Articles

Achieving Democracy [Abstract] 05/04/01
Fledgling democracies may improve their stability through constitutional amendments that bar future unconstitutional governments from borrowing in the country's name or conferring ownership rights to public property, thus reducing the rewards of coups d'état.
Author(s): Thomas Pogge

National Reconciliation, Transnational Justice, and the International Criminal Court [Abstract] 05/04/01
Universal jurisdiction and the existence of an International Criminal Court (ICC) under the Rome Statute provide a framework through which true reconciliation can be achieved simultaneously with truth and justice.
Author(s): Juan E. Méndez

Peaceful Transition and Retrospective Justice: Some Reservations (Response to Juan Méndez) [Abstract] 05/04/01
Although retribution for past human rights violations has its place in post-conflict processes of transition and reconciliation, there are many present and foreseeable circumstances in which the case may be made for immunity, amnesty, or sheer forbearance.
Author(s): Brad R. Roth

U.S. Arms Control Policy in a Time Warp [Full Text] 05/04/01
U.S. nuclear weapons policy remains mired in Cold War paradigms; the major powers no longer entirely set the agenda in the global arms control process; and arms control must focus on environmental, medical and humanitarian consequences of weapons, not just national security.
Author(s): Nina Tannenwald

Alive and Kicking: The Greatly Exaggerated Death Of Nuclear Deterrence (Response to Nina Tannenwald) [Full Text] 05/04/01
Because of the extreme military advantage that nuclear weapons grant their possessors, no nuclear weapons state can afford the relative loss of power that would come from disarming while another state did not.
Author(s): J. Peter Scoblic

The New Business Of War: Small Arms and the Proliferation of Conflict [Full Text] 05/04/01
If efforts to deal comprehensively with the supply and demand factors fueling the trade in small arms and light weapons are sustained and expanded over the next decade, rampant small arms proliferation can be contained.
Author(s): William Hartung

The Moral Rationale for International Fiscal Law [Abstract] 05/04/01
A country's right to levy taxes is a fundamental aspect of its sovereignty. Without the power to tax, a government would be unable to redistribute resources among its citizens and provide public goods.
Author(s): Alexander W. Cappelen

Measuring Human Rights [Abstract] 05/04/01
The language of human rights is increasingly used as a framework for policy dialogue. But, indicators must be developed that may hold the state accountable for its policies, guide and improve policy, and acknowledge both local contexts and the universality of rights. Possible?
Author(s): Kate Raworth