Creating a Working Vocabulary of Sovereignty: Language at the International Court of Justice

“What is sovereignty?” If there are questions international legal and political scholars ought to be able to answer, this is certainly one. State sovereignty is arguably the basis of all political and legal international relations. And, yet, what it means remains elusive. As we discuss whether we are witnessing the demise of the Westphalian system, it is critical to understand state sovereignty today. Despite the resurgence in sovereignty scholarship, there has been little empirical work done that combines political and legal theory. This project addresses that gap in the current literature between political science and international legal research by providing an empirical study of how sovereignty is conceptualized in international legal discourse. The theoretical basis for this paper is largely informed by international relations theory of binding states and the variability of sovereignty. The methodological approach is legal case analysis. Because sovereignty is such a slippery concept, the question of how to study it is tricky. This paper will follow Jens Bartelson’s approach and avoid the direct question “what is sovereignty?” and instead ask the question “how do we discuss sovereignty?” The project provides an analysis of advisory opinions and contentious cases before the International Court of Justice over the last fifteen years. The results of the research contribute to a general understanding of contemporary sovereignty in two main ways: Firstly, the study provides a framework of “ideal types” which suggests that contemporary notions of sovereignty fall into three main categories: (1) as the final and supreme power of the state requiring no justification (“The Prince”), (2) as a supreme power justified by the state’s ability to protect its citizens from both internal and external threats (“The Protector”), and (3) as a privilege granted by citizens of the state and the international community in return for accepting certain norms and fulfilling certain responsibilities (“The Citizen”). Secondly, the paper suggests that with a viable working vocabulary, legal and political scholars can then address questions concerning how the legal discussion of sovereignty interacts with international relations structure

Global Anti‐Corruption Regimes: Why Law Schools May Want to Take a Multi‐Jurisdiction Approach

The legal fight against bribery and corruption has evolved from the solitary effort of the United States with its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) to a global legal endeavor. Corporations are frequently engaged in transnational deals that require them to understand their obligations under a web of anti-corruption regulations with penalties ranging from fines in the tens of millions of dollars to life imprisonment. Although the market for legal services has changed to match client needs, the curriculum at most U.S. law schools has not. This paper explores the relationship between transnational business and legal services and legal education in the United States. First, the article offers a comparative analysis of the main anti-corruption regimes, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, United Nations Convention Against Corruption, The Organization of American States Inter-American Convention Against Corruption, Council of Europe Criminal and Civil Law Conventions on Corruption and The African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption. Second, this paper analyzes how the legal market in the United States has responded to the global regulatory environment and provides an empirical study of the what anti-corruption legal services the twenty-five largest U.S. law firms provide their clients. Finally, the paper presents a rough outline of a possible curriculum change and suggests that U.S. law schools would be well-advised to allow interested students to pursue multi-jurisdictional specialization in certain regulatory practice areas

Tied-Back Wall Failure, Boston, MA

Excavation for Boston’s Central Artery project included one of the most interesting temporary excavation support system failures in recent history (1993). The wall moved much more than predicted at a depth of 41 feet, approximately 2/3 of the final 60 foot excavation depth. Jet grouting was used to stabilize the bottom of the excavation before proceeding to the full depth. The excavation support system provided space for a cut and cover section of Interstate I-90’s Third Harbor Tunnel approach to Logan Airport. The permanent structure is a concrete box section of the tunnel. The excavation system consisted of a tied-back soil mix wall (SMW) penetrating a thick zone of over-consolidated Boston Blue Clay. Previous published papers and published discussions explore the possible causes of the failure. This paper investigates some of the key issues and questions raised from this case history as the project remains a fertile topic for reflection, re-examination of the issues related to bottom stability, the common use of the assumption of undrained conditions, selection of appropriate soil parameters and methods for the prediction of movements associated with excavation support systems

Global Anti‐Corruption Regimes: Why Law Schools May Want to Take a Multi‐Jurisdiction Approach

The legal fight against bribery and corruption has evolved from the solitary effort of the United States with its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) to a global legal endeavor. Corporations are frequently engaged in transnational deals that require them to understand their obligations under a web of anti-corruption regulations with penalties ranging from fines in the tens of millions of dollars to life imprisonment. Although the market for legal services has changed to match client needs, the curriculum at most U.S. law schools has not. This paper explores the relationship between transnational business and legal services and legal education in the United States. First, the article offers a comparative analysis of the main anti-corruption regimes, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, United Nations Convention Against Corruption, The Organization of American States Inter-American Convention Against Corruption, Council of Europe Criminal and Civil Law Conventions on Corruption and The African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption. Second, this paper analyzes how the legal market in the United States has responded to the global regulatory environment and provides an empirical study of the what anti-corruption legal services the twenty-five largest U.S. law firms provide their clients. Finally, the paper presents a rough outline of a possible curriculum change and suggests that U.S. law schools would be well-advised to allow interested students to pursue multi-jurisdictional specialization in certain regulatory practice areas

Observations of nuclei heavier than iron in the primary cosmic radiation

Charge and energy spectra of primary cosmic rays made with large area Cerenkov scintillation counter on baloon flights - heavier than iron nucle

Earthquake Mitigation by Blast Densification

This paper presents a case study of blast densification of a site underlain by a loose, saturated, natural sand deposit. Densification was performed to mitigate the risk of liquefaction from earthquake-induced ground vibrations. The work was implemented as part of the design-build construction of the Marine Corps Reserve Training Center at the Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Following review of preliminary subsurface data at the site, the contractor retained a team to design and implement ground improvement by blast densification. The team, led by a geotechnical engineering firm, included a blaster, a driller, and a cone penetrometer testing firm. The team performed the analyses, design, implementation and post-densification testing to carry out and document the effectiveness of the blast densification. The paper presents the densification program and comparison of the pre- and post blasting data including settlement results. The project duration including pre-blasting evaluation, design, implementation, and post-blasting evaluation was less than two months. This demonstrates that deep blasting can be successfully implemented as part of fast-track, design-build procurement to execute a complex ground improvement program. It also demonstrates that while the technique is not commonly used, it is sufficiently well understood to provide a flexible and cost effective alternative to the more commonly used ground improvement methods under the right conditions

The Ionic Charge State Composition at High Energies in Large Solar Energetic Particle Events in Solar Cycle 23

The ionic charge states of solar energetic particles (SEPs) depend upon the temperature of the source material and on the environment encountered during acceleration and transport during which electron stripping may occur. Measurements of SEP charge states at relatively high energies (≳15 MeV/nucleon) are possible with the Mass Spectrometer Telescope (MAST) on the Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer satellite by using the Earth's magnetic field as a particle rigidity filter. Using MAST data, we have determined ionic charge states of Fe and other elements in several of the largest SEP events of solar cycle 23. The charge states appear to be correlated with elemental abundances, with high charge states (~20 for Fe) for all elements in large Fe-rich events. We review the geomagnetic filter technique and summarize the results from MAST to date, with particular emphasis on new measurements in the very large 14 July 2000 SEP event. We compare the charge states determined by MAST with other measurements and with those expected from equilibrium calculations