Global Europe – Basel Papers on Europe in a Global Perspective
type: channel
description: “Global Europe – Basel Papers on Europe in a Global Perspective” is an academic e-journal showcasing the excellent research of graduates as well as other young and senior scholars interested in analyzing Europe and the EU in a global context. The journal is published in two issues per year by the Institute for European Global Studies at the University of Basel.
publisher: Institute for European Global Studies, University of Basel
language: en
publication name: Global Europe – Basel Papers on Europe in a Global Perspective
issn: 2571-8118
items: Wie Menschenrechte erzählt werden und was das für ihre Schutzwirkung bedeutet
items: «Menschenrechte mit chinesischen Eigenschaften»
items: Das Projekt des internationalen Menschenrechtsschutzes zwischen Universalitätsanspruch und Realitätssinn
items: Menschenrechtsnarrative und Deutungshoheit
items: Menschenrechtsnarrative im Klima- und Technologiediskurs
items: Menschenrechtsnarrative und Klima-Seniorinnen
items: Menschenrechtsnarrative – konkurrierende Interpretationen einer universellen Idee
items: Editorial
items: Bridging Meaning across Disciplines
items: Navigating Legal Ambiguity and Moral Responsibility
items: Environmental Damage Caused by Frozen Vessels under EU Sanctions
items: Challenging Peace
items: A Differentiated View on the Interplay Between Democratic and Territorial Peace Theory
items: The World Health Organization in Crisis
items: Introduction
items: Judging Climate Change
items: EU Sanctions Policy Vis-à-Vis Russia
items: Decision-Shaping or Decision-Making?
items: Method and Subject
items: Citizenship, Time and Crisis
items: Scholars, States, and Human Rights
items: Development and Discussion of the Law on War Materiel Since 1972
items: Smartly Coordinating Pluralism or Disharmonious Principle of Non-Interference?
items: The Role of Victims at the International Criminal Court
items: Legislature Versus Executive Authority
items: City ID Cards and their Potential for Irregular Migrants Affected by Domestic Violence
items: “Very old Chinese bells, a large number of which were melted down”
items: Japanese Bronze Bells in Switzerland
items: Mr Kateki and Love

Wie Menschenrechte erzählt werden und was das für ihre Schutzwirkung bedeutet
type: item
description: Für die Schutzwirkung und die Gestaltungskraft der Menschenrechte ist entscheidend, wie über sie gesprochen wird, welche Erzählungen – Narrative – herangezogen werden, um darzustellen, woher sie kommen, was sie sind und wie sie wirken. Auch wenn die nachfolgende Liste etwas zugespitzt sein mag, dann ist es dennoch sinnvoll, auf diese Narrative zu achten, wenn sie in der Regel auch oft nur unausgesprochen auftreten. Oft handelt es sich bei den nachfolgend untersuchten Narrativen eher um latent vorhandene Eindrücke über die Menschenrechte als um systematische und ausformulierte Beschreibungen oder Kritiken. In der Regel wird es daher nicht möglich sein, sie auf eine spezifische Quelle zurückzuführen. Dennoch: Narrative legen vieles offen zum Geltungsgrund und zum Ursprung der Menschenrechte, von denen die jeweils Sprechenden ausgehen. Sich mit ihnen zu befassen ist daher eine Voraussetzung dafür, Menschenrechte schützen und fördern zu können. Das gilt besonders im aktuellen Moment, wo Menschenrechte im Westen vielleicht das erste Mal in der Nachkriegszeit von politischen Kräften mit Aussicht auf die politische Macht grundsätzlich in Frage gestellt werden. Zwar gab es immer Kritik und Gegenkräfte zu den Menschenrechten und schlichtes Desinteresse ihnen gegenüber. Sich mit Menschenrechtsnarrativen zu befassen, hilft aber, die neue Qualität dieser grundsätzlicheren Gegenbewegung zu identifizieren und diese in ein Verhältnis zu setzen zu früheren und weiter bestehenden Gegentendenzen zu den Menschenrechten.
subject: Artikel
  topic: section
creator: Stefan Schlegel
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Stefan Schlegel
date: 2026-05-20
publication date: 2026-05-20
starting page: 58
ending page: 69
doi: 10.24437/global_europe.i127.2230

