This book examines the African Union Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons - known as the Kampala Convention - which entered into force on 6 December 2012. The book sets out the shortcomings of international law relating to internal displacement, more specifically the 'protection gap'. The author shows how the Kampala Convention not only fills this protection gap, but also how it contributes to the overall development of norms in international, regional a...

This volume contains the proceedings of the 62nd Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space held in Washington DC, USA in October 2019, as well as the report of the IISL Standing Committee on the Status of International Agreements Relating to Activities in Outer Space and the Report of the IISL Working Group on Cyber Law.

Foreign takeovers have triggered increasing vigilance of host governments, as foreign ownership is likely to be deemed a potential threat to local employment, strategic assets, economic network, high­tech competitiveness, and national security. Consequently, various countries have imposed different degrees of restriction on foreign investors.

The disparity that lies in the national rules regarding foreign takeovers implies that while companies in some countries are well shielded against fore...

Struggles over resources are not new for indigenous peoples. One of the latest arenas for recognition of their rights regards their intangibles, such as the protection of their traditional cultural expressions (TCEs). Most attention for protection from unauthorised use has occurred in the sphere of intellectual property law, notably copyright law. However, both protection arguments and context indicate wider implications of the issue, which include preservation of cultural heritage and exerci...

In social care, mobilizing network support is a topical issue. Networks are at the heart of Family Group Conferencing, or Family Group Decision Making. FGC originated in New Zealand but has spread to many countries worldwide. In this book, FGC researchers with different methodological orientations discuss their findings and reflect candidly on the methodological choices they made and the challenges faced. The ‘what works’ versus ‘context’ controversy in social work research is highlig...

Comparative Constitutional Justice adopts an innovative approach to constitutional justice. From a methodological perspective, it assumes that it is impossible to apply an absolute criterion of classification, which depends on the purposes comparative scholars aim to achieve when delivering their own taxonomies. A broad definition of constitutional justice is adopted, which revolves around the following taxonomy: 1) the legality of norms, 2) the conformity of actors’ behaviours with the dis...

Inspired by the vision of the future of humankind in outer space, an international team of technical experts, lawyers and political scientists examined topical issues of law and policy under the leadership of the editors – not only with respect to international space flight and space exploration, but also in view of the safe and sustainable use of space technology for the benefit of our planet. After all, our original habitat should not be sacrificed on our way to Moon and Mars!

In this reg...

This volume contains the proceedings of the 63rd Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space held virtually in October 2020, as well as the report of the IISL Standing Committee on the Status of International Agreements Relating to Activities in Outer Space.

Advances in reproductive biotechnology increase control over who is born and under what circumstances. Consequently, the question arises: what do we owe to the future children who are born with the help of these technologies? To address this question, we must understand how we should approach the future child. This conceptualisation is complicated by two factors: first, the future, unconceived child only exists as a legal construct. Second, protecting its interests often implies that the chil...

The Netherlands was made by humans. Cities, polders, the landscape and even nature reserves have all clearly been shaped by man. The country’s planned development is as unique as it is famous.

This book describes the intriguing history of spatial planning in the Netherlands from the late Middle Ages to the present day. Where does this strong tendency towards regulation and planning come from? Did these thousands of plans always come together? Or did planners and urban designers sometimes ge...