bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Transnational Private Authority and Its Contestation
Authors: Coni-Zimmer Melanie , Flohr Annegret , Wolf Klaus Dieter 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
The chapter investigates the preferences of BRICS and NGOs with regard to the exercise of transnational private authority. Three such governance schemes are selected: the Kimberley Process, the Global Compact, and the Social Accountability 8000 (SA8000) certification scheme. Transnational governance schemes are part of the liberal status quo. Yet, preferences of BRICS and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are so diverse that there is rarely joint contestation nor is there an alliance between the two groups of actors. The analysis shows that it is mainly civil society organizations (CSOs) which contest privatized governance schemes. Business-related interest groups are generally supporting such schemes, to little surprise. BRICS also show a remarkable level of support for privatized forms of governance. The clearest differences in preferences exist between CSOs and BRICS: whereas CSOs champion stronger international institutions, the support of BRICS for private governance schemes increases in proportion to the weakness of a given arrangement or to the extent of national discretion it still affords them. In light of BRICS’ and NGOs’ different preferences, on the one hand, and among the members of each of these groups, on the other hand, neither of these two ‘groups’ can be considered close to having a single shared vision of global order. As a result, there is also little potential for strategic cooperation between BRICS and NGOs when it comes to contesting the status quo of transnational private authority.
The Decay of the International Rule of Law Project (1990–2015)
Authors: von Bernstorff Jochen 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
The chapter challenges the idea that the 1990s are the beginning of a golden era of the international rule of law. Rather they are interpreted as the climax of a phase of a US-dominated international institutional system and a phase of relatively uncontested Western hegemony which was often realized through transnational institutions but which was not necessarily created by international law. However, many institutional characteristics of this era conflicted or continued to conflict fundamentally with central elements of the original early twentieth-century rule of law project in international relations which subscribed to compulsory jurisdiction, rule-based collective security, sovereign equality of states, and codification. The United States and its Western partners missed out on the opportunity to use the ‘unipolar’ moment in modern world history to eventually realize and entrench such a fair rule of law system in international relations.
The Rise and Decline of the International Rule of Law and the Job of Scholars
Authors: Peters Anne 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
International law feeds on preconditions which it cannot guarantee itself. International scholarship, too, must come to grips with pre-conditions and existing parameters over which it has no control itself. But such scholarship must not ‘succumb’ to these factual and ideational realities by adapting its methods and findings to any given political, social, and economic climate. It is the job of international legal scholars to produce ideas in a spirit of realist utopianism (John Rawls). Depending on the existing parameters, these ideas are apt to shape attitudes and actions, or not. Such scholarship also needs to distance itself from its object of study in order not to lose its capacity to criticize the law and the practice. How far exactly scholarly writing should transcend or keep aloof from the prevailing political climate and from concerns of feasibility depends on the research questions under discussion and is a matter of judgment. The style of scholarship suggested here is illustrated by the work of three eminent scholars whose careers continued through different political eras more or less favourable to the international rule of law: Hersch Lauterpacht, Antonio Cassese, and Josef Kunz.
International Law within a Global International Society
Authors: Hurrell Andrew 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
This chapter is a comment on Felix Lange’s analysis of the universalization of international law from a historical-contextual perspective. Building on Lange’s arguments the comment underscores and develops further three specific themes, all of which are of ongoing relevance: the importance of mutual constitution in the relations between the West and the non-West; the need to look ‘beyond membership’; and the agency of the non-Western world. It concludes by returning to the idea of the international rule of law and the ways in which our understanding of the universalization of international law and the international rule of law may be related and brought together.
International Law and Its Others
Authors: Chesterman Simon 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
This chapter is a comment on Aniruddha Rajput’s discussion of how BRICS states influence various areas of international law. First, it questions the coherence of the approach towards international law of the BRICS states as a category. Second, it highlights that the respective states often defend traditional norms of sovereignty and non-intervention rather than promote an alternative new vision of international law. Third, it emphasizes that rising powers’ conservativism leads to increased difficulty of adopting new regimes.
Do Non-State Actors Strengthen or Weaken International Law?
Authors: d’Aspremont Jean 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
The chapter compares the liberal beliefs and sensibilities informing the question of the rise or decline of international law with the liberalism found in the way in which the concept of non-state actors has been conceptualized, theorized, and used in international legal thought and practice. It shows that the question of whether non-state actors strengthen or weaken international law prejudges its very answer and supports an image of international law on the rise. In doing so, the discussion simultaneously shows that liberal discourses are organized around liberal symbioses that are necessary to preserve international lawyers’ confidence in the ability of international law to intervene in the problems of the world.
