Papers by Jonathan Liljeblad
The Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law, Jul 6, 2019
ANU) College of Law. He holds a Ph.D. and J.D. from the University of Southern California, and a ... more ANU) College of Law. He holds a Ph.D. and J.D. from the University of Southern California, and a B.S. from the California Institute of Technology. His research focuses on rule-of-law, drawing upon cases from human rights and environmental issues. His field work is in Myanmar. He wishes to acknowledge the comments and support of reviewers and editors at the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law. 2 Id. at 48. 1 Id. at 25. 4 Id. at 5-50. 5 Id. at 12, 44.
The Pa’oh’s governance system and Kakku: implications for heritage conservation from Burma/Myanmar
The Loyola University Chicago International Law Review, 2016
Myanmar's current transition involves a concerted international effort to promote the rule of law... more Myanmar's current transition involves a concerted international effort to promote the rule of law. Legal education is integral to promoting the rule of law, and so calls for development aid that works to improve a country's legal education system. The nature of development aid, however, calls for some analysis of its efficacy. This paper contributes to this call by taking as a case study the state of transnational aid efforts to improve legal education in Burma/Myanmar, and finds issues that threaten the efficacy of international aid efforts to reform legal education in developing countries. The analysis concludes with recommendations to mitigate such issues.
The Hopi, thekatsinam, and the French courts: looking outside the law in the repatriation of Indigenous cultural heritage
International Journal of Heritage Studies, Sep 16, 2016
Abstract Katsinam (plural of katsina) are effigies central to the religion of the Hopi people of ... more Abstract Katsinam (plural of katsina) are effigies central to the religion of the Hopi people of northern Arizona in the United States. Since 2013 the Hopi have sought the return of katsinam being sold in French auction houses. The Hopi have employed a series of legal actions to stop the auctions. All such actions, however, have been consistently denied by French courts. This paper uses social science analysis to understand why the legal actions of the Hopi failed. This paper treats the case of the katsinam as a cautionary lesson in cultural heritage studies, with the goal of drawing insights that can inform other situations involving the repatriation of Indigenous cultural heritage.
Sustainable Development, Jan 8, 2020
In November 2015, State Parties to the World Heritage Convention approved a resolution adopting a... more In November 2015, State Parties to the World Heritage Convention approved a resolution adopting a policy integrating sustainable development into World Heritage conservation (WH Policy). A central component of the WH Policy was an expectation for participatory models of management involving local communities in site management. This paper uses a case study of Sri Ksetra in Pyu Ancient Cities, Myanmar's first entry onto the World Heritage list, to identify how management practices toward local communities can frustrate the implementation of WH Policy goals. The paper argues that the implementation of WH Policy involves not only the contents of policy statements but also the actions of site management practices, such that efforts to promote sustainable development via community participation require consideration of both the articulation of appropriate management systems in formal policy documents as well as the practice of appropriate conduct by those systems.
China, western art museums, and dissident art via social networks
The Poster, Dec 1, 2015
Western art museums are increasingly assuming a political role on the international stage. An exa... more Western art museums are increasingly assuming a political role on the international stage. An example of this is the controversy that arose between western art museums and the Chinese government over the arrest and detention of Ai Weiwei in 2011. This article interprets these controversies as reflective of an ongoing political discourse. This article seeks to inform this discourse from the perspective of the field of international relations, using contributions from political science to interpret situations over Chinese dissident art between western art institutions and the Chinese state, and generate descriptive and prescriptive suggestions for the future.
The construction of indigenous identity in Myanmar
Routledge eBooks, May 30, 2022
Integrating the Anthropocene in Legal Education: Considerations for Asia
Asian journal of law and society, Mar 9, 2022
The scale and urgency of the consequences of the Anthropocene for human civilization call for com... more The scale and urgency of the consequences of the Anthropocene for human civilization call for comprehensive responses from human societies. As leaders in law, law schools have a role in helping their respective societies respond to the impacts of the Anthropocene. The present analysis discusses potential approaches to help law schools in Asia integrate the Anthropocene into their legal education curricula. Drawing upon existing legal education literature regarding issues of content, teaching tools, curriculum placement, and subject status as a law topic, the analysis explores the potential issues facing law schools in the adoption of the Anthropocene as a component of learning. The analysis then addresses the particular contextual sociocultural, economic, and political circumstances likely to challenge the integration of the Anthropocene into Asian law schools. The conclusion finishes with directions for future research.
