Public International Law

International law and public health.

At the beginning of the 21st century there is widespread recognition that national and international health are inseparable. Societies are increasingly turning to innovative and diverse mechanisms of international health cooperation to gain control over the forces that are globalizing public health and related risk factors such as those outlined in this year’s World Health Report (1). Consequen...

International environmental law and global public health.

The environment continues to be a source of ill-health for many people, particularly in developing countries. International environmental law offers a viable strategy for enhancing public health through the promotion of increased awareness of the linkages between health and environment, mobilization of technical and financial resources, strengthening of research and monitoring, enforcement of h...

Bioterrorism, public health, and international law.

The Economics of Public International Law

This paper is a preliminary draft for eventual inclusion in the Handbook of Law and Economics, A. Mitchell Polinsky & Steven Shavell editors. It reviews and synthesizes the work of economists and law and economics scholars in the field of public international law. The bulk of that work has been in the area of international trade, but many of the ideas in the trade literature have implications f...

REPORTS AND DOCUMENTS: The Geneva Conventions and Public International Law

With sixty years of hindsight, it seems particularly appropriate to reflect on the trajectory of international humanitarian law (IHL) as shaped by the 1949 Geneva Conventions. The near universal acceptance of the Conventions and their secure integration into the international system can sometimes lead us to underestimate the significance of their impact. It is this transformative impact on publ...