Empirical research shows that international human rights law is to a large extent ineffective. Individual complaint mechanisms are the only significantly effective enforcement mechanism. Certainly many variables influence the success of enforcement through judicial or quasi-judicial mechanisms...

It is hypothesized that prosecution agencies that are dependent on the executive have less incentives to prosecute crimes committed by government members which, in turn, increases their incentives to commit such crimes. Here, this hypothesis is put to an empirical test focusing on a particular...

Framing is pervasive in public international law. International legal norms (incl. soft law) and international politics both inevitably frame how international actors perceive a given problem. Although framing has been an object of study for a long time - be it in domestic or international...

The question of why states comply with international law has long been at the forefront of international law and international relations scholarship. The compliance discussion has largely focused on negative incentives for states to comply. We argue that there is another, undertheorized...

This Perspective evaluates the possibility that emergency measures that countries are currently taking to mitigate the effects of the global financial crisis will give rise to liability under international investment law.

Decentralized smart sanctions are ever more used, e.g. against Russia. This enforcement system in international law may come into conflict with investment protection law (in contrast to UN sanctions). This Perspective explores under what factual circumstances and legal assumptions this may be...

Inspired by the UN General Principles of Business and Human Rights and based on the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, this Perspective discusses the Hague Rules on Business and Human Rights Arbitration and how they fill existing gaps in (access to) remedies for victims and help businesses fulfil human...

Economists and political scientists have begun to isolate the causes and implications of the spread of the global financial crisis in late 2008. Critical attention – often accompanied by strident disagreement – has also focused on the efficacy of various domestic plans implemented in...

Different methodological approaches to international law abound. Recently the rationalist, game-theoretical approach in the law and economics tradition has gained much prominence, certainly so in the United States. Within this tradition the volume by Professors Goldsmith and Posner purports to...

Foreign direct investment forms an ever more important part of globalised market structures, and international investment law has become one of the most successful and judicialised areas of public international law. In order to attract investment, States commit themselves to treaties that...