From High Hopes to Scepticism? Human Rights Protection and Rule of Law in Europe in an Ever More Hostile Environment
Authors: Nußberger Angelika 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
The chapter argues that the dynamics inherent in the European Convention system can pose a problem to legal certainty. The first pillar of the analysis is the double link between the Strasbourg system of human rights protection and rule of law. On the one hand the Court contributes to developing the concept of rule of law by elaborating standards on the basis of concrete cases. On the other hand the Court is a major player in the international legal system and has to abide itself by the principles it develops. The second pillar of the analysis is what may be called ‘high hopes’ linked to the human rights protection system, in particular during the 1950s and the 1990s. The question arises why some member states have changed their attitude and look at European human rights protection with a critical attitude. Tensions between human rights and rule of law seem to be a relevant aspect in this respect.
Is Compliance an Indicator for the State of International Law?
Authors: Dunoff Jeffrey L 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
This chapter questions the utility of using compliance—understood as behaviour consistent with applicable rules of international law—as a direct indicator for the state of international law. Instead it develops a claim that, across many domains, contemporary international law faces a ‘compliance trilemma’. In many instances, the actors who wish to construct an international rule of law pursue the goals of (1) widespread participation, (2) ambitious legal norms, and (3) high rates of compliance. However, it is often possible to achieve, at most, two of these goals, giving rise to the Trilemma. Hence, compliance remains an important subject of study because efforts to construct an international rule of law confront inescapable trade-offs between pursuit of heightened compliance and other desirable outcomes, such as increased participation and increased depth of international legal norms.
The Relationship between Legality and Legitimacy: A Double-Edged Sword
Authors: Burchardt Dana 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
This comment on Thilo Marauhn’s chapter addresses the relationship between legality and legitimacy from a norm-related perspective. It inquires into the reasons for the two-dimensional relationship between legality and legitimacy through the lens of norm theory. It considers legal norms on the one hand and legitimacy norms on the other hand, interrogating how these different kinds of norms can coexist, interrelate, and influence each other and what functions they can fulfil in the international sphere. By doing so, it highlights to what extent legal norms and legitimacy norms compete and complement each other—where the double-edged sword in the relationship between legality and legitimacy can be used for undercutting or rather for defending each other.
The Contestation of Value-Based Norms: Confirmation or Erosion of International Law?
Authors: Maluwa Tiyanjana 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
The chapter discusses the concepts of shared values and value-based norms. It examines two areas of international law that provide illustrative examples of contestation of value-based norms: the fight against impunity under international criminal law and the debates about the responsibility to protect. It argues that the African Union’s (AU) difference of view with the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the indictment of Omar Al-Bashir is not a rejection of the non-impunity norm, but of the context and sequencing of its application. As regards the right of intervention codified in the Constitutive Act of the AU, Africans states responded to the failure of the Security Council to invoke its existing normative powers in the Rwanda situation by establishing a treaty-based norm of intervention, the first time that a regional international instrument had ever done so. Thus, in both cases one cannot speak of a decline of international law.
Global Justice, Global Governance, and International Law
Authors: Kamto Maurice 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
The chapter comments on Eyal Benvenisti’s discussion of international law’s contribution to global justice. It puts forward that global justice at the international level can only be the result of a permanent bargain and a compromise between the multiple and conflicting interests among states. It emphasizes that better governance at the global level involving the sharing of the policy-making and decision-making, accountability, the rule of law, and sanctions can help improve global justice. It concludes by suggesting that if international law could contribute to the advent of global justice in a move from ‘Responsibility to protect’ to ‘Responsibility to develop’, it would open a new era for its rise amongst nations and peoples.
The Legal Personhood of Artificial Intelligences
Authors: Kurki Visa A.J. 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
The chapter scrutinizes the legal personhood of artificial intelligences (AIs). It starts by distinguishing three relevant contexts. Most discussions of AI legal personhood focus either on the moral value of AIs (ultimate-value context); on whether AIs could or should be held responsible (responsibility context); or on whether they could acquire a more independent role in commercial transactions (commercial context). The chapter argues that so-called strong AIs—capable of performing similar tasks as human beings—can indeed function as legal persons regardless of whether such AIs are worthy of moral consideration. If an AI can function as a legal person, it can be granted legal personhood on somewhat similar grounds as a human collectivity. The majority of the chapter is focused on the role of AIs in commercial contexts, and new theoretical tools are proposed that would help distinguish different commercial AI legal personhood arrangements.
