This essay fills a gap by exploring compliance theory in international law to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. After introducing the topic and setting the context, it delves into the question of why nations follow international law. Interacting with prominent theoretical models (including the managerial model, fairness and legitimacy, transnational legal process, self-interest, and a comparative perspective with Europe), it arrives at a critical synthesis in the conclusion.

Liberia has become the quintessential example of an African failed state. Though Liberia's civil war is officially over, war criminals are free and some are even helping run the transitional government under the authority of Liberia's Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). This peace agreement calls for the consideration of a general amnesty for those involved in the Liberian civil war alongside the parceling of governmental functions among members of various rebel groups. The drafters of the agreement claim that this was the only viable solution for sustainable peace in Liberia. Meanwhile, Charles Taylor relaxes in Nigeria's resort city of Calabar.

Globalization has done little to fight global poverty and inequality. Though some critics have used this fact to argue against global economic integration, this article explains that those in favor of a freer and fairer global trade and finance system must link that regime with labor rights in order to achieve a reduction in global poverty and a more equitable distribution of trade gains. Without this connection, today's most powerful economies will be tomorrow's least relevant markets, finding themselves subordinate on the global supply chain to countries who were once thought of as “lesser developed.” This result will not come from increased development from those countries. Instead, it will derive from the erosion of progress in leading markets initiated by enhanced competition from countries with lower relative standards of living. Simply put: without a mechanism to increase those standards in the poorest countries, the richest countries will find their own standards retrograded in order to remain competitive. Accordingly, legal architectures must link free trade and global finance with core worker rights—or else.

In today's increasingly interdependent global society, international institutions formerly committed to operating as insular systems recognizing only states as legitimate participants have come under pressure to open their processes to public view and participation. The World Trade Organization (WTO) in particular has been widely criticized for its lack of transparency and democratic participation. Nowhere has this criticism been more prevalent than in the arena of dispute settlement. The controversy over the acceptance of amicus briefs at the WTO reflects the tensions among WTO members and non-members concerning greater public access to dispute settlement proceedings. This battle has been fought primarily through the Appellate Body and its important series of decisions on amicus briefs.

Twenty years ago, most of the users at the University of Oslo's Faculty of Law Library (UOFLL) were what we would call “Norwegians from Norway”. They came to the library to find Norwegian domestic law to address issues of purely domestic concern. In recent years, bilateral, regional and global agreements have increasingly become an integral part of our domestic legal system.