Odious Debt Wears Two Faces: Systemic Illegitimacy, Problems, and Opportunities in Traditional Odious Debt Conceptions in Globalized Economic Regimes

Backer examines how the traditional notion of odious debt as a method of repudiating sovereign debt may undergo a conceptual revolution as it changes focus from the illegitimacy of governments obtaining loans to the illegitimacy of the systems through which such loans are made and enforced generally. He focus his analysis on the conceptual framework Fidel Castro sought to introduce into the debate about the legitimacy of sovereign debt and the extent to which this reframing might influence international institutional approaches

Retaining Judicial Authority: A Preliminary Inquiry on the Dominion of Judges

Why do the people and institutions of democratic states, and in particular those of the United States, obey judges ? This article examines the foundations of judicial authority in the United States. This authority is grounded on principles of dominance derived from the organization of institutional religion. The judge in Western states asserts authority on the same basis as the priest - but not the priest as conventionally understood. Rather, the authority of the judge in modern Western democratic states is better understood when viewed through the analytical lens of priestly function developed in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Focusing on the United States Supreme Court and the European Court of Justice, this paper examines the manner in which high-court judges have successfully internalized the characteristics of Nietzsche\u27s Paul and his priestly caste within the religion of Western constitutionalism. Paul wanted the end, consequently he also wanted the means. What he himself did not believe, the idiots among whom he threw his doctrine believed. His need was for power; in Paul the priest wanted power once again - he could use only concepts, doctrines, symbols with which one tyrannizes masses and forms herds.\u2

UN FORUM SERIES – the measure of … things: measurement first principles and the business and human rights assessment project

This post was contribute by Larry Catá Backer, W. Richard and Mary Eshelman Faculty Scholar Professor of Law and International Affairs at Pennsylvania State University. The 2015 United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights will focus on “Tracking Progress and Ensuring Coherence.” The business and human rights stakeholders are increasingly focused on taking the measure of that project. An influential stakeholder, Measuring Business & Human Rights, launched a blog series on how to assess and track implementation of the UNGP

The Human Rights Obligations of State-Owned Enterprises: Emerging Conceptual Structures and Principles in National and International Law and Policy

The distinction between the obligations of public and private entities, and their relation to law, is well known in classical political and legal theory. States have a duty that is undertaken through law; enterprises have a responsibility that is embedded in their governance. These fundamental divisions form part of the current international efforts to institutionalize human rights-related norms on and through states and enterprises, and most notably through the U.N. Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights. The problems of conforming to evolving norms becomes more difficult where states project their authority through commercial enterprises

God(s) over Constitutions: International and Religious Transnational Constitutionalism in the 21st Century

Symposium on Religion, Religious Pluralism, and the Rule of La