States and Statehood

When we talk about international law, we talk about how the world is ruled. When doing so, we speak of States, territories and borders, often picturing them against a world map familiar from school geography lessons. Yet that apparently straightforward image embodies choices about how the world is represented. The popular Greenland comparison makes the problem…

Russia does not forcibly relocate its civilians into the occupied territories of Ukraine. Instead, it relies on an array of incentives, including preferential mortgages, employment programmes and tax benefits to increase the attractiveness of relocation. This gives rise to a question under the law of occupation: when does voluntary settlement of the Occupying Power's civilian population amount to…

As we swelter through late summer, a hardy few have retained a cool hold over their critical faculties. In the last two weeks, attention has turned chiefly to the ICC: from the in absentia convictions of members of the Rapid Support Forces, to the removal of ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, and a decision recognising that a State Party…

Ceuta, a Spanish city on the North African coast with a population of approximately 80,000, experienced an unprecedented mass influx of people during the last week of July. Around 70,000 people, mostly Moroccan nationals but also persons from other countries, entered the territory irregularly. Although the precise causes remain uncertain, the immediate trigger appears to…