«Menschenrechte mit chinesischen Eigenschaften»
type: item
description: Die Menschenrechte haben derzeit einen schweren Stand. Vermeintliche und tatsächliche Instrumentalisierungen haben sie besonders in den letzten zwei, drei Jahrzehnten in den Verruf gebracht, als blosse Rhetorik für die Durchsetzung realpolitischer Interessen zu dienen. Im Zuge der Autokratisierung gibt es zunehmend populistische Attacken auf den institutionalisierten Schutz der Menschenrechte durch nationale und internationale Gerichte und es wird manchmal versucht, verschiedene Menschenrechte gegeneinander auszuspielen. Akteure, die sich genuin der Menschenrechtsidee verpflichtet sehen, finden sich flugs dem Vorwurf der Heuchelei ausgesetzt. Auch diejenigen, welche die Idee universell gültiger Menschenrechte ernsthaft aus philosophischen oder politischen Gründen kritisieren, relativieren und damit möglicherweise gänzlich zurückweisen oder auch mit Fug und Recht auf wirklich erfolgten Missbrauch hinweisen, sind ihrerseits keinesfalls vor politischer Instrumentalisierung ihrer vorgebrachten Standpunkte gefeit. In der Gesamtschau zeigt sich eine ziemlich unübersichtliche Gemengelage. Die am Ende des letzten Jahrhunderts durch Singapurs autoritären Premierminister Lee Kuan Yew initiierte Debatte um kulturalistisch begründete «asiatische Werte» (deren Protagonisten argumentierten, dass in Asien kollektive Interessen denen des Individuums und moralische Pflichten den Rechten übergeordnet seien) wirkt in Teilen bis heute fort, etwa in den Vereinten Nationen (VN) unter dem Schlagwort eines Dialogs der Zivilisationen. Postkolonial nuancierende und dekolonial polemisierende Interventionen haben eine ganze Generation von Studierenden darin geschult, die Verschränkungen von Macht und Werten pointiert zu hinterfragen, und auf diesem Wege nolens volens weitere Skepsis gegenüber Menschenrechten an sich befördert. Nicht zuletzt hat die weltweite Erosion demokratischer Systeme zur Folge gehabt, dass autoritäre staatliche Akteure für sich die Idee einer illiberalen Demokratie in Ans…
subject: Artikel
  topic: section
creator: Ralph Weber
creator: Eva Pils
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Ralph Weber, Eva Pils
date: 2026-05-20
publication date: 2026-05-20
starting page: 49
ending page: 57
doi: 10.24437/global_europe.i127.2229

Das Projekt des internationalen Menschenrechtsschutzes zwischen Universalitätsanspruch und Realitätssinn
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description: Im Jahr 1993 verabschiedete die Wiener Weltkonferenz für Menschenrechte im Angesicht der massiven geopolitischen Verschiebungen nach 1989 – Fall der Berliner Mauer und des Eisernen Vorhangs, Zusammenbruch der Sowjetunion, Überwindung des Kalten Krieges – ihr Abschlussdokument, die «Wiener Erklärung». Fast ein halbes Jahrhundert nach Annahme der Allgemeinen Erklärung der Menschenrechte von 1948 und dem Paukenschlag gleich in ihrem ersten Artikel – «Alle Menschen sind frei und gleich an Würde und Rechten geboren.» – formulierte die internationale Gemeinschaft 1993 einmütig: «All human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated. The international community must treat human rights globally in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing, and with the same emphasis.» Freilich wurde das Bekenntnis zur Universalität der Menschenrechte schon damals mit dem Zusatz versehen: «While the significance of national and regional particularities and various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds must be borne in mind, it is the duty of States, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems, to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms.» Eine eigentliche Relativierung stellte dies indes nicht dar, mündet der Beisatz doch im erneuten und verstärkten Bekenntnis der Staatengemeinschaft, dass die Staaten unabhängig von ihrem politischen, wirtschaftlichen und kulturellen System die Pflicht hätten, alle Menschenrechte zu schützen und zu fördern. Eine Generation später wirkt dieses Bekenntnis fast wie aus der Zeit gefallen, eine Reminiszenz der «goldenen» 1990er Jahre, eine gefühlte Ewigkeit zurückliegend. Und doch unterstreicht ein erst jüngst, wiederum im Konsens der Weltgemeinschaft verabschiedetes Dokument, nämlich der im Zuge des «Future Summit» der Vereinten Nationen im September 2024 angenommene «Pact for the Future» in genau denselben Worten: «We reaffirm that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interrelat…
subject: Artikel
  topic: section
creator: Andreas Th. Müller
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Andreas Th. Müller
date: 2026-05-20
publication date: 2026-05-20
starting page: 39
ending page: 48
doi: 10.24437/global_europe.i127.2228

