Happy New Year for 2014 and our Most Popular Posts of 2013!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish our readers a Happy New Year! We are grateful to you for your support over the past year, and indeed over the past five years, since the launch of the blog in December 2008. The figures regarding the readership of the blog continue to climb steadily. We also have so many of you (in four figures) who subscribe to receive emails of our postings. The numbers submitting posts for blog are also increasing.

Over the past year we have made a number of additions to the editorial team. Sadie Blanchard joined us associate editor in the summer and her contributions to our work have been impressive. We are very grateful to her for all her hard work behind the scenes. Over the past few months, we have also  added a team of Contributing Editors, drawn in part from the boards of EJIL. Thank you to Anne Peters, Diane Desierto, Christian Tams, Matthew Happold and Antonios Tzanakopoulos. We look forward to their contributions over 2014.

When EJIL:Talk! was launched in December 2008, it was a bold move by a leading journal to establish a blog. The European Journal of International Law has a tradition of boldness and  innovation which has served it well over the past quarter of a century. Although there are many excellent journals and blogs in the world of international law, I think the blog/journal combination of EJIL and EJIL:Talk! remains unique – at least in international law. The editors of the blog remain grateful to the boards of EJIL for their support. We are particularly grateful to the EJIL Editor in Chief, Joseph Weiler. He was instrumental, from the very beginning, in the establishment of the blog and has been generous in his support and encouragement.

This time last year, I wrote a post setting out our most popular posts of 2012. Below are our 10 most popular posts of 2013

1. The Legality of Military Action in Syria: Humanitarian Intervention and Responsibility to Protect (Dapo Akande)
2.  So, you want to do a PhD in international law? (Douglas Guilfoyle)
3. Danish Judge Blasts ICTY President  (Marko Milanovic)
4. Catalonia’s Independence: A Reply to Joseph Weiler (Nico Krisch)
5.  Kadi Showdown: Substantive Review of (UN) Sanctions by the ECJ  (Antonios Tzanakopoulos)
6. Catalonian Independence and the European Union (Joseph Weiler)
7. French Military Intervention in Mali: It’s Legal but… Why? Part I (Theodore Christakis and Karine Bannelier)
8. Stepping Back a Moment – The Legal Basis in Favour of a Principle of Humanitarian Intervention  (Daniel Bethlehem)
9. French Military Intervention in Mali: It’s Legal but… Why? Part II: Consent and UNSC Authorisation (Theodore Christakis and Karine Bannelier)
10. Jurisdictional and Immunity Issues in the Story of Enrica Lexie : A Case of Shoot & Scoot turns around! (Hari Sankar)