Sarigiannidis

N E W S L E T T E R Vol. 2, Issue 6, 2004 Editor: Dr. Miltiadis Sarigiannidis
EDITORIAL Dear friends, though this summer I was not consistent at all, launching newsletters every month, I believe it is now time to fill the gap. Although August is fading away, I have to remind you that this is the June newsletter! Or is it a symbolic act of resistance, a refusal to the 'end of summer' psychology that captures our attitude? In any case, this summer has been an exceptional summer for all Greeks thanks to the EURO 2004, but most of all thanks to the Olympic Games event in Athens. It is not my intention to elaborate upon medals and sport and cultural glamour now. But there is one thing I would like to remind you, while fightings and loss of human lives never leaves the stage. Statement of World Personalities in their Individual Capacities in Support for the Olympic Truce WHEREAS The idea of the Olympic Truce ("Ekechereia") dates back to an ancient Hellenic tradition. In keeping with this tradition all hostilities would cease during the Olympic Games. The Olympic Truce was fully respected for twelve centuries of Olympic Games in antiquity. In 1992, the International Olympic "Committee urged the international community to observe this tradition anew. In July 2000, the International Olympic Committee and the Government of Greece established the International Olympic Truce Center. This Center seeks to promote the observance of the Olympic Truce. It calls for all hostilities to cease during the Olympic Games, and beyond; The United Nations General Assembly, with the strong support of all of our countries, has four times called for member states to observe the Olympic Truce, individually and collectively, most recently in its Millennium Declaration in September 2000, with the signatures of over 160 Heads of State and Government. Today, the Olympic Truce has become an expression of Mankind's desire to build a world based on the rules of fair competition, humanity, reconciliation, and tolerance. Moreover, the Olympic Truce epitomizes a bridge from the old and wise tradition to the most compelling purpose of today's world - the maintenance of international peace and of the promotion of multicultural dialogue, cooperation, and understanding. The period of the Olympic Games, and beyond, should provide an opportunity for such a dialogue and the search for durable solutions for the restoration of peace in all areas of conflict, where the first victims are the children, the youth, women, and the aged. Humanity's quest is for a world free of hatred, terrorism, and war, where ideals of peace, goodwill and mutual respect form the basis of relations among peoples and countries. The goal may still remain elusive, but if the Olympic Truce can help us to bring about even a brief respite from conflict and strife, it will send a powerful message of hope to the international community. WHEREFORE. WE. THE UNDERSIGNED Urge world leaders, Governments, and International Organizations, to give peace a chance by agreeing to join efforts and use the Olympic Truce as an instrument to promote peace and reconciliation in areas of conflict and strife; 1. Pledge to exercise our best efforts to ensure that the Olympic Truce appeal is observed in our countries and in our region during the upcoming Olympic Games as a way of promoting goodwill and encouraging the peaceful settlement of conflicts in full conformity with the purposes and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations; and 2. Pledge to support and disseminate, individually and collectively, the symbolic call for Olympic Truce throughout all future Olympic Games and beyond, and to exercise our best efforts within our communities, countries, and relevant international organizations to achieve its recognition and observance. Finally, I would like to remind you the forthcoming session of the Institute of International Public Law and International Relations, (6-24 September 2004) in Thessaloniki, on "Multiculturalism and International Law". For more information visit the relevant website: http://www.auth.gr/institute-iplir/index.html.
NEWS Book Review Christian Reus-Smit et al., The Politics of International Law, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Studies in International Relations Series, May 2004. Politics and law appear deeply entwined in contemporary international relations. Yet existing perspectives struggle to understand the complex interplay between these aspects of international life. In this path-breaking volume, a group of leading international relations scholars and legal theorists advance a new constructivist perspective on the politics of international law. They reconceive politics as a field of human action that stands at the intersection of issues of identity, purpose, ethics, and strategy, and define law as an historically contingent institutional expression of such politics. They explain how liberal politics has conditioned modern international law and how law 'feeds back' to constitute international relations and world politics. This new perspective on the politics of international law is illustrated through detailed case-studies of the use of force, climate change, landmines, migrant rights, the International Criminal Court, the Kosovo bombing campaign, international financial institutions, and global governance. Buy the book
Adoption of the Treaty on the Constitution for Europe, by Francesca Astengo and Nanette Neuwahl June 17, 2004, is the newest deadline for hammering out a compromise among heads of state and government of the 25 Member States of the European Union on the adoption of a "Treaty on a Constitution for Europe." For years the European Constitution has been a central topic of debate. Ever since the Laeken Declaration of December 2001 used the controversial word "Constitution" in a paragraph entitled "Towards a Constitution for European Citizens," the Union has been contemplating the eventual adoption of a "constitutional text in the Union." The Laeken Summit was also responsible for the creation of a "Convention on the future of Europe," a reflection group composed of 105 members (delegates from national governments and parliaments from the fifteen EU countries and a number of members-to-be, two representatives from the Commission and sixteen from the European Parliament). Its task was to consider the key issues arising for the Union's future development and to try and identify the possible responses to them by conducting a wide public consultation. On 18 July 2003, the Convention was able to present the fruits of its labor in the form of a "Draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe." A high level Intergovernmental Conference was convened in the hope that the agreement could be signed in time for the enlargement scheduled to take place on 1 May 2004, or, if that was not possible, at least prior to the June European elections. More... If I Were President-Addressing the Democratic Deficit, by John Kerry Democrats must resist a new orthodoxy within our party-a politically stagnating shift that does a disservice to more than 75 years of history. That is the new conventional wisdom of consultants, pollsters, and strategists who argue that Democrats should be the party of domestic issues alone. They are wrong. As a party, Democrats need to talk about all the things that strengthen and protect the United States. We need to have a vision that extends to the world around us, and we should remember that this vision is as old as our party. Woodrow Wilson was elected president during a time of peace, but he led during a time of war. Franklin Roosevelt was elected to tackle the Great Depression, create Social Security, and put the United States back to work. But no one should forget that he did those things even as he responded to Pearl Harbor and marshaled the nation's troops from Normandy to Iwo Jima. And John F. Kennedy didn't try to change the subject of the debate when Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's vice president brought up foreign policy. Kennedy challenged the United States globally, insisting that the country do more and better, not because these things are easy but because they are hard. More... Sustaining paradox Boundaries: Perspectives on Internal Affairs in Domestic and International Law, by Peer Zumbansen The book under review addresses the complex interaction of hard and soft law, legal-political intervention and social practice and self-regulation, public and private law, and rules of social praxis and behaviour in transnational law. While the increased contractualization of public governance and the growing involvement of private actors in public administration has, for some time now, been the subject of legal analysis in domestic contract law and administrative law scholarship, these findings have attracted little attention from commercial and international law scholars and practitioners. (Book Review) More... Time Warp to 1945 - Resurrection of the Reprisal and Anticipatory Self-defence Doctrines in International Law, by Michael J. Kelly Prior to 1945, the laws and customs of warfare were a commonly understood set of principles and doctrines that governed use of force among states of equivalent and disparate power, be they nationstates, empires, colonial powers or kingdoms. Some of these rules had been reduced to writing in military field manuals, domestic articulations like the Leiber Code, and multilateral treaties like the early Hague Conventions. Others were defined and clarified in decisions by judicial tribunals like the Permanent International Court of Justice. Still others remained in the murky netherworld of customary international law - subject to individual state interpretation. More...
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