because it involves me swimming against the human rights tide, which seems to have embraced R2P

Slavery and Abuse Regeneration

Skinner’s depiction of modern day slavery is graphic and challenging. Anyone viewing prohibitions on slavery, or abolition, as historical anachronism, or requiring reinterpretation for modern-day practices, must think again. Skinner persuades us that slavery in its most old fashioned sense is alive and well and, worse than that–on the rise

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (Playing Soccer): A Feminist Parable of Legal Academia

My friend\u27s nine-year-old daughter Mgabh came home from school the other day and said to her: You know, Mummy, when it comes to picking the teams for football in the breaks, the boys are always picked first and then the girls. There\u27s one girl who\u27s really good and she gets picked before some boys. But then they pick the rest of the boys, and then me and the other girls, even though we\u27re better than some of the boys who get picked before us. And the boys who tease us the worst about girls not being good at football are always the boys who are the worst players themselves

Sticks and stones : the impact of negative in-group interactions on African American racial identity

The purpose of this study was to identify any relations between African American persons\u27 actual or perceived negative interaction with their racial group and their racial identity. The study worked to answer the question: Is the experience of self-reported negative interactions within the African American community predictive of the level of an individual\u27s racial identity? The hypothesis of this study was that while the existence of these interactions may impact an individual\u27s private regard, it would not impact the centrality of the individual\u27s racial identity. This was a mixed method study using an online survey to gather information from 174 participants. Racial identity was measured using the Centrality and Private Regard scales of the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity. All the participants were required to self identify as African American to participate in this study. The age range was 18 to over 50. With 86.2% holding a bachelor\u27s degree or beyond, the data sample was highly educated. While this study did not show a significant group relationship between participants\u27 racial identity as defined by the centrality or private regard dimensions, the individual participant\u27s narrative showed that these negative interactions do have impact. Further study is required to understand the relationship between these negative interactions and identity development of African Americans