Monthly archive April, 2020

The non-justiciability of third-party claims before UN internal dispute settlement mechanisms. The ‘politicization’ of (financially) burdensome questions

1. The political question doctrine and the United Nations The use of the political question doctrine (PQD), as a form of judicial abdication, has long been asserted by domestic courts seeking to impose a bar on the merit of claims that challenge the validity, the legality, or the expediency of governmental acts involving highly political...

The political question doctrine vis-à-vis drones’ ‘outsized power’: Antithetical approaches in recent case-law

1. Introduction Literature on armed drones (or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles – UAVs) and on their impact not only on the international law on the use of force (the so-called jus ad bellum), but also on the law of armed conflict (the so-called jus in bello) and human rights law, has been flourishing in the last...

The multi-faceted character of the ‘political question’ doctrine in recent practice: A one-size-fits-all tool?

Introduced by Micaela Frulli   The non-justiciability of ‘political acts’ or ‘acts of government’ is accepted in most legal systems, although with notable differences in denomination and meaning. The doctrine was first propounded in France (actes de gouvernement) and later spread to the United Kingdom, under the ‘royal prerogative’ label, and to the United States,...