Last summer, chief justices and leading jurists of Central and Eastern Europe convened in Prague for a three-day Conference of Chief Justices—the first regional gathering of its kind. The participants, representing the judiciaries of fifteen countries in the area,  discussed the particular challenges they face in building effective judiciaries consistent with the rule of law.

Climate change  is popularly reported as a story about shifting geopolitics, new and emerging economies, and scientific intrigue. Although those characterizations are accurate, climate change is most importantly about people. The consequences of climate change—melting glaciers, ocean acidification, more frequent and intense storms, and droughts —threaten people’s daily lives, cause health crises, threaten food security, destroy industries and infrastructure, render borders unstable, and cripple economies.  In Kiribati, a small island country in the South Pacific, rising seas have forced the government to prepare to resettle its entire population—and upend its ancient history, culture, and way of life.

Throughout the past months, Iran and the United States have been rattling their sabers over nuclear inspections and new sanctions. A potential flashpoint is the waterway Strait of Hormuz, which Iran is threatening to close. The Middle East region supplies 70 percent of the world’s energy needs, with about 35 percent of the world’s seaborne oil exports shipped through this tight sea passage in the Persian Gulf separating Oman and Iran. A blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would be fatal for the world economy.

As cyber-warfare rapidly evolves from a theoretical possibility into an imminent threat, scholars have rightly focused on how international law should apply to this new security concern. Of particular debate is how to define which cyber-acts would constitute an "armed attack" implicating a state’s right to forcible self-defense under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter. The leading proposal for answering this question is an effects-based inquiry that asks whether the impacts of a cyber-attack resemble those caused by military force. But this approach is as notable for what it leaves out of the "armed attacks" category as what it brings into it. Under an effects-based analysis, a broad range of damaging and disruptive cyber-actions would remain outside the scope of "armed attacks" under international law. Jus ad bellum only gets you so far on the cyber frontier.

The International Law Commission’s (ILC) Draft Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations (Draft Articles) are a critical new development in the law regulating international organizations (IOs). If adopted, these Articles will create a legal framework—although not a forum—to sue IOs that commit internationally wrongful acts. The Draft Articles create a law of "consequences": they lay out rules of attribution, excuses precluding wrongfulness, effects of a breach, and principles of reparations. The 2011 military intervention in Libya highlights the practical application of these principles.