Journal Articles and Research Papers by Stephen Kirwan
Law Society Gazette December Edition 2015
One of the major problems identified by both the Consultation and Issues Papers with the ad-hoc s... more One of the major problems identified by both the Consultation and Issues Papers with the ad-hoc scheme of warrants at present is that a variety of evidentiary thresholds are applied to a number of different types of alleged offences. 1 As evidenced in Appendix "A" of the Consultation Paper there are currently, over 100 separate Acts and approximately 200 ministerial Regulations contain search warrant provisions. 2
The aim of this article is to highlight and discuss the gradual emergence of a culture of social ... more The aim of this article is to highlight and discuss the gradual emergence of a culture of social re-integration in Irish penal policy. The first section of this article seeks to provide a descriptive analysis of the multi-faceted approach to prisoner re-integration as it appears in a contemporary Irish context. It is suggested here that in order to fully understand the ideal of re-integration in a contemporary context it must be presented as an amorphous ideal which is pursued by the key stakeholders of penal policy in an incomplete and often contradictory fashion. This article will attempt to outline the three specific approaches to re-integration which can be seen to exist in a contemporary Irish context, while briefly attempting to outline the contemporary acceptance of a limited fourth approach, namely that of social re-integration, by legislators and community organisations.
(2012) Kinns Inn Student Law Review 151-175
Conference Presentations by Stephen Kirwan
Implementing the Responsibility to Protect: Towards a Bio-Political Understanding of Humanitarian Intervention
Since the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, which is seen as the birth of the nation... more Since the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, which is seen as the birth of the nation state sovereignty, the inviolability of domestic boarders continued to be prevalent norm in the regulation of international law. A literal reading of the traveaux prepatoires of the Charter, in addition to the General Principles of International Law as enunciated in the UN General Assembly Resolution 2625/78 clearly envisages an absolutist vision of sovereignty based on the inviolability of international boarders and a state’s right to self-determination. Formally at least therefore, the post-Westphalian consensus surrounding the inviolability of borders and sovereignty of individual nation states remains intact. However, the decade following the Cold War saw Security Council resolutions authorizing humanitarian interventions in Somalia, Liberia, Rwanda, