The MDGs, Archeology, Institutional Fragmentation and International Law

INTRODUCTION When considering the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) the first characteristic that struck me was the fact that the goals and targets were not new, when endorsed by world leaders in 2000. Upon further consideration, especially of documents related to the implementation of the MDGs a second characteristic emerged: the integrated approach that relevant documents adopt towards development, often accompanied by the assertion that the MDGs embody basic human rights. The first characteristic – not new – prompted me to engage in some archeological research. The findings of that research led to the following question. Why have we not done better, given that the MDGs have been part of human rights law for six decades? This essay points to the fragmented nature of the international institutional framework – or international governance structure – as a factor that has contributed to our failure. This fragmented institutional setting – also not new – has led to a fragmented approach to international law. Finally, this essay considers how international law, despite its fragmented nature, might further the integrated approach evident from the MDGs. In this essay I assume that the fragmented nature of the international institutional framework is unlikely to undergo significant change in the near future, given the limited outcome of the 2005 World Summit in this respec

The Importance of Chemistry for Nanotechnology

The paradigm shift from uniform bulk materials towards nanostructured multifunctional materials is essential for future knowledge transfer from fundamental to applied sciences. In nanotechnology, two approaches are employed: “top-down” and “bottom-up”. In the top-down approach, larger assemblies are broken down to smaller units, while the bottom-up approach makes use of atomic or molecular building blocks to construct the desired nanostructures. Chemistry plays a major role in the bottom-up approach by providing progressive building blocks, such as “smart” molecules, that can be combined — preferentially by self-organisation — to create fundamentally new classes of materials. The ultimate goal is to create environmentally friendly, highly efficient, low-cost devices serving multifunctional purposes for a steadily more diversified modern societ

Introduction: The Possibilities of Comparative Law Methods for Research on the Rule of Law in a Global Context

Since its rise at the beginning of the twentieth century, comparative legal research has gained an influential place in legal research concerning national legal systems. Comparative legal methodology is used to acquire insight into foreign legal systems, to find solutions for problems of a specific legal system, or to promote the unifi cation of law between national legal systems. Its methods consist of a comparison of different legal systems or legal traditions (external comparison), or of fields of law within national legal systems (internal comparison). With the proliferation of regulatory regimes at the international level (e.g. in the context of the United Nations or the WTO), comparative legal research has expanded its focus to include international law. Consensus, however, has not been reached on the most suitable way of applying comparative law methods to the global context. Can the concepts and methods developed to conduct comparative legal research of national legal systems be transposed to study the international legal system? In this issue of Erasmus Law Review, a number of scholars with different legal backgrounds reflect on these questions

Introduction: Public Values and Public Participation in Decision-Making in Times of Privatisation

__Abstract__ Privatisation poses challenges to the manner in which public values, such as accessibility, affordability, reliability, safety and sustainability, can be secured. In liberal societies the state, legitimised through democratic elections (input legitimacy) and the rule of law upheld by courts (output legitimacy), was traditionally regarded as the entity responsible for securing such values – although these values were perceived rather thinly. During the second half of the 20th century, with the role of the state expanding and public values conceived more thickly, the perception emerged that democratic elections and courts upholding the rule of law were not sufficient for legitimising the exercise of public power by states and that concerned members of the public should play a direct role in securing public values. As a result, public participation in the national context – here defined as consisting of the following elements: transparency (including access to information), public participation in decision-making, and access to courts or court-like institutions – emerged as a tool for securing public values, as well as checking, and thereby legitimising (input legitimacy), the exercise of public power by the state

Experimental evidence of delocalized states in random dimer superlattices

We study the electronic properties of GaAs-AlGaAs superlattices with intentional correlated disorder by means of photoluminescence and vertical dc resistance. The results are compared to those obtained in ordered and uncorrelated disordered superlattices. We report the first experimental evidence that spatial correlations inhibit localization of states in disordered low-dimensional systems, as our previous theoretical calculations suggested, in contrast to the earlier belief that all eigenstates are localized.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Physical Review Letters (in press