Menschenrechtsnarrative und Deutungshoheit
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description: Die Welt steht vor grossen Herausforderungen – Kriege und Klimawandel sind nur zwei Beispiele dafür – und gleichzeitig steht der Multilateralismus unter Druck. In diesem Kontext flammt auch die Debatte über Menschenrechtsnarrative und Deutungshoheit wieder auf. Diese Debatte betrifft nicht nur die universelle Ebene. Die Frage, was der konkrete Gehalt eines Menschenrechts ist und wem die Deutungshoheit zukommt, stellt sich auch auf europäischer oder nationaler Ebene. Zu erklären ist dies unter anderem mit der abstrakten Ausformulierung der Menschenrechte als grundlegende Rechte des Menschen, welche dem Menschen ein Leben in Würde sichern sollen. Diese abstrakte Ausformulierung macht die Menschenrechte auslegungsbedürftig. Für die Schweiz als Mitgliedstaat des Europarats und Vertragspartei der Konvention zum Schutze der Menschenrechte und Grundfreiheiten (EMRK, SR 0.101) ist insbesondere die Auslegung der EMRK durch den Europäischen Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte (EGMR) von grosser Bedeutung. Die dynamisch-evolutive Rechtsprechung des EGMR – z.B. im Urteil Udeh gegen die Schweiz und kürzlich im Urteil Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz und andere gegen die Schweiz – hat in der Schweiz Kritik laut werden lassen und die Frage nach der Deutungshoheit des EGMR in den Fokus gerückt. Im Kern dieser Kritik geht es um die staatliche Souveränität, den Grundsatz der Subsidiarität und die Gewaltenteilung, d.h. um die Frage, welche Rolle dem innerstaatlichen Gesetzgeber bzw. den Vertragsstaaten und dem EGMR zukommt. Im Grossen und Ganzen geht es um die Bedeutung und das Zusammenspiel von Rechtsstaat, Demokratie und Menschenrechten und die Legitimität des EGMR sowie den Gehalt der in der EMRK verankerten Menschenrechte. Vor diesem Hintergrund beleuchtet der vorliegende Beitrag, welche Ansätze sich in der Rechtsprechung des EGMR finden, um das empfindliche Gleichgewicht zwischen seiner Rolle und jener der Vertragsparteien sicherzustellen. Er zeigt auf, was eine Verschiebung der Deutun…
subject: Artikel
  topic: section
creator: Maya Beeler-Sigron
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Maya Beeler-Sigron
date: 2026-05-20
publication date: 2026-05-20
starting page: 32
ending page: 38
doi: 10.24437/global_europe.i127.2227

Menschenrechtsnarrative im Klima- und Technologiediskurs
type: item
description: Die Menschenrechte betreffen uns alle. Jede und jeder von uns ist Trägerin oder Träger dieser angeborenen und unveräusserlichen Rechte. Alle Menschen haben ein «Recht, Rechte zu haben» (Hannah Arendt) und damit ein Recht, als Rechtsperson anerkannt zu werden. Gleichzeitig sind die Menschenrechte eine «Verbundsaufgabe». Alle Staaten sind verpflichtet, die Menschenrechte zu respektieren («to respect»), zu schützen («to protect») und zu verwirklichen («to fulfil»). Staatliche Souveränität ist nicht nur eine Befugnis, sondern beinhaltet auch eine Schutzverantwortung (vgl. «responsibility to protect»), die in einer globalisierten und interdependenten Welt zunehmend nur gemeinsam wahrgenommen werden kann («shared responsibility»). Souveränität bedeutet folglich nicht nur Unabhängigkeit, sondern beinhaltet auch eine Pflicht zur Kooperation. Die Bedeutung der «kooperativen Verwirklichung der Menschenrechte» zeigt sich ganz besonders im Bereich der digitalen und der ökologischen Transformation. Hier erfolgen Menschenrechtseingriffe typischerweise auf arbeitsteilige Weise von einer Vielzahl von staatlichen und privaten Akteuren.
subject: Artikel
  topic: section
creator: Christoph Spenlé
creator: Carl Jauslin
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Christoph Spenlé, Carl Jauslin
date: 2026-05-20
publication date: 2026-05-20
starting page: 24
ending page: 31
doi: 10.24437/global_europe.i127.2226

Menschenrechtsnarrative und Klima-Seniorinnen
type: item
description: Menschenrechte sind universelle Prinzipien, die jedem Menschen unabhängig von Herkunft, Geschlecht, Religion oder sozialem Status zustehen. Sie bilden die Grundlage für Freiheit, Gerechtigkeit und Würde des Einzelnen. Die Art und Weise, wie Menschenrechte erzählt und verstanden werden, variiert und spiegelt nicht nur unterschiedliche Erfahrungen, Kontexte und Perspektiven wider, sondern auch unterschiedliche Werte und Ziele. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt verschiedene Menschenrechtsnarrative, wie ich sie in meiner Arbeit als Leiter der Direktion für Völkerrecht wahrnehme (Teil I). Danach versucht er zu erläutern, welche Narrative konzeptuell die Forderung begründen, dass ein menschenrechtlicher Anspruch auf Klimaschutz besteht (Teil II). Abschliessend wird er persönliche Überlegungen zum Urteil des Europäischen Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte über die Klage der KlimaSeniorinnen zusammenfassen. Der Beitrag geht auf eine öffentliche Diskussion zum Thema «Menschenrechtsnarrative: Der Kampf um die Deutungshoheit» zurück, die am 24. September 2024 an der Universität Basel anlässlich der Präsentation des Repetitoriums Internationaler Menschenrechtsschutz von Christoph A. Spenlé und Carl Jauslin stattgefunden hat. Es ist daher naheliegend, gerade auch auf diese Publikation Bezug zu nehmen, welche nicht nur eine für Studierende äusserst hilfreiche übersichtliche und kompakte Darstellung des internationalen Menschenrechtsschutzes ist, sondern auch Praktikerinnen und Praktikern sowie an Fragen der Menschenrechte Interessierten eine nützliche Übersicht und einen anregenden Anstoss gibt.
subject: Artikel
  topic: section
creator: Franz Perrez
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Franz Perrez
date: 2026-05-20
publication date: 2026-05-20
starting page: 10
ending page: 23
doi: 10.24437/global_europe.i127.2225

Menschenrechtsnarrative – konkurrierende Interpretationen einer universellen Idee
type: item
description: Die Menschenrechte werden nicht nur durch eine Realität herausgefordert, in der sie einen schweren Stand haben. Sie werden zunehmend auch als Ideal infrage gestellt. Die Idee, dass Menschenrechte allen Menschen überall auf der Welt in gleicher Weise zustehen, wird heute zwar kaum mehr bestritten. Gleichzeitig lassen sich aktuell aber sowohl auf nationaler wie internationaler Ebene zunehmend Narrative identifizieren, die das Konzept der Menschenrechte umdeuten oder relativeren wollen. So etwa mit der Begründung, die Menschenrechte seien eine westliche Vorstellung bzw. Teil einer neokolonialen Haltung, die anderen Kulturkreisen aufgedrängt wird (Relativismus) oder mit der Geltendmachung besonderer Umstände politischer oder ökonomischer Natur (Exzeptionalismus). Die Diskussion über die Universalität der Menschenrechte hat sich über eine binäre Debatte zwischen «Kulturrelativisten» und «Menschenrechtsuniversalisten» hinausbewegt. Es ist inzwischen weithin anerkannt, dass die internationalen Menschenrechtsnormen in spezifischen lokalen, nationalen und regionalen Kontexten ausgelegt und angewandt werden müssen. Trotzdem wird der internationale Menschenrechtsschutz dabei wieder vermehrt als Einmischung in die inneren Angelegenheiten verstanden, die den politischen Entscheidungsspielraum schmälert. Auf internationaler Ebene versuchen Staaten wie beispielsweise China oder Organisationen wie die Organisation für islamische Zusammenarbeit (OIC) die Entwicklung der internationalen Menschenrechte aktiv zu beeinflussen und alternative Menschenrechtsnarrative zu verbreiten. Auf nationaler Ebene fordern populistische Exponenten im Namen des «wahren Volkes» die Einschränkung von Minderheitenrechten und stellen die Menschenrechte als «Rechte der Anderen» dar. Hinzu kommt, dass Menschenrechtspolitik aus geopolitischer Sicht regelmässig als naive Schönwetterpolitik abgewertet wird.
subject: Artikel
  topic: section
creator: Christoph Spenlé
creator: Carl Jauslin
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Christoph Spenlé, Carl Jauslin
date: 2026-05-20
publication date: 2026-05-20
starting page: 3
ending page: 9
doi: 10.24437/global_europe.i127.2224

Editorial
type: item
description: In this issue of the Basel Papers, we are happy to showcase the research of three of the Institute’s recent graduates, which they conducted as part of their dissertation theses. Although they investigate distinct phenomena, these works share an interdisciplinary approach as they bring together knowledge and methods from jurisprudence, philosophy, and political science.
subject: Artikel
  topic: section
creator: Corey Ross
creator: Paul Blickle
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Corey Ross, Paul Blickle
date: 2025-11-19
publication date: 2025-11-19
starting page: 3
ending page: 3
doi: 10.24437/global_europe.i126.2158

Bridging Meaning across Disciplines
type: item
description: This research investigates how the disciplines of social science and law construct meaning in fundamentally different ways, and how these divergent disciplinary approaches shape the categorisation of actors in international armed conflicts. It juxtaposes social constructionism, which emphasises the fluidity, contextuality and performativity of categorisation, with the interpretive methodology codified in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which seeks determinacy, stability and objectivity. Focusing on asymmetric conflicts such as anti-colonial struggles, the research explores how political discourse constructs labels like ‘terrorist’ or ‘freedom fighter’ to reinforce dominant narratives, while international humanitarian law imposes strict binary categories such as ‘combatant’ and ‘civilian’. The approaches are placed in dialogue to reveal tensions, overlaps and the potential for mutual enrichment. Ultimately, the article draws attention to the implicit, often obscured effects of categorisation and advocates for a more reflexive, interdisciplinary engagement with processes of meaning-making.
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creator: Niamh O'Neill
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Niamh O'Neill
date: 2025-11-19
publication date: 2025-11-19
starting page: 36
ending page: 63
doi: 10.24437/global_europe.i126.2157

Navigating Legal Ambiguity and Moral Responsibility
type: item
description: In recent years, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) has faced sustained scrutiny for its alleged involvement in pushbacks at the European Union’s external borders. Switzerland, while legally obliged to participate in Frontex operations, is also bound by the non-refoulement principle, a cornerstone of international human rights law that pushbacks contravene. This article investigates Switzerland’s legal and ethical responsibilities in this context. The analysis applies the doctrine of state responsibility to assess Switzerland’s legal liability and employs the framework of collective responsibility to evaluate its ethical accountability. Juxtaposing these perspectives reveals a significant disparity between Switzerland’s legal obligations and its ethical commitments. The article concludes by suggesting measures to close this responsibility gap, such as withholding funds or personnel until Frontex implements effective measures to prevent pushbacks, actively promoting human rights within the agency, and using diplomatic channels to ensure respect for human rights. These steps would help reconcile Switzerland’s self-image regarding its humanitarian tradition and commitment to human rights with its involvement in Frontex.
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creator: Giulia Schneitter
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Giulia Schneitter
date: 2025-11-19
publication date: 2025-11-19
starting page: 64
ending page: 91
doi: 10.24437/global_europe.i126.2156

Environmental Damage Caused by Frozen Vessels under EU Sanctions
type: item
description: Since the Russian-Ukrainian war began in February 2022, EU Member States have seized and immobilized numerous yachts linked to sanctioned Russian individuals. A key concern arising from these seizures is the environmental risk posed by abandoned or poorly maintained vessels, as neither their sanctioned owners nor the seizing states may assume responsibility for their upkeep. This paper focuses on whether and to what extent existing EU environmental law offers legal grounds for dealing with environmental harm caused by frozen vessels. It further examines whether the current legal framework aligns with core EU environmental policy principles such as the polluter-pays, preventive, and precautionary principles. Methodologically, it is grounded in a descriptive legal analysis of current EU environmental law and is complemented by a qualitative examination of three core EU environmental policy principles. The findings reveal significant legal ambiguities and enforcement challenges that hinder effective environmental protection in this context. Ultimately, the study contributes to the broader discourse on legal liability regarding environmental damage in the light of EU sanctions offering insights for both scholars and policymakers seeking to navigate the complex legal-political landscape of environmental protection.
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creator: Fabia Betschart
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Fabia Betschart
date: 2025-11-19
publication date: 2025-11-19
starting page: 4
ending page: 35
doi: 10.24437/global_europe.i126.2155

Challenging Peace
type: item
description: Scholarship on how the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union destabilized Northern Ireland’s fragile post-Troubles peace focuses predominantly on the border issue and Protocol negotiations. However, this article explores the possibility that Brexit and its contributing factors – Euroscepticism, English nationalism, sovereignty concerns and empire nostalgia – also impacted Northern Ireland’s transitional justice processes by playing a role in the introduction of the widely criticized Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill in May 2022, which was passed into law in September 2023. That Bill foresaw the elimination of centralized judicial transitional justice mechanisms and concentrated power in the hands of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Results from an analysis of UK parliamentary debates combined with evidence from two stakeholder interviews indicate that the Legacy Bill’s timing, its contents, and the way in which its introduction was handled by the sponsoring Northern Ireland Office in the UK Government were likely impacted by Brexit and the influence of the hard-Brexit Conservative party faction characterized by its Euroscepticism, English nationalism, and commitment to British sovereignty.
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creator: Angela Zollinger
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Angela Zollinger
date: 2024-10-27
publication date: 2024-10-27
starting page: 51
ending page: 75
doi: 10.24437/global_europe.i125.1418

A Differentiated View on the Interplay Between Democratic and Territorial Peace Theory
type: item
description: Democratic peace theory has strongly influenced peace research and Western foreign policy but is strongly contested by territorial peace theory. The current literature underestimates the role of civil society when assessing the effects of political systems on conflict behavior. The work presented here claims that the democratic peace holds when the civic component of democracy is taken into account, even when controlling for border settlement. Furthermore, it is argued that the relationship between horizontal checks and balances within the political system and peace is confounded. The hypotheses are tested, applying a quantitative approach assessing data on militarized interstate disputes (MID) from 1816 to 2001. The different models estimated suggest that a well-established democratic civil society has an appeasing impact on the relations between democracies which is not confounded. However, the results do not support the claim that the relationship between horizontal checks and peace is spurious.
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creator: Michael Honegger
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Michael Honegger
date: 2024-10-27
publication date: 2024-10-27
starting page: 29
ending page: 50

The World Health Organization in Crisis
type: item
description: The paper examines the World Health Organization’s (WHO) response to the COVID 19 pandemic through the lens of securitization theory, specifically the concept of collective securitization. It explores how the WHO, led by Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, framed the pandemic as a global security threat, thereby justifying the need for expanded authority and the development of a new international health law instrument, the ‘pandemic treaty’. Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach that combines political science and legal analysis, the study analyzes speeches, policy documents, and the WHO’s evolving role in global health governance. The findings reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic acted as a significant driver for institutional reform within the WHO, as evidenced by the proposed ‘pandemic treaty’, which aims to strengthen global health security. The research contributes to the understanding of how international organizations like the WHO adapt and expand their authority in response to global crises.
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creator: Sarah Farhatiar
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Sarah Farhatiar
date: 2024-10-27
publication date: 2024-10-27
starting page: 4
ending page: 28
doi: 10.24437/global_europe.i125.1416

Introduction
type: item
description: In this issue of the Basel Papers, we are proud to present to you three outstanding examples of research conducted by recent graduates of the Institute as part of their MA theses. Their work showcases the thematic and methodological interdisciplinarity at play in the teaching and research of the Institute, and engages with subjects as diverse as transitional justice, global health policy, and democratic peace theory. What ties these works together is their engagement with some of the fundamental challenges of the early 21st century. War, border disputes, and epidemics have once again become frightening realities in Europe and cannot be ignored. Any attempt to understand and address them must rely on careful scholarly investigation, bringing together expertise from across disciplinary boundaries. The papers in this issue hope to make a contribution to this endeavor.
subject: Artikel
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creator: Corey Ross
creator: Paul Blickle
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Corey Ross, Paul Blickle
date: 2024-10-27
publication date: 2024-10-27
starting page: 3
ending page: 3
doi: 10.24437/global_europe.i125.1415

Judging Climate Change
type: item
description: Since global and national political efforts to tackle climate change are failing, climate change litigation is on the rise worldwide. In climate change litigation, claimants try to legally advance climate protection in manifold ways. In particular, strategic, rights-based climate change litigation is becoming more common in which claimants use a human rights-based approach in their attempt to advance social change. While a rights-based claim filed by Urgenda in the Netherlands succeeded, a similar Swiss case brought by KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz, failed. Why did the two cases have different outcomes despite the similarity of the cases and the countries? This paper seeks an answer by comparing the legal and political systems of the countries as well as by conducting expert interviews. In sum, the Urgenda and KlimaSeniorinnen cases differed because Dutch law has more generous procedural rules about the admissibility of claims than Swiss law. Furthermore, the Swiss highest court is more hesitant to engage in politically controversial questions compared to the Dutch highest court.
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creator: Lyne Schuppisser
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Lyne Schuppisser
date: 2023-10-18
publication date: 2023-10-18
starting page: 43
ending page: 64
doi: 10.24437/global_europe.i124.1322

EU Sanctions Policy Vis-à-Vis Russia
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description: This research piece investigates the role of norms in European Union (EU) sanctions policy towards Russia in the context of the Russia Ukraine War. It aims to answer the research question of the extent to which the EU’s foreign policy in this particular case can be interpreted as having normative power. As an analytical lens, the Normative Power Europe (NPE) framework is used. In order to tackle the question, this study deploys an interdisciplinary approach drawing from EU law and social sciences. It combines EU legislation and case law of the European Court of Justice on the one hand, with a qualitative content analysis of official EU press releases on the other. The first part of the analysis focuses on the doctrinal legal analysis of the relevant EU law in order to account for the normative-legal basis and legitimacy of EU autonomous sanctions. The second part investigates if the EU in this particular case is guided by international norms (milieu goals) or economic interests (possession goals) and which foreign policy instruments it uses to pursue its objectives. The study finds that the EU is committed to its normative identity.
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creator: Arun Mahato
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Arun Mahato
date: 2023-10-18
publication date: 2023-10-18
starting page: 22
ending page: 42
doi: 10.24437/global_europe.i124.1321

Decision-Shaping or Decision-Making?
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description: This article addresses the questions of the foreign policy competencies of the Federal Assembly and how it made use of them in the negotiation of the institutional framework agreement with the EU. After a historical classification and a discussion of the relevant legal basis, the author undertakes a computer-aided content analysis of the parliamentary debates on the agreement in the Official Bulletin of the Federal Assembly. The results are then analyzed with recourse to previous insights. In doing so, he shows that there is an interplay between the expansion of parliamentary powers and diminishing opportunities for shaping them and that the Federal Assembly strives to fulfill its partial responsibility for foreign policy. In his conclusions, the author states that the increasing internationalization challenges the cooperation between the Federal Assembly and the Federal Council and that the rights to information and consultation play a key role in this debate.
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creator: Leonard Flach
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Leonard Flach
date: 2023-10-18
publication date: 2023-10-18
starting page: 3
ending page: 21
doi: 10.24437/global_europe.i124.1320

Method and Subject
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description: Research activities in the social sciences and humanities have traditionally conceived digital outputs in terms of databases and websites. Practically, most of these are still implemented using SQL, table-based, data structures and synchronic web technologies. However, the constant evolution of software means that browser functionality and security arrangements are constantly changing. As a result, few digital research outputs, except published literature, remain accessible for more than a few years. Recent progress with research data infrastructures is described, which has the potential to improve the sustainability of research investments. This article presents new standards-based annotation techniques, developed in the biodiversity community, which have been applied to global history research questions. Open repository software platforms supporting this ‘scientific treatment’ approach can now generate technology-independent data resources – supporting long-term reuse by the global community. Promoting institutional change to adopt these developments is discussed, so that costs of data stewardship can be made forecast-able.
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creator: Peter Cornwell
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Peter Cornwell
date: 2023-06-23
publication date: 2023-06-23
starting page: 15
ending page: 56
doi: 10.24437/global_europe.i123.1293

Citizenship, Time and Crisis
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description: Citizenship is a specific form of social and political closure, thus defining, in a dialectic relation, the changing “shape” of both political subjects and forms of government/statehood. Looking at citizenship as an institution of political subjectivity and statehood, I would like to raise two questions concerning its relation to (historical) time. How does the dual function of citizenship as a form of social closure and a tool for self emancipation change in times of crisis? What is the relationship between citizenship and moments of historical ruptures, be it wars, revolutions, or times of political transformation? Does citizenship contribute to shaping the temporal dimension of statehood on the one hand and of moments of collective or individual self-emancipation? Citizenship is simultaneously a discursive and a material structure. The hypothesis I want to bring forward is that it shapes our understanding of historical time according to these dimensions.
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creator: Teresa Pullano
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Teresa Pullano
date: 2023-06-23
publication date: 2023-06-23
starting page: 3
ending page: 14
doi: 10.24437/global_europe.i123.1291

Scholars, States, and Human Rights
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description: This article investigates the similarities between different critiques towards the international human rights system from academia and state-actors. On the one hand, there are the critiques from scholars of the Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) movement. On the other hand, there are critical points raised towards the international human rights system by China, Cuba, and Egypt in the reports from the first three cycles of their respective Universal Periodic Review (UPR) within the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Through a literature review, the TWAIL critiques were first categorized and then worked into a framework of three basic pillars: the culture critique, the rhetoric critique, and the model critique. This framework was subsequently applied to the reports by way of a simplified Qualitative Content Analysis in order to extrapolate the similarities of the critiques from these two unlikely groups of actors.
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creator: Yanik Weingand
rights: Copyright (c) 2022 Yanik Weingand
date: 2022-06-16
publication date: 2022-06-16
starting page: 47
ending page: 70
doi: 10.24437/globaleurope.i122.1109

Development and Discussion of the Law on War Materiel Since 1972
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description: Despite Switzerland’s international commitment to disarmament and peacebuilding, war materiel worth hundreds of millions of Swiss francs is exported every year. These exports have repeatedly led to debates in Swiss politics ever since the creation of the War Materiel Act in 1972. After an analysis of the constitutional and international legal framework for arms exports, this paper examines which interests and norms have been negotiated in the national legislative process by focusing on parliamentary debates since 1972. Through its interdisciplinary approach, the paper demonstrates that legal concepts have hardly played a role in the political process and that the political arguments have barely changed.
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creator: Jana Lichtin
rights: Copyright (c) 2022 Jana Lichtin
date: 2022-06-16
publication date: 2022-06-16
starting page: 25
ending page: 46
doi: 10.24437/globaleurope.i122.1108

Smartly Coordinating Pluralism or Disharmonious Principle of Non-Interference?
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description: This article addresses the question of how the plurality of actors and subjects in Swiss China policy at the executive level affects the coherence of foreign policy towards China at the strategic policy level. The analysis is based on a legal and qualitative examination of the institutional foundations, evaluates the content of the relevant strategy papers and primary sources from the federal administration, while qualitative interviews allow it to be contextualized in the area of China policy. The results show that the legal basis favors the plurality of actors in Swiss China policy and thus the independence of the actors, which means that interdepartmental cooperation and the constellation of parties and persons in the Federal Council play an important role. Together with the vague overall strategic concept of the Federal Constitution, this ultimately promotes the emergence of intentional incoherence in the sense of different China policies within the federal executive.
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creator: Christoph Leuppi
rights: Copyright (c) 2022 Christoph Leuppi
date: 2022-06-16
publication date: 2022-06-16
starting page: 3
ending page: 24
doi: 10.24437/globaleurope.i122.1107

The Role of Victims at the International Criminal Court
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description: The International Criminal Court (ICC) provides a procedural framework to victims, which grants them participation rights and assigns them a position as legal subjects. The status of victims at the ICC is not automatically inherent to international criminal law, but rather the preliminary result of a legal development and a process of political negotiation. In this paper, the development of victimhood is traced along the stages of international criminal law and its institutions leading to the implementation of the ICC. In addition, the paper detaches the concept of victimhood from a purely jurisprudential framework and transfers it to the concept of transitional justice. In doing so, it demonstrates that the victim-specific norms in the Rome Statute have the potential for a restorative function.
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creator: Talin Marino
rights: Copyright (c) 2021 Talin Marino
date: 2021-12-13
publication date: 2021-12-13
starting page: 37
ending page: 61
doi: 10.24437/globaleurope.i121.523