Electric News in Colonial Algeria
Authors: Asseraf Arthur 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
How do the things which connect us divide us at the same time? This book tells a different history of globalization by tracing how news circulated in a divided society: Algeria under French rule in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The years between 1881 and 1940 were those of maximum colonial power in North Africa, a period of intense technological revolution, global high imperialism, and the expansion of settler colonialism. Algerians became connected to international networks of news, and local people followed distant events with great interest. But once news reached Algeria, accounts of recent events often provoked conflict as they moved between different social groups. In a society split between its native majority and a substantial settler minority, distant wars led to riots. Circulation and polarization were two sides of the same coin. Looking at a range of sources in multiple languages across colonial society, this book offers a new understanding of what news is. News was a whole ecosystem in which new technologies such as the printing press, the telegraph, the cinema and the radio interacted with older media like songs, rumours, letters, and manuscripts. The French government watched anxiously over these developments, monitoring Algerians’ reactions to news through an extensive network of surveillance that often ended up spreading news rather than controlling its flow. By tracking what different people thought was new, this history of news helps us reconsider the relationship between time, media, and historical change.
Introduction
Authors: Asseraf Arthur 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
This introductory chapter defines ‘news’ and presents the context of colonial Algeria. Using the example of news of the Tunisian invasion of 1881 in Algiers, it shows how news circulated through a variety of media, forming a complex news ecosystem. This ecosystem challenges standard theories of media put forward by scholars from Marshall McLuhan to Benedict Anderson. The introduction then explains the formation of a deeply divided society within colonial Algeria, placing the history of information within the wider historiography on colonial Algeria. The chapter concludes with a consideration of sources for a history of news, explaining how the colonial surveillance archive can form a useful entry point because surveillance was part of the news circulation system.
Modernizing VATs in Africa
Authors: Cnossen Sijbren 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Tax revenues in most African countries fall far short of what is feasible and necessary to finance basic human and economic development. Domestic tax revenue mobilization is called for, preferably in the form of a broad-based consumption tax, such as the VAT, which is less detrimental to economic growth than an income tax is. Most African VATs, however, are riddled with exemptions, exclusions, and zero rates on domestic goods and services. Hence, base-broadening rather than rate-increasing should be pursued if revenue is the goal. Base-broadening would also make the VATs less distortionary and complicated. The case for base-broadening is strengthened by the findings of incidence studies that show that the net result of fiscal systems can be equalizing if the revenue from broad-based VATs is used to finance in-kind transfers, such as healthcare and education. This highly informative and well-researched book makes the case for modernizing African VAT systems by posing the following questions. What is the role and design of a best-practice VAT? Do African VATs measure up to best practice and how productive are they of revenue? What is being done to mitigate the VAT’s regressive burden distribution? How should VAT be coordinated in regional economic communities? What are non-standard exemptions and how prevalent are they? What treatment is accorded public bodies, immovable property, financial services, and insurance? How are and should small businesses and farmers be treated? Answers to these questions are explored by reference to best practice elsewhere and on the basis of detailed analyses of country-specific VATs.
What is VAT?
Authors: Cnossen Sijbren 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Chapter 2 dwells briefly on the workings and the legal and economic nature of the VAT, and enumerates the characteristics of a best-practice VAT against which existing regimes are evaluated. A best-practice VAT includes all goods and services in its base, unless specifically exempted on administrative grounds, and covers all stages of production and distribution, including the retail stage. It is levied at a single, uniform rate and eliminates cascading or cumulative tax effects by granting taxable firms a full and immediate tax credit or deduction for the tax paid in respect of purchases from other taxable firms. Furthermore, the VAT is destination-based by zero-rating exports and taxing imports. A best-practice VAT limits administrative and taxpayer discretion to a minimum and is based on self-assessment. The tax administration’s task should be confined mainly to providing taxpayer education, monitoring late filers and late payers, and, particularly, auditing taxable persons’ accounts.
Other Broad-Based Consumption Taxes
Authors: Cnossen Sijbren 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Chapter 3 reviews broad-based consumption taxes with which the VAT can be compared, especially the retail sales tax (RST). The Profit & Loss (P&L) Account forms the basis for explaining how the tax liabilities under the various variants are computed. The accounting matrix is also used to note the similarities to and differences from a conventional business income tax whose profits are ascertained on the basis of the matching principle. Subsequently, the practical differences between the taxes are discussed, as well as their prevalence around the world. A brief section on the major lessons from worldwide experience with VAT concludes.
Countries without VAT
Authors: Cnossen Sijbren 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Chapter 5 surveys the sales taxes of African countries that do not (yet) have a VAT and analyses the distortions, valuation problems, and definitional issues caused by these taxes. Although VAT is not without problems either—in design but particularly in administration—it appears to emerge as a superior consumption tax to the regimes currently in force in the non-VAT countries, such as Angola, Liberia, and Nigeria. But while a VAT can be potentially well designed and administered, by definition production taxes will always be plagued by distortions, valuation problems, and definitional complexities. In short, a VAT can, but other sales taxes cannot, be improved.
Revenue Performance
Authors: Cnossen Sijbren 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Chapter 6 examines the revenue performance of African VATs by calculating their collection efficiencies defined as actual VAT revenue as a fraction of potential revenue. The VAT gap consists of the policy gap (exemptions and reduced rates) and the compliance gap (evasion and lack of enforcement). Possible explanatory factors, such as the level of economic development, the VAT structure, and the effectiveness of the VAT administration, are reviewed. The analysis appears to indicate that it is unlikely that African VATs in their current form are up to the task of generating much more revenue. Further, replacement of trade taxes by VATs is not easy if VAT bases are too narrow and enforcement too shallow to put much trust in VAT’s revenue-raising capacity.
VAT Incidence and Rate Structure
Authors: Cnossen Sijbren 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Chapter 7 starts by reviewing the ways in which African countries mitigate the VAT’s regressivity, real or perceived, by providing concessionary treatment for foodstuffs. This is followed by a survey of the results of various VAT incidence studies, especially regarding South Africa. The results indicate that the incidence of most VATs is less regressive than is often thought. The discussion proceeds by highlighting the advantages and disadvantages in choosing the best instrument to mitigate the VAT’s regressivity, if desired: taxing basic foodstuffs at a zero rate, taxing them at a lower rate, or exempting them. In considering VAT’s regressive burden distribution, it is important to bear in mind that the issue should be viewed in the context of the entire tax and expenditure system. It has been shown that efficient regressive taxes (such as the VAT) when combined with generous well-targeted transfers can result in a net fiscal system that is equalizing.
Immovable Property
Authors: Cnossen Sijbren 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Chapter 12 examines the VAT treatment of immovable property in Africa. In most African countries, housing services—in the form of rents and rental values of owner-occupied property—comprise a sizable part of consumption expenditures. Clearly, housing is too large a sector to ignore in the design and operation of a broad-based, properly functioning VAT. Since residential housing is often an income-elastic item of consumption, exemption of this sector would be regressive with respect to income; in other words, the rich would benefit more than the poor. The chapter starts by setting out how immovable property should be taxed under a pure and a best-practice VAT. This is followed by a review of the actual treatment of immovable property in Africa, including the VAT’s interaction with transfer taxes and stamp duties. Possible directions for reform are considered, before a recapitulation of policy proposals concludes.
Insurance
Authors: Cnossen Sijbren 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Chapter 14 shows that insurance can be included in the VAT base by taxing premiums and imputing a VAT credit to indemnifications. Instead of taxing insurance, African countries, following EU practice, exempt insurance and impose various insurance (premium) taxes (francophone countries) or stamp duties (anglophone countries other than SACU countries). The chapter argues that exemption and separate taxation are administratively complex and distortionary elements in the tax systems of African countries. As shown by the South African experience, inclusion in the VAT base of property and casualty insurance is feasible, and is simpler and more efficient than the current systems. Full taxation would be more difficult for life and health insurance, which, if desired, can be taxed under the addition method. The last section summarizes the taxable status of insurance services under present arrangements and under the proposed approach.
Basic Administrative Processes
Authors: Cnossen Sijbren 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Chapter 17 reviews various related but separable core administrative functions associated with the VAT: registration, filing, payment/collection, enforcement, and audit. It concludes with a brief note on fraud. How well these functions are performed will determine the VAT’s economic effects, its burden distribution, and its administrative efficacy (in terms of collection and compliance costs per unit of revenue). The discussion highlights the key issues and outlines some best practices. Last but not least, measures aimed at uncovering and prosecuting VAT fraud should be balanced by measures aimed at assisting honest taxpayers to meet their tax obligations and fast-tracking refunds to taxpayers with a good compliance record. Importantly, interest at commercial rates should be paid on late refunds.