Procedural differences between mutual legal assistance and international informal assistance

Countries around the world face legal impediments when dealing with the recovery of criminal assets - especially developing countries that do not have the resources to deal with the skills and creativity of criminals. The scale of the problem is growing and shows us that a more effective approach is needed to recover stolen funds. There is a perception that ,,international cooperation” in an investigation and recovery of assets refers to international legal assistance - the formal process of requesting assistance from a foreign jurisdiction. However, in practice, there is a step that should be earlier in the process, which is often ignored or forgotten and which is just as important, if not more so. This is mutual administrative assistance, often described only as ,,informal assistance”. Almost all cases of corruption and embezzlement have a significant international dimension, whether it is foreign bank accounts and residences abroad or a chain of transactions circulating in several jurisdictions. To start informal international cooperation, all that is required is for an officer or prosecutor to pick up the phone or email his or her counterpart in another jurisdiction to request assistance in verifying the information to support a criminal investigation. This informal cooperation helps the investigation team to develop a better and more complete picture of the case. It helps them to identify official evidence that may be required from abroad to successfully prosecute and, ultimately, to recover any criminal assets with limited resources at hand

Dialog między regionalnymi trybunałami praw człowieka

The multiplicity of international judicial authorities makes their mutual interactions a challenge. In recent years, three regional human rights courts, with the competence to hear casus of violations of human rights protected by international law, have worked together to establish a robust dialogue. In spite of their normative, social or political differences, they have begun to intensify efforts to strengthen their bonds. The historic San José Declaration has provided formal conditions for the trilateral dialogue between the European Human Rights Court, Inter-American Human Rights Court, and African Court on Human and People’s Rights. The dialogue undertaken by the regional human rights courts contains not only a reference to its jurisprudence, but also a number of practices, incl. the exchange of experience. It is intended to establish consistency between human rights protection systems across the region. The initially informal cooperation has transformed into a trilateral dialogue that directly contributes to the improved understanding and implementation of human rights, which in turn constitutes a challenge to international human rights legislation. The aim of the article is to present the judicial dialogue in the field of human rights, to draw attention to its dynamics and to emphasize its role in changing some aspects of the understanding of law characterized by the principle of territoriality. This discussion is also intended to focus attention on the functions of dialogue, including penetration and mutual inspiration as well as strengthening the authority of courts.

Foreign Military Adventurers in the Taiping Rebellion, 1860–1864

Using Western and Chinese archival sources, the following paper explores the military intervention of freelance foreign adventurers, particularly a militia eventually known as the Ever-Victorious Army, in the waning years of the Taiping Rebellion (1860–1864). My goal here is not merely to retell the story of this force, or to reassess its contribution to the subjugation of the Taipings, a question already studied by several historians. Instead, I will analyze the complicated and ever-changing relationship between these adventurers and the powers around them: Qing local authorities, the imperial court in Beijing, and the various foreign countries, especially Great Britain. I argue that the opening for such a force as the Ever-Victorious Army was created by the need of all parties for informal cooperation against the Taiping while maintaining plausible deniability. Once this need had passed, the foreign military adventurers became redundant and could be discarded by their former sponsors.

Transnational regulatory networks: a study in compliance and legitimacy in counter-terrorist financing

Purpose This paper aims to explore the case of counter-terrorist financing (CTF) within the transnational regulatory network (TRN) of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The paper demonstrates how the structure and operation of the FATF reflect those of a TRN and shows how the FATF has been successful in securing formal compliance with CTF policies. Design/methodology/approach The paper stresses that formal compliance does not guarantee actual compliance or effective enforcement. It is argued that the FATF and the CTF regime must balance concerns for legitimacy with those of flexibility and efficiency. Traditionally, TRNs have focused on flexibility, efficiency and informal cooperation over legitimacy. This paper demonstrates that legitimacy concerns cannot be ignored. Findings A lack of legitimacy may ultimately result in non-compliance and ineffectiveness. On this basis, current efforts to build legitimacy through the FATF are noted but deemed insufficient. If this balance is not struck, the FATF may be doomed to failure through an overreliance on coercive methods. Particularly in the case of CTF, coercion is insufficient for meaningful compliance. Global enforcement by diverse states is a necessary condition for the success of the regime. Originality/value This paper will fill the gaps existing in the literature by examining CTF, as well as the FATF as an example of TRN. This approach differs from other literature in the field, which deals solely with the effectiveness of the FATF and the global CTF without considering the effect of legitimacy on compliance.

