The Protocol on Ireland/Northern has the questionable honour of having its dispute settlement mechanisms being activated first under the new post-Brexit agreements between the EU and UK. This... Show moreThe Protocol on Ireland/Northern has the questionable honour of having its dispute settlement mechanisms being activated first under the new post-Brexit agreements between the EU and UK. This chapter highlights the two main hallmarks of the Protocol: on the one hand, being an integral part of the Withdrawal Agreement and the post-Brexit legal framework more broadly, and, on the other, being one of the last and most enduring holdouts of EU institutions applying EU law in a part of the UK. These characteristics, coupled with the high political stakes in the context of North-South relations in Ireland and the peace process, merit close scrutiny of the Protocol’s governance and dispute settlement provisions. Based on an analysis of the relevant provisions and informed by leading theories on compliance in international law, this chapter argues that due to fundamentally different views and strategies of the EU institutions and the UK government, the design and use of the Protocol’s mechanisms have the potential to exacerbate rather than mend EU-UK relations. Show less
Koinova, M.; Deloffre, M.Z.; Gadinger, F.; Mencutek, Z.S.; Scholte, J.A.; Steffek, J. 2021
This forum reimagines polycentric governance. It develops ideas of “ordered polycentrism” that can help international relations scholarship make fuller sense of contemporary governance of global... Show moreThis forum reimagines polycentric governance. It develops ideas of “ordered polycentrism” that can help international relations scholarship make fuller sense of contemporary governance of global affairs. How can we theorize the implicit bonding forces that bring deeper order to the surface disorganization of polycentric governance? We offer a key corrective to actor-focused institutionalist understandings by showing how polycentrism also involves deeper relations and structures. Six contributions offer various avenues to theorize deeper order in polycentric governance, each with reference to a substantive issue area. Jens Steffek draws upon constructivist theory of “norms” to argue that standards acquire autonomous ordering power in polycentric governance of global business. Maryam Deloffre adopts a “metagovernance” perspective to identify norms as aspirational visions structuring the regulation of humanitarian assistance. Next, Frank Gadinger explores polycentrism through the lens of “practices” that organize the everyday activities by multiple actors such as negotiating as well as the objects, technologies and expertise they use in these governance efforts. Zeynep Mencutek highlights “techniques” as micro-carriers of ordering practices in polycentric governance of irregular migration, stretching the limits of institutional rules. Maria Koinova discusses “informality” as a deeper structuring force in the governance of transit migration and diasporas, and how it is shaped by state capacities, political regimes, and regional dynamics. Finally, Jan Aart Scholte adds “underlying order” through macro-frameworks and, with illustrations from Internet governance, suggests that polycentrism is structured through a threefold combination of norms, practices, and underlying orders. Together, the six commentaries offer a menu of ways that future research can explore order in what institutionalism has depicted as chaos. Show less
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued the rules for Disclosure of Payments by Resource Extraction Issuers for the third time in March 2021. This was prescribed by... Show moreThe United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued the rules for Disclosure of Payments by Resource Extraction Issuers for the third time in March 2021. This was prescribed by Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010). These anti-corruption rules require resource extraction issuers listed on the U.S. stock exchanges to publicly report the type and total amounts of payments made for the “commercial development of oil, natural gas or minerals” to governments all over the world. This Article argues that the long process of the creation of these rules, while frustrating for SEC officials and staff, can be conceptualized as a “stag hunt” involving other countries that host extraction companies on their stock exchanges. Show less
