Sam Muller | “We tend to over-emphasise the importance of the normative in understanding why things work,” said Jonathan Koppell, Director of the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University (see also Koppell’s latest book: World Rule: Accountability, Legitimacy and the Design of Global Governance, University of Chicago Press, 2010), “We tell ourselves a story that the reason why legal systems are effective is because they are legitimate. This is true to some extent. But we overlook that once these things get going the self–interested motivations for abiding by a set of rules and a process in some ways really becomes more powerful than the legitimacy of that system.” (Continued)
Sam Muller | “The State will not disappear. The key aspect of that is coercion,” said Francis Fukuyama when we interviewed him for Law of the Future in a hotel on the Herengracht in Amsterdam which was as understatedly nice as he was thoughtful. “Law does not have its full effect unless there is enforcement, and only the state can, in the end, provide that. There is no other, better mechanism.” (Continued)
The Law of the Future Joint Action Programme is about creating a forum to discuss how we might envisage the global legal environment of the future. It goes without saying that the next generation should be included in this discussion. This ‘Young Talent’ is playing an important role during the Law of the Future Conference by organising a special workshop on 24 June.
This guest blog post is submitted by Vixhilence Abazi, student of Faculty of Law, University of Amsterdam. (Continued)
The Law of the Future Joint Action Programme is about creating a forum to discuss how we might envisage the global legal environment of the future. It goes without saying that the next generation should be included in this discussion. This ‘Young Talent’ is playing an important role during the Law of the Future Conference by organising a special workshop.
This guest blog post is submitted by Anna Berlee, student of Dutch Law, Maastricht University.
(Continued)
The Law of the Future Joint Action Programme is about creating a forum to discuss how we might envisage the global legal environment of the future. It goes without saying that the next generation should be included in this discussion. This ‘Young Talent’ is playing an important role during the Law of the Future Conference by organising a special workshop on 24 June.
This guest blog post is submitted by Klaas Hendrik Eller, student of Law and Philosophy at the University of Cologne. (Continued)
Morly Frishman | The Hague – Following the severe accusations against him, Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) resigned from the post of IMF Managing Director a week ago. While this story has many interesting legal aspects, the most interesting question from the perspective of international governance is: who will be his successor as the new chief of the IMF? (actually, the real question is: a national of which country will that person be)? (Continued)
Laura Kistemaker | Seville – On 13 May I participated in the
4th International Seville Conference on Future-Oriented Technology Analysis (FTA; the umbrella term, I now know, for research methods used in foresight, forecasting and technological assessment).
Before we set out on the quest to find ways through which we could shape the Law of the Future Joint Action Programme, I had no clue that there even existed a serious academic field known as ‘future studies’, let alone that there was an established community of academics and other experts meeting on a regular basis to discuss the developments in that field. (Continued)
Sam Muller | Beijing – For a person who does not know China all that well – like me – it is an overwhelming place. In fact, even one city like Beijing is overwhelming. Bringing the overwhelming topic of the law of the future to such an overwhelming place was not bound to be easy. (Continued)
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Sam Muller | Johannesburg – After the Scenario Feedback Session held here two days ago, I am left wondering whether we Western Europeans do not have a view of law that is too far away from context. Whether for us law has not become more of an abstract notion, a concept rather removed from daily life. (Continued)
Sam Muller | The global legal environment is a key notion for our Law Scenarios to 2030. It is the word we use to denote the ‘things’ out there that determine and affect what national legislators can or cannot do. A gross simplification of how the world really works, I admit. But useful as an analytical tool. Picture somebody who is looking up from the national level: a metaphorical newly elected minister of justice or parliamentarian who wants to improve and shape his legal system. What is out there? (Continued)