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Louis B. Sohn
Woodruff Professor of International Law
Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.
Louis B. Sohn
Woodruff Professor of International Law
Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.
This volume, a fully revised and expanded version of the lectures given by the author at the Hague Academy of International Law in 2007, focuses on the evolution of international water law in the context of this changing world. Chapter I covers the basic principles of international water law. Chapter II offers a critique of international water law and challenges for the future. Chapter III analyses the evolution of international water agreements over the past two centuries. The analysis draws upon empirical data from more than 2,000 international agreements in a database developed by the author. Chapter IV focuses on the different techniques for resolving disputes and the international fora for doing so. Chapter V considers international institutions associated with international water agreements. Chapter VI addresses the issue of a human right to water and the right of indigenous peoples to water. Chapter VII analyses the implications of international water markets for international trade law, and vice versa, and addresses increasingly important issues associated with virtual water.
This volume, a fully revised and expanded version of the lectures given by the author at the Hague Academy of International Law in 2007, focuses on the evolution of international water law in the context of this changing world. Chapter I covers the basic principles of international water law. Chapter II offers a critique of international water law and challenges for the future. Chapter III analyses the evolution of international water agreements over the past two centuries. The analysis draws upon empirical data from more than 2,000 international agreements in a database developed by the author. Chapter IV focuses on the different techniques for resolving disputes and the international fora for doing so. Chapter V considers international institutions associated with international water agreements. Chapter VI addresses the issue of a human right to water and the right of indigenous peoples to water. Chapter VII analyses the implications of international water markets for international trade law, and vice versa, and addresses increasingly important issues associated with virtual water.
Abstract
The COVID-19 crisis illustrates the workings of a kaleidoscopic world, in which patterns rapidly change, many actors beyond States are critical, flexible instruments are imperative, and scientific knowledge is evolving. The kaleidoscopic world sharply contrasts with the traditional view of an international system dominated by States in a rather static order in which States negotiate and implement binding agreements. Controlling the virus is a public goods problem that shows the need for rapid and flexible responses by governments and others and collective actions at the local, regional, and global levels. At the same time, it is a private goods problem, as in development of a vaccine by private companies, which calls for public-private collaboration. The COVID-19 crisis reveals the need to reconceptualize public international law to broaden its scope, to include relevant actors beyond States, to encompass many kinds of legal instruments, and to recognize the imperative need for shared norms.