Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

20 results

  • 1 - Introduction

  • Edited by Melissa J. Durkee, Washington University, St Louis
  • Book:
    States, Firms, and Their Legal Fictions
    Published online:
    29 February 2024
    Print publication:
    07 March 2024, pp 1-22

  • Summary

    This volume offers a new point of entry into enduring questions about how the law conceives of states and firms. Because states and firms are fictitious constructs rather than products of evolutionary biology, the law dictates which acts should be attributed to each entity, and by which actors. Those legal decisions construct firms and states by attributing identity and consequences to them. As the volume shows, these legal decisions are often products of path dependence or conceptual metaphors like “personhood” that have expanded beyond their original uses. Focusing on attribution allows the volume to consider together an array of questions about artificial entities that are usually divided into doctrinal siloes. These include questions about attribution of international legal responsibility to states and state-owned entities, transnational attribution of liabilities to firms, and attribution of identity rights to corporations. Taken together, the book highlights the artificiality of doctrines that construct firms and states, and therefore their susceptibility to change.

States, Firms, and Their Legal Fictions
  • Attributing Identity and Responsibility to Artificial Entities
  • Edited by Melissa J. Durkee
  • Published online:
    29 February 2024
    Print publication:
    07 March 2024
  • This volume offers a new point of entry into questions about how the law conceives of states and firms. Because states and firms are fictitious constructs rather than products of evolutionary biology, the law dictates which acts should be attributed to each entity, and by which actors. Those legal decisions construct firms and states by attributing identity and consequences to them. As the volume shows, these legal decisions are often products of path dependence or conceptual metaphors like “personhood” that have expanded beyond their original uses. Focusing on attribution, the volume considers an array of questions about artificial entities that are usually divided into doctrinal siloes. These include questions about attribution of international legal responsibility to states and state-owned entities, transnational attribution of liabilities to firms, and attribution of identity rights to corporations. Durkee highlights the artificiality of doctrines that construct firms and states, and therefore their susceptibility to change.

  • Introduction to the Symposium on Digital Evidence

  • Part of
  • Tamar Megiddo, Melissa J. Durkee
  • Journal:
    AJIL Unbound / Volume 118 / 2024
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    26 February 2024, pp. 36-39
    • Article
      • You have access
      • Open access
    • PDF
    • HTML
    • Export citation

  • Privatizing International Governance

  • Melissa J. Durkee
  • Journal:
    Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting / Volume 116 / 2022
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    24 March 2023, pp. 147-150
    Print publication:
    2022
    • Article
      • You have access
    • PDF
    • HTML
    • Export citation

  • The theme of this panel is “Privatizing International Governance.” As the opening vignettes should make clear, public-private partnerships of all kinds are increasingly common in the international system. Since United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's launch of the Global Compact in 2000, the United Nations has increasingly opened up to business entities. Now, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Global Compact, and the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights all encourage engaging with business entities as partners in developing and executing global governance agendas. These partnerships are seen by some as indispensable to sustainable development, international business regulation, climate change mitigation, and other global governance agendas. Business entities can offer expertise and funding, and their participation can soften resistance and increase buy-in for international regulatory agendas.

  • Welcoming Participation, Avoiding Capture: A Five-Part Framework

  • Melissa J. Durkee
  • Journal:
    Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting / Volume 114 / 2020
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    01 March 2021, pp. 39-42
    Print publication:
    2020

  • What role should non-state actors have in the work of international organizations? It is particularly fitting that this panel is titled “between participation and capture,” because the phrase calls up the conflicting values that animate this question. When we think of non-state actors “participating” in the work of international organizations, we think about open, transparent organizations that are receiving the benefit of diverse perspectives and expertise. We may associate this phrase with process, access, and legitimacy in governance. On the other hand, when we think about non-state actors “capturing” the agenda of international organizations, we have a conflicting set of mental images: we imagine corruption, mission-drift, and the erosion of legitimacy in global governance. Openness is both valuable and dangerous.

  • Industry Lobbying and “Interest Blind” Access Norms at International Organizations

  • Part of
  • Melissa J. Durkee
  • Journal:
    AJIL Unbound / Volume 111 / 2017
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    26 June 2017, pp. 119-124
    • Article
      • You have access
      • Open access
    • PDF
    • HTML
    • Export citation

  • The standard approach of international organizations (IOs) makes no formal distinctions between nonprofit private sector associations, known as trade or industry groups, and public interest groups like Amnesty International or Greenpeace. After all, these groups are all organized as nonprofits; they may all be characterized as nongovernmental organizations representing the interests of their memberships; and the groups all seek to advance the agendas of members by offering ideas and expertise to international officials or bodies—classic lobbying activity. Thus, most IOs offer accreditation and access to both private sector and public interest groups on equal terms, without differentiating between them. I will call this approach “interest blind” and use this essay to examine its origins and consequences.