BSIS Journal / Spring 2019 Issue

Editor: Albena Azmanova

Assistant Editor: Hazel Lincy Ebenezer

 

The Spring issue of the BSIS journal comes with some refreshingly daring investigations. Does corruption really matter in democracies? Why would citizens in a mature liberal democracy such as Spain tolerate corruption given its well-known negative effects? By analysing the diverse methods of hegemonic influence, Jaime Erasun explores how Spanish governments across the political spectrum have remained in power and exerted leadership even with well-publicised cases of corruption.

Powerful voices have been calling for Catalonia’s separation from Spain, most often invoking the right to self-determination. Does International Law supply grounds for making a sufficiently strong case for session? Zooming in on the notions ‘self-determination’ and ‘remedial secession’, as well as the criteria of recognition of new states in international law, Marina Facchi charts one path of iron-clad reasoning towards an answer. Thinking at the forefront of international law, Hazel Lincy Ebenezer focuses on caste-based discrimination — a rather recent object of adjudication. By critically evaluating the existing framework addressing caste-based discrimination in international human rights law, she appraises how effectively it protects the rights of those classified as ‘untouchable’ through the caste system.

And of course – the wondrous Brexitland! Among the many mind-boggling puzzles of this ‘black swan’ phenomenon is this: Muslims account for only 4.8% of the total EU population, yet anti-Islamic rhetoric was at the forefront of the political discourse during the Brexit campaign. Hattie Schofield explains why, and most importantly – how that became possible.

The collection includes three investigations of the often-unfathomable dynamics of violence. Boko Haram is infamous for having kidnapped more than 2,000 girls in the past five years to become wives, slaves and suicide bombers. In addition to the women who are kidnapped into the group, recent research suggests that other women voluntarily seek membership into Boko Haram. Jessica Jasso uses the ‘club goods’ model to explore how physical and economic security, social services and a sense of authority all contribute towards women joining Boko Haram by choice. Brianna Hertford, in turn, looks for novel ways of countering violence. Focusing on the way control is generated and exercised in the case of intimate partner violence and in the case of violence against asylum seekers and refugees, she argues that a tool designed to counter individualised violence in the former field can effectively be applied in abating structural violence in the latter. Forced marriage is a form of gender-based offence that has gone under law’s radar for long. Verónica Gómez-Pavón tracks its criminalization and explores the grounds for treating it as a crime against humanity.

Being based in Brussels, our community of scholars invariably produces work scrutinizing the European Union– for problems and for unorthodox, often daring solutions to these problems. In this issue, Taylor Borowetz invites us to see the EU as Refugia – a refugee nation. She argues that granting refugees a transnational EU-citizenship (with requisite access to resources and services), thereby freeing them from connections to a specific state, could provide a valuable solution to vulnerable populations in times of crises.

 

Jaime Aznar Erasun, “Spain, Corruption and Consent

Marina Facchi, “The issue of Catalonia independence under International law- limits of self-determination

Hazel Lincy Ebenezer, “Untouchability in International Law: Safeguarding the Rights of Those Classified as ‘Untouchable’ on Social Grounds

Hattie Schofield “Brexit and Europe’s 4.8%: Understanding the Anti-Islamic Rhetoric of the Brexit Campaign

Jessica Senorina Jasso, “The Women of Boko Haram: Why Some Women Willingly Join

Brianna Hertford, “Power and Control, State Sovereignty and Governance: Similarities between Intimate Partner Violence and EU Migration Regimes

Verónica Laorden Gómez-Pavón, “Categorization of Forced Marriage under International Criminal Law

Taylor Borowetz,The EU as Refugia: Cash Transfers and a New Transnational Citizenship”