Ricerc@Sapienza

One of the most characterizing aspects of the “new” political and legal landscape born from
the so called “1989 divide” is the emergence of a form of international political morality based
on universal principles that challenge the presumed moral supremacy of territorial
boundaries and which favour instead the welfare of humanity generally. Moving from recent
theory and practice of “humanitarian interventionism”, this essay aims at discussing some of
the main conceptions of “global humanitarian space” elaborated in contemporary debate on

This chapter aims at answering the question of the contribution of the Chagos Marine Protected Area Arbitration to the interpretation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In applying to an Arbitral Tribunal convened pursuant to Part XV UNCLOS in 2011, Mauritius alleged that the United Kingdom was not entitled to unilaterally declare the Marine Protected Area in the Chagos Islands and that, in any event, the Area was incompatible with the UNCLOS.

This paper aims at presenting some considerations on the issue of borders and migrations, carried out from the perspective of normative political theory. The author maintains that States possess a prima facie right of sovereignty on their borders, although this right has limitations: for example, States have the duty of opening their borders to people risking their lives, and lose their right to non-interference from other States when they carry out criminal behaviors or unacceptable violations of human rights.

"Gesetz und Urteil" is a seminal text by the young Carl Schmitt concerning the definition of legal praxis, which contains an initial formulation of his notion of decision. The present essay analyzes this basic thesis as it is expounded in the book by the great German jurist and philosopher. The close affinity between the activity of the judge and the rising concept of "the political" is also pointed out as being the idea upon which Schmitt would later develop his famous doctrine of sovereignty.