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ABSTRACT: One of the lessons from September 11, and the more recent wave of terror in Europe, is how latent international terrorism is today, in a world that is increasingly interconnected. This paper analyzes the way that international terrorism is handled from a legal perspective and the reach that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has in terms of jurisdiction on acts of terrorism. The Rome Statute, which gave life to the ICC, excluded the crime of terrorism from its jurisdiction. Two reasons for this exclusion were the opposition from the United States by claiming that this could jeopardize its country's security when it comes to sharing intelligence with an international court, and the fear of highly politicizing the new permanent international court. However, the official position given to the world as to why the ICC did not exercise jurisdiction over international terrorism was the lack of a definition of the concept of terrorism. This paper argues that since the end of the Cold War, a Post-Westphalian order that gives power not only to States but also to International Governmental Organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations, has created a space and precedent to consider the crime of terrorism as jus cogens. I argue that with the current pressing situation in Europe and the Middle East on terrorist attacks, having the crime of terrorism within the jurisdiction of the court would cover some existing loopholes, not necessarily because the ICC will prosecute every terrorist, but instead because the crime itself will have universal jurisdiction.

"Existing theories of European integration and political economy usually assume that economic interdependence is an important precondition for successful regional integration. This includes that regional integration among developing countries is unlikely to be successful, because their economies are usually more dependent on developed countries in the North than on their neighbours in the South. However, this article argues that developing countries use regional integration more in order to improve their standing vis-à-vis other world regions in the global economic system than to govern intraregional interdependence. Thus, the progress of regional integration in the South is at least as dependent on the feedback from other regions as it is on developments within the own region. This argument will be illustrated at the example of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which made important steps towards regional integration in the last decade. It centralised its institutional structure in 2001 and announced a Free Trade Area in 2008. This development can partly be explained by interdependence between the less developed countries of the SADC and the relatively well developed Republic of South Africa, but it was also favoured by external support from other world regions, especially the European Union (EU). Nevertheless, further regional integration towards a customs union is disturbed by external influence, because the EU currently negotiates different Economic Partnership Agreements with the SADC member states, which prevents the harmonisation of tariffs for imports from outside the region." (author's abstract)

Talks on the final legal status of Kosovo are due to start this summer. So far Pristina and Belgrade remain at loggerheads, and the international community is only beginning to formulate some ideas how to square the circle of Serb refusal to give up its erstwhile province and Kosovar Albanian insistence on nothing less than full independence. The internationals have now ruled out any return to Serb rule, however. (DGAP-TIP)

The conflict in Syria has already led to flare-ups of violence in Lebanon, but the worst may still be to come. As the Shiite Hizbullah fights alongside Syrian government troops, and Lebanese Sunni Islamists join the ranks of the rebels, sectarian tension is surging in Lebanon itself. At this point in time, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) provide the last buffer against all-out sectarian war. Yet their capacity to keep a fragile peace is now threatened by an accelerated erosion of Lebanon's political institutions. Germany and the EU should provide equipment, training and financial support for the LAF, and impress upon pro-Western Lebanese parties the need for a minimum consensus that retains the legitimacy of the armed forces to act on behalf of the Lebanese state. (author's abstract)

Remembers the career of Ralph Harry & his contributions to the study of international affairs.