Duncan B. Hollis

Giving an overview of the current state of the law and practice in relation to treaties, this edited work is an essential reference for practitioners and legal advisers involved in treaty negotiations or the interpretation of treaties. It also reflects on the current areas of disagreement or ambiguity.

The Oxford Guide to Treaties

The Oxford Guide to Treaties is the authoritative reference point for anyone studying or involved in the creation or interpretation of treaties and other forms of international agreement. For centuries, treaties have regulated relations among nation states. Today, they are the dominant source of international law. From trade relations to greenhouse gases, from shipwrecks to cybercrime, treaties structure the rights and obligations of states, international organizations, and individuals. Being adept with treaties and international agreements is thus an indispensable skill for anyone engaged in international relations, including international lawyers, diplomats, international organization officials, and representatives of non-governmental organizations. This second edition of the award-winning volume from Professor Duncan B. Hollis provides a comprehensive guide to treaties, shedding light on the rules and practices surrounding the making, interpretation, and operation of these instruments. Foundational issues are covered, from defining treaties and their alternatives, to examining current theorizations about the treaty in international law. Chapters review specific stages in the treaty's life-cycle, including formation, application, interpretation, and exit. Special issues associated with treaties involving the European Union and other international organizations are also included. A section sampling over four hundred actual treaty clauses complements these scholarly treatments. These real examples help illustrate different approaches treaty-makers can take on topics such as entry into force, languages, reservations, and amendments.

Jens David Ohlin

Election interference is one of the most widely discussed international phenomena of the last five years. Russian covert interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election elevated the topic into a national priority, but that experience was far from an isolated one. Evidence of election interference by foreign states or their proxies has become a regular feature of national elections and is likely to get worse in the near future. Information and communication technologies afford those who would interfere with new tools that can operate in ways previously unimaginable: Twitter bots, Facebook advertisements, closed social media platforms, algorithms that prioritize extreme views, disinformation, misinformation, and malware that steals secret campaign communications. Defending Democracies examines the problem through an interdisciplinary lens and focuses on: (i) defining the problem of foreign election interference, (ii) exploring the solutions that international law might bring to bear, and (iii) considering alternative regulatory frameworks for understanding and addressing the problem. The result is a deeply urgent examination of an old problem on social media steroids, one that implicates the most central institution of liberal democracy: elections. The volume seeks to bring domestic and international perspectives on elections and election law into conversation with other disciplinary frameworks, escaping the typical biases of lawyers who prefer international legal solutions for issues of international relations. Taken together, the chapters in this volume represent a more faithful representation of the broad array of solutions that might be deployed, including international and domestic, legal and extra-legal, ambitious and cautious.

Duncan B. Hollis

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