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N E W S L E T T E R
Vol. 2, Issue 5, 2004
Editor: Dr. Miltiadis Sarigiannidis | EDITORIAL
Dear all, apologies for the inconvenience. The May Newsletter is finally launched, although hosted by June; better late than never! I would like to drive your attention upon a couple of issues. One thing is a reminder for articles submissions, for those of you who would be interested in participating into the challenge of arguing. Once again, my thanks go to Stefan Kirchner for his excellent contribution.
Another issue concerns an International Workshop organized by the Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies, at the University of Macedonia (4-5 June 2004, Conference Hall, 156 Egnatia Street, Thessaloniki). The workshop's topic is "Remembering Communism: Celebrating 15 Years of Democracy?" and among the distinguished speakers, I will mention Stephane Courtois, University Paris X-Nanterre "A Century of Communism in Europe: History and Memory", Maria Todorova, University of Illinois Urbane-Champagne "West-Central-East: the Geography of Under-Development" and Miglena Nicolchina, University of Sofia "Homonymy and Heterotopia: the discursive Effects of Post-Communism".
For more information you can contact me (http://www.sarigiannidis.gr or http://www.sarigiannidis.net) or the Department itself (00302310891375, bsosecr@uom.gr).
Finally, I would like to inform you about the forthcoming session of the Institute of International Public Law and International Relations, held from 6-24 September 2004 in Thessaloniki, on "Multiculturalism and International Law". I even encourage you to apply for scholarships to attend the lectures and seminars. For more information visit the relevant website: http://www.auth.gr/institute-iplir/index.html. | NEWS Book Review  David A. Stone & Despina Syrri (eds.), Intergrading the Western Balkans into Europe: The Aftermath of the Greek EU Presidency, Thessaloniki: South-East European Research Centre (SEERC), December 2003.
This book is an outcome of a conference held in July 2003. As such, it provides a timely and useful summary of what was achieved at the Thessaloniki summit and how this was viewed by regional politicians, NGOs and scholars. Although there are disagreements about timing, process, conditions, and resources available, it is clear that all the countries of the Balkan Peninsula are set on a path of their choosing towards a closer identification with the European project. The papers presented are divided into four sections. In the first, the papers cover the range of the Greek EU Presidency's efforts during its tenure, the outcomes of the Summit itself, and outline the goals of the ensuing Italian EU Presidency. In the second section, representatives from many of the countries in the region evaluate the Summit's outcomes from their own national perspectives. Section three goes beyond the results of the Summit by exploring lessons learned from the Central and Eastern European integration experience and offering a model for moving the Western Balkan agenda forward provided by the EU-Balkan action plan for science and technology. The final section offers conclusions and suggestions for keeping the right balance as the process of EU integration moves forward. | International Legal Issues Surrounding the Mistreatment of Iraqi Detainees by American Forces, by Leila Nadya Sadatby
In February 2004, U.S. media outlets began reporting allegations regarding the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees by U.S. Coalition Forces (CF). Earlier complaints had been raised by many Iraqis and various human rights organizations as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which issued a report in February 2004 detailing the ICRC's concerns with the conditions of arrest and detention of Iraqis by Coalition Forces. On January 19, 2004, Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez, the senior U.S. Commander in Iraq, requested U.S. Central Command to conduct an investigation, and on January 31, 2004, Major General Antonio M. Taguba was appointed to conduct an "informal investigation...into the 800th MP Brigade's detention and internment operations," in particular as regards the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. General Taguba's report was issued on February 26, 2004, but was not made publicly available until graphic photos depicting U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners in various ways were aired by CBS on 60 Minutes II on Wednesday, April 28, 2004.
More...Terror, Sovereignty and Law: On the Politics of Violence, by Saul Newman
This paper examines the ambiguous relationship between violence, law, and sovereignty in the context of terrorism today. It focuses, not on normative questions about terrorist violence, but on its structural relationship to law and the sovereign state. Part of the difficulty in theorising terrorism is its heterogeneous and indeterminate nature. For instance, if terrorism is to be characterised by a form of violence designed to inspire fear, then one can of course speak equally about state terrorism as one can about non-state terrorism. Indeed, one might recall that the very word terrorism derives from La Terreur of the post-revolutionary French Republic in the early 1790's. Saint-Just's words stand out as one of the most infamous justifications of state terrorism: "What do you want, you who do not want virtue in order to be happy? What do you want, you who do not want the Terror to be used against the wicked?"
More... The Security Council in the Post-Cold War Era: A Study in the Creative Interpretation of the U.N. Charter, by David M. Malone
My central thesis on the recent performance of the U.N. Security Council will be that, through its decisions over the past ten years, largely improvised and inconsistent though they may be, the Council has, for good or ill, eroded the foundations of absolute conceptions of state sovereignty and fundamentally altered the way in which many of us see the relationship between state and citizen the world over. This thesis strongly supports the view of Professor Thomas M. Franck that the U.N. Charter needs to be seen, and is seen by most U.N. actors, as a "living tree." Interpretation of what developments may constitute "threats to the peace," interpretation of the terms of Chapter VII of the Charter, and practice under Chapter VII all have evolved significantly in the post-Cold War era without Charter amendment or a clear break with earlier interpretations.
More... A More Coherent European Wide Legal language, by Viola Heutger
In this paper I would like to elaborate on the interaction between law and language. The use of the different (legal) languages of the European Union Member States is one of the most practical and most difficult problems in the process of European integration. The linguistic matters are directly contacting all legal issues. In February 2003 the Commission launched an Action Plan on a more coherent European Contract Law. With this Action Plan a sector specific approach of legal and linguistic harmonization will start. On of the official aims will be the preparation of a common frame of reference, providing a pan-European terminology and rules. This contribution will reflect the need of a better and more coherent legal language use on a European Union level and describe a more concept-based approach of linguistic legal integration.
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