Clashing over Competition

This chapter explores a more recent example of informal cooperation: the International Competition Network (ICN). This is an informal organization that arose in the early 2000s to address global antitrust issues. It is widely viewed as successful, and functionalist theorists believe that they can explain its emergence quite well. Not so. In fact, there was considerable disagreement over whether antitrust issues are best addressed in an informal forum, like the ICN, or should be delegated to a formal organization: the World Trade Organization (WTO). This difference is somewhat puzzling for the two-step theory, because independent agencies on both sides of the Atlantic were the primary actors involved. But the chapter shows that this puzzle dissolves once one considers patterns of politicization: where politicization was greater, actors embraced formality; where it was lower, a preference for informality was maintained. Ultimately, power was essential for determining whose preference held sway.

Migrantska kriza u Europskoj uniji

The EU was founded on economic integration, but it has expanded its areas of competence over the years. Institutions of the EU have also expanded their jurisdiction, while the promotion of peace and values common to the member states as well as creation of a space of freedom, security and justice have become fundamental values of the EU. Significant changes occurred also in the field of asylum policy. Informal cooperation in the 1970s has grown into an institutional one and resulted in creation of a common asylum system. The highlights of the migration crisis in 2015 showed all the shortcomings and pointed to the necessity of reforming the existing common asylum system. The paper shows the impact of migration movements towards the EU on the perception of its citizens on the key problems. Analyzing the ratio between the number of asylum applications submitted to the EU and the problems identified as key problems in EU by EU citizens proves the assumption that increase in migrant arrivals and the increase in the number of asylum applications in member states has contributed to the recognition of migration as a key problem.

CHANGING APPROACHES TO SUPPORTING CONSUMER COOPERATION: FROM ORGANIZATIONAL FORM TO THE PROCESS OF COOPERATION

The development of traditional agricultural consumer cooperatives, created within the framework of Federal Law-193, in Russia is extremely slow. This is facilitated by a number of economic, institutional and psychological constraints. Accordingly, despite the rapid growth of production in peasant farms, and the still significant share of households in the gross agricultural output, for the most part they are not members of agricultural consumer cooperatives. However, cooperative interaction is especially important for small businesses. At the same time, in practice, there are numerous forms of cooperation between small agricultural producers that do not fit into the framework of traditional cooperatives. The identification and systematization of these emerging “bottom”forms, recommendations for their support is, therefore, an urgent task. This paper systematizes casestudy materials by types of informal cooperation outside the framework of consumer cooperatives, obtained during field research in 2019. Based on the analysis of measures of state support within the framework of federal and regional programs for the development of agriculture, individual measures have been identified that contribute to overcoming the small-scale production of small businesses. At the same time, the analysis showed the absence of measures to support the already existing non-traditional forms of cooperative interaction. Recommendations for supporting these forms are formulated.

The Past, Present and Future of Anglosphere Security Networks: Constitutive Reduction of a Shared Identity

This chapter maps a new terrain of public policy collaboration in the Anglosphere. Over the past decade, ministers, mandarins and their deputies from across core Anglosphere states – Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and United States – have begun to establish and entrench a new class of transgovernmental networks with their counterparts. Though such networks rarely come into public view, they are significant sources of the ideas and information used to forge domestic public policy. Increasingly, moreover, these networks are turning informal cooperation into distinctive quasi-institutional arrangements. This chapter contributes to new literatures in International Relations and Public Policy exploring the underlying normative ideas that contribute to transnational governance. Drawing from public statements from network participants, it considers the dynamics and political implications of three specific network cases: the Quintet of Attorneys-General, the Five Country Ministerial and the Five Country Conference. Here it is found that Anglosphere institutions are pursuing ever-deeper collaborative ‘transgovernmental’ strategies to overcome nascent global threats to national interests. These are cohered by a series of appeals to a shared construction of the Anglosphere’s identity, its globality and the threats it faces.