International Journal of Public Law and Policy

Damsa, Liviu

2011 International Journal of Public Law and Policy

doi: 10.1504/IJPLAP.2011.044991

This article discusses the various dimensions of East Central Europe’s closure with the communist past, and then assesses the impact of transitional justice measures in the closure with communism. Special attention is paid to the so called ‘lustration’, which in the view of the author performs important functions in transitions to democratic regimes, related to the reconstruction of a moral and rational community, and to the closure with the communist past. The article shows that the failures and controversies surrounding ‘lustration’ were due to its radical potential of reconstruction of a moral-rational democratic community, and also to specific socio-political factors of the post-communist ECE. What specific features of ECE post-communist transitions and of lustration conducted to the recurrence of debates related to the communist past is a question that has not been addressed heretofore, despite a fairly well-developed literature on post-communist administrative justice.

LaGreca, Peter C.

2011 International Journal of Public Law and Policy

doi: 10.1504/IJPLAP.2011.044992

Academics and practitioners sit worlds apart, despite daily engagement with the same issues. This article seeks to engage both communities in meaningful legal discourse by putting forward as a basis for argument a counter-factual variation of the fact patterns from recently decided United States case law. Illustrated by this hypothetical scenario is an inherently unfair legal arrangement whereby the Executive assumes virtually unlimited power and attempts to deny, entirely, the non-citizen detained abroad any voice. This article examines the ‘unitary Executive’ from a jurisdictional perspective of habeas corpus and places the issues raised by the Executive detainment of non-citizen ‘enemy combatants’ into a due process framework of affirmative constitutional protections. This article argues that the extension of habeas protection to those detained outside the United States will bring equilibrium to the separation of powers so that the global community may begin to cure the continued injustice for those detained by Executive Order.

Zhuang, Wei

2011 International Journal of Public Law and Policy

doi: 10.1504/IJPLAP.2011.044993

Transfer of clean energy technologies to developing countries is essential for climate change mitigation; however, it does not happen rapidly enough. On the supply side, industrialised nations’ companies see insufficient IPR protection in developing countries as a barrier to technology transfer while on the demand side, developing countries consider IPR protection as a barrier for them to access the clean energy technologies. This paper examines the role of IPRs in the transfer of clean energy technologies through a case study of wind energy technologies. Legal solutions are explored to make the current IPR regime work for transfer of clean energy technologies in the UNFCCC as well as the WTO framework.

Blanke, Hermann-Josef

2011 International Journal of Public Law and Policy

doi: 10.1504/IJPLAP.2011.044994

For more than two years, the global financial and economic crisis has put the European Union to one of its hardest tests. Until now, no end is foreseeable. Following the need to rescue banks and industrial companies, the rescue of indebted EU Member States is on the Union’s agenda. However, the European Treaties neither provide a constitutional framework nor suitable instruments to counteract sovereign default of Member States. In 2011 the Union has to decide on a fundamental reform of its economic constitution. At its core, this is about answering the question of how the European budgetary stability mechanisms and instruments need to be set up in order to ensure a rational design of the Economic and Monetary Union and enable effective budgetary coordination. This contribution will deal with the scope of the budgetary regulatory capacity of the ‘new’ instruments and will analyse their interaction.

Magklasi, Ioanna

2011 International Journal of Public Law and Policy

doi: 10.1504/IJPLAP.2011.044995

The purpose of this article is to discuss the function of transport documents, deriving from Article 35 of the Rotterdam Rules, which is the new Convention drafted by the United Nations for the international carriage of goods wholly or partly by sea. Although, as the title shows, this is a carriage Convention, it is strongly believed that the Rotterdam Rules will also have an impact on international trade, as the sale contract is the alma mater of all shipping contracts. In the following paper, the function of the transport document will be compared with the mate’s receipt in order to identify controversies, which traders should be aware of when concluding their sale, carriage and letters of credit contracts after the Rotterdam Rules come into force.