This comprehensive, current examination of U.S. law as it relates to global climate change begins with a summary of the factual and scientific background of climate change based on governmental statistics and other official sources. Subsequent chapters address the international and national frameworks of climate change law, including the Kyoto Protocol, state programs affected in the absence of a mandatory federal program, issues of disclosure and corporate governance, and the insurance industry. Also covered are the legal aspects of other efforts, including voluntary programs, emissions trading programs, and carbon sequestration.

The Law of U.S. Foreign Relations is a comprehensive and incisive discussion of the rules that govern the conduct of U.S. relations with foreign countries and international organizations, and the rules governing how international law applies within the U.S. legal system. Among other topics, this volume examines the constitutional and historical foundations of congressional, executive, and judicial authority in foreign affairs. This includes the constitutional tensions prevalent in legislative efforts to control executive diplomacy, as well as the ebb and flow of judicial engagement in transnational disputes - with the judiciary often serving as umpire but at times invoking doctrines of abstention. The process of U.S. adherence to treaties and other international agreements is closely scrutinized as the authors examine how such law, as well as customary international law and the law-making acts of international organizations, can become a source of U.S. law. Individual chapters focus on the special challenges posed by the exercise of war powers by the federal government (including during recent incidents of international armed conflict), the complex role of the several states in foreign affairs, and the imperative to protect individual rights in the transnational sphere. Among the contemporary issues discussed are the immunity of foreign heads of State, treatment of detainees at Guantánamo, movement of the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, state-level foreign compacts to address climate change, bans affecting refugees and asylum-seekers, and recent interpretations of key statutes, such as the Alien Tort Statute, the Torture Victim Protection Act, and the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

"Progress in International Law" is a comprehensive accounting of international law for our times. Forty leading international law theorists analyze the most significant current issues in international law and their critical assessments draw diverse conclusions about the current state and future prospects of international law. The material is grouped under the headings: The History and Theory of International Law; The Sources of International Law and Their Application in the United States; International Actors; International Jurisdiction and International Jurisprudence; The Use of Force and the World's Peace; and The Challenge of Protecting the Environment and Human Rights. The book draws its inspiration from a similar survey undertaken in 1932 by Harvard Law Professor and PCIJ Judge Manley O. Hudson. In his book "Progress in International Organization," Hudson sought to demonstrate that what he perceived as an emerging international infrastructure, and as moves toward the rule of law in international affairs, were sure signs of human progress towards peace and cooperation. "Progress in International Law" critically engages with that claim as a normative matter and, at the same time, presents the evidence by which a judgment about our own progress towards peace and cooperation might be judged.

Today's international trade regime explicitly rejects cultural perceptions of what is safe to eat, overturning millennia of tradition. The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) enshrines "science" as the arbiter in resolving disputes involving this vital human need. This mandate, however, is under attack from many quarters. Critics cite environmental and ethical concerns, unpredictably changing technology, taste, food preferences, local culture, adequacy of governmental implementation of WTO standards, and the reliability of scientific opinion. A basic conflict has crystallized: food as culture versus food as commerce. The WTO/SPS approach is increasingly challenged for its balance in favor of economic considerations, and for its visible undermining of unique cultural identities. This important book explores the relationship between the SPS Agreement, food traditions, science, and technology. It deliberately confronts those trade experts who refuse to allow other social sciences to influence their economics-based trade theory. The author ably investigates the local perception of food and food safety from the anthropological and historical points of view, the evolution of food production technologies, and the medicinal, proscriptive (taboo) and security aspects of food that continue to prevail in nearly all cultures today. She succeeds in demonstrating that, no matter how strong the faith in science and economics, it is unwise to flagrantly dismiss the deeply rooted beliefs of billions of people, a huge majority of the world's population. The Beef Hormones case; the remaining sovereignty related to food safety measures; the increasing significance of "appropriate levels of protection" and "the precautionary principle"; the redefinition of "food hazard" to include production processes as well as food itself; genetically modified seeds and food products; the concept of "risk" in the science-based context of the Codex Alimentarius - these are among the issues and topics covered in depth. The author concludes that, although quick "legal" resolutions of trade disputes about what people should or should not eat might provide a "win" for open trade, support for the entire structure and rationale of the WTO is undermined unless (at the least) some flexibility of interpretation is introduced into the WTO Dispute Resolution System in order to recognize the weight and validity of public opinion. Food safety is arguably the most important issue affecting international commerce today, urgently demanding enlightened discussion and action based on global consensus. This well-researched and thoughtful contribution offers significant clarification and perspective to policymakers, lawyers, academics and others engaged in this critical human drama in progress on the world stage.

Climate change poses fundamental and varied challenges to all communities across the globe. The adaptation and mitigation strategies proposed by governments and non-governmental organisations are likely to require radical and fundamental shifts in socio-political structures, technological and economic systems, organisational forms, and modes of regulation. The sheer volume of law and policy emanating from the international level makes it uncertain which type of regulatory or policy framework is likely to have a positive impact. The success or failure of proposed measures will depend on their acceptability within the local constituencies within which they are sought to be applied. Therefore there is an urgent need to better comprehend and theorise the role of cultural legitimacy in the choice and effectiveness of international legal and policy interventions aimed at tackling the impact of climate change. The book brings together experts to present perspectives from different disciplines on the issue of international climate change law and policy. Beginning from the premise that legitimacy critiques of international climate change regulation have the capacity to positively influence policy trends and legal choices, the book showcases innovative ideas from across the disciplines and investigate the link between the efficacy of international legal and policy mechanisms on climate change and cultural legitimacy. The book includes chapters on with a theoretical basis as well as specific case-studies from around the globe. The topics covered include: land use planning as a tool of enhancing cultural legitimacy, indigenous peoples in international environmental negotiations, transnational advocacy networks, community-based forestry management and culture and voluntary social movements.

"Provides an analysis of the constitutional principles governing the European Union. It covers the history of the EU, the constitutional foundations, the institutional framework, legislative and executive governance, judicial protection, and external relations"--Publisher's website

Written by a global group of leading scholars, this wide-ranging Research Handbook provides insightful analysis, useful historical perspective, and a point of reference on the controversial nexus of climate change law and policy, intellectual property law and policy, innovation policy, technology transfer, and trade. The contributors provide a unique review of the scientific background, international treaties, and political and institutional contexts of climate change and intellectual property law. They further identify critical conflicts and differences of approach between developed and developing countries. Finally they put forward and analyse the relevant intellectual property law doctrines and policy options for funding, developing, disseminating, and regulating the required technologies and their associated activities and business practices. The book will serve as a resource and reference tool for scholars, policymakers and practitioners looking to understand the issues at the interface of intellectual property and climate change.