Dispute Settlement

The settlement of disputes is commonly seen as one of the principal function of modern international law. This chapter offers a structured overview of the analytical issues relating to the involvement of cities in international dispute settlement, which has itself taken a functionalist turn in recent decades. It is observed, first, that local authorities cannot bring claims against their own government. The focus then shifts to the possibilities, rare and largely unused, for them to become ‘directly’ involved in dispute settlement in certain domains. The subsequent section examines the role of local authorities in proceedings under EU and domestic law in cases raising questions of international law. Finally, the chapter addresses more commonly known yet likewise under-researched instances of ‘indirect’ participation of local authorities. The conclusion discusses what cities’ engagement with international dispute settlement tells us about international law as a field of practice and academic discipline more generally

Urban Politics of Human Rights

Increasingly, urban actors invoke human rights to address inequalities, combat privatisation, and underline common aspirations, or to protect vested (private) interests. The potential and the pitfalls of these processes are conditioned by the urban, and deeply political. These urban politics of human rights are at the heart of this book. An international line-up of contributors with long-term engagement in this field shed light on these politics in cities on four continents and eight cities, presenting a wealth of empirical detail and disciplinary theoreticalisation perspectives. They analyse the ‘city society’, the urban actors involved, and the mechanisms of human rights mobilisation. In doing so, they show the commonalities in rights engagement in today’s globalised and often deeply unequal cities characterised by urban law, private capital but also communities that rally around concepts as the ‘right to the city’. Most importantly, the chapters highlight the conditions under which this mobilisation truly contributes to social justice, be it concerning the simple right to presence, cultural rights, accessible housing or – in times of COVID – health care. Urban Politics of Human Rights provides indispensable reading for anyone with a practical or theoretical interest in the complex, deeply political, and at times also truly promising interrelationship between human rights and the urban

General introduction: Urban politics of human rights

Human rights and the urban – two concepts that both seem to quiver with hope, promise and potential. Songs, selfies and cinematography praising city life conjure images of growth, freedom and emancipation. The slums behind the shiny facades, the people begging next to high rise banks, the divergent life-worlds and opportunities of children in a single city. The different contributions highlight the involvement of a myriad of actors who use human rights, for instance, to respond to urbanisation processes. At the same time, this volume is mindful of critics who argue, for instance, that human rights city initiatives may preserve the state-centric human rights framework, by emphasising local ‘state actors’ and by only indirectly recognising the role of other local actors, such as community-based groups and social movements. The urban condition is often argued to define future life on the planet

The Concept of International Legal Personality : an iquiry into the history and theory of international law

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Populism and International Law: What Backlash and Which Rubicon?

This chapter introduces the theme of the volume, populism and international law, as well as its chapters. It does so by first discussing the Dutch political reality with its increasingly populist tendencies that was on the minds of the Editors when deciding to devote a volume to this theme. Subsequently, it explores briefly the many faces of populism and the different manifestations of the relationship between populism and international law. Rather than taking the so-called populist backlash against globalisation, international law and governance, at face value, this volume aims to dig deeper beyond mere ‘backlash’ rhetoric and wonders ‘what backlash are we talking about, really?’ While populism is contextual and contingent on the society in which it rises and its relationship with international law and institutions thus has differed likewise, this chapter’s historical reflections assist in our examination of what we find so dangerous about populism and problematic in its relationship with international law. It concludes by introducing the chapters individually and to some degree in relation to each other