Legislature Versus Executive Authority
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description: This article addresses the question of how the Swiss parliament reacts to the internationalization of politics and the subsequent increase in the importance of foreign policy. In its first part, the article analyzes the division of power between the legislature and the executive in the field of foreign policy. The second part focuses on the practical relevance of these findings in a parliamentary debate. The study indicates that the power of both authorities is not clearly defined – neither in the constitution nor in the respective laws. Rather, the legal documents provide evidence of cooperative powers. The analysis of the parliamentary debate on whether or not to join the European Economic Area (EEA) reveals that parliament strives to gain more influence. However, even though various concerns about a power shift due to accession were raised, it was not a key argument against joining the EEA.
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creator: Stefan Kalberer
rights: Copyright (c) 2021 Stefan Kalberer
date: 2021-12-13
publication date: 2021-12-13
starting page: 19
ending page: 36
doi: 10.24437/globaleurope.i121.522

City ID Cards and their Potential for Irregular Migrants Affected by Domestic Violence
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description: Although migrants without regular status are entitled to numerous rights, they are rarely able to assert them in practice. This paper analyzes the challenges that irregular migrants face when enforcing their rights in Switzerland, while focusing on situations of domestic violence and the right to victim support. Furthermore, the paper discusses a potential remedy to the limited access to the respective support services: the introduction of a city ID card. The paper focuses on the city of Bern and follows a multidisciplinary approach, combining the disciplines of law and sociology. The analysis draws on a literature review and five semi-structured expert interviews. The results show that many irregular migrants refrain from claiming the protections they are legally entitled to, and while the interviewees consider a city ID card as a valuable remedy, much of its potential seems to depend on whether third parties would officially recognize the card.
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creator: Irina Fehr
rights: Copyright (c) 2021 Irina Fehr
date: 2021-12-13
publication date: 2021-12-13
starting page: 3
ending page: 18
doi: 10.24437/globaleurope.i121.521

“Very old Chinese bells, a large number of which were melted down”
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description: In the second half of the 19th century, Buddhist bells from Japan began to arrive in Switzerland. The fact that these were objects listed in the so-called ethnographic collections is not surprising and the history of collecting has been a subject of postcolonial research. However, remarkably, the travel route of these bells, some of which weighed over a ton, could not be documented. Until now, the way how the bells were imported into Switzerland as unknown, and the problem of their provenance unsolved. This article argues that a global history approach provides new insights in two respects: The consideration of materiality allows a new nderstanding of the objects, while the activities of local collectors, seen from a micro-global point of view, reveal the local imprints of the global. Within this rationale, a history of individual bells in the possession of individual art lovers and museums translates into a history of scrap metal trade, allows to consider the disposal of disliked objects at their place of origin, and opens up a global framing of local history. Using global history as a concept, the historicity of the global gains visibility as we look at the intersection of materiality and the local involvement of global networks. Ultimately, as we follow the journey of the bells, reinterpreting scrap metal into art has formed a striking way in which local history assimilates the global.
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creator: Madeleine Herren
rights: Copyright (c) 2021 Madeleine Herren-Oesch
date: 2021-08-03
publication date: 2021-08-03
starting page: 37
ending page: 54
doi: 10.24437/globaleurope.i120.455

Japanese Bronze Bells in Switzerland
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description: Western museums hold numerous Japanese objects, typically gathered by collectors during travels in Japan and then donated to local institutions. This simple scenario is by no means always the case, as can be seen with the numerous Japanese bronze bells in Swiss museum collections. The story of how the bells changed from holding significant functions within Japanese monastic and secular communities to being sold for their materiality and sheer weight as they travel across the globe tells a complex story of how objects change in meaning as they travel. As the bells were eventually relegated to museum archives, their stories help to shed light on global transfers, interculturality, and cultural misunderstandings, as they narrowly escape destruction. Their stories show the futility of claiming global understanding of art when, despite globalization, we are in the end products of our own localized traditions and understandings.
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creator: Hans Bjarne Thomsen
rights: Copyright (c) 2021 Hans Bjarne Thomsen
date: 2021-08-03
publication date: 2021-08-03
starting page: 13
ending page: 36
doi: 10.24437/globaleurope.i120.454

Mr Kateki and Love
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description: This article examines a figure of transcultural misunderstandings: Katekisama. A statue of this name is owned by a Japanese Buddhist monastery and kept as national heritage in the national Museum in Tokyo – but this figure is none other than Erasmus of Rotterdam. Coming to Japan as a ship figure more than 400 years ago, it has shifted, accumulated, and merged identities for centuries.
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creator: Susanna Burghartz
rights: Copyright (c) 2021 Susanna Burghartz
date: 2021-08-03
publication date: 2021-08-03
starting page: 7
ending page: 12
doi: 10.24437/globaleurope.i120.453

Introduction
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description: Introduction to «Forgotten Icons of Global Transition: Erasmus of Rotterdam and the Buddhist Bell Trade»
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creator: Madeleine Herren
rights: Copyright (c) 2021 Madeleine Herren-Oesch
date: 2021-08-03
publication date: 2021-08-03
starting page: 3
ending page: 6
doi: 10.24437/globaleurope.i120.450