William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice, 2020
The Preamble of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (CSI... more The Preamble of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (CSICH) recognizes the connection between indigenous peoples and intangible cultural heritage. The convention indicates that part of its mission is to protect the intangible cultural heritage of indigenous peoples against the processes of globalization and social transformation. The convention, however, has been critiqued for the manner in which it attempts to manage intangible cultural heritage, with critics charging that the convention fosters a power structure that favors states and thereby threatens to marginalize indigenous peoples from control over their own cultures. Such criticism raises a question as to what changes should be made to rectify the power inequalities of the CSICH to aid indigenous peoples. This Article responds to this question, and follows the convention's critiques by using the theories of Michel Foucault to evaluate the power structure created by the CSICH and identify what types of changes to the convention would benefit indigenous peoples.
Human Rights Education Review, Feb 12, 2024
Tour guides and the transnational promotion of human rights: Agency, structure and norm translators in responsible travel
Tourist Studies, May 24, 2020
Within tourism studies, the movement for ‘responsible tourism’ seeks to direct tourism in support... more Within tourism studies, the movement for ‘responsible tourism’ seeks to direct tourism in support of ideals such as sustainability and human rights. Central to the promotion of such ideals, however, is the tour guide who holds a critical position influencing the orientation of a tourism encounter. This article explores the capacities of tour guides to direct tourism encounters in support of human rights. The analysis draws upon tourism and human rights literature to frame tour guides within the theoretical concept of norm translators. The analysis applies a case study approach to a case of an individual tour guide leading a Vietnam tour package under the employ of a responsible travel company supportive of human rights, with the purpose of clarifying the role of tour guides in promoting human rights and elaborating the theory of norm translators.
Melbourne Asia review, Mar 29, 2021
Yale Human Rights and Development Journal, 2017
In Human Rights Resolution 2005/74, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights recognized the ... more In Human Rights Resolution 2005/74, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights recognized the importance of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) in protecting human rights and called for further work to nurture their growth. In an effort to address critiques that it fell short of U.N. expectations for NHRIs, in March 2014 Myanmar's government enacted the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission Law to reform the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) in accord with the Paris Principles. Despite the new law, the MNHRC continues to be criticized for ineffectiveness and lack of progress. This Article argues that the MNHRC is challenged by issues tied to Myanmar's political transition, and that as a result evaluations of the MNHRC need to be more cognizant of the context within which the MNHRC works. This Article takes the MNHRC as a case study in the development of NHRIs and sees the MNHRC's struggles as exemplifying the challenges facing nascent NHRIs in transition states, with the implication that greater contextual understanding is needed to generate evaluations that are more constructive in nurturing the abilities of NHRIs to advance the international human rights system.
International Human Rights, Pandemic Science, and the Promotion of a Liberal International Order Under COVID-19
Social Science Research Network, 2021
The global COVID-19 pandemic has hosted a rising trend of states engaging in political interferen... more The global COVID-19 pandemic has hosted a rising trend of states engaging in political interference in science underlying public health measures against the virus. Such illiberal actions are counterproductive to hopes of addressing the virus because they impede the operations of scientific inquiry and threaten the integrity of scientific findings. Such actions are also problematic because they raise potential human rights issues of scientists. The linkage of human rights and pandemic science, however, opens possibilities for actions in international law. International human rights instruments, because they encompass the human rights of scientists, provide a means of defending pandemic science against political interference by states. As a result, they proffer a means of public health diplomacy that allows proponents of liberal democracy to support both global pandemic science efforts and the promotion of liberal values in other states.
Myanmar indigenous engagement with the United Nations Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review
Routledge eBooks, May 30, 2022
Recognizing the Value of Constitutional Origins - Kevin Y. L. Tan and Ngoc Son Bui, eds., Constitutional Foundings in Southeast Asia (New York: Hart Publishing, 2019) pp 352. Hardcover: $85.00
Asian journal of law and society, Feb 1, 2020
Indigenous Rights and Universal Periodic Review: A Confluence of Human Rights and Environmental Issues
Springer eBooks, 2019
The scale and complexity of the issues posed by the Anthropocene requires resolution through the ... more The scale and complexity of the issues posed by the Anthropocene requires resolution through the involvement of science with alternative knowledge systems. Indigenous peoples provide a rich source of alternative knowledge systems. The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC) offers a way of involving indigenous perspectives into global discourses about the Anthropocene. UPR subjects each UN member state to a periodically scheduled review of its human rights record, but does so by welcoming reports from non-state sources including indigenous peoples. Indigenous use of UPR is welcomed by the UN HRC and encouraged by the International Working Group on Indigenous Affairs. While the UPR is ostensibly a component of the UN human rights system, it has become an inclusive process accommodating human rights issues arising from a broad array of subjects, including environmental problems. This means that the UPR allows indigenous peoples to take local environmental problems to an international level.
Journal of Contemporary Asia, Jan 23, 2018
The Implications of Personal Internet Search for Theories of Global Civil Society
International journal of technology, knowledge and society, 2012
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Papers by Jonathan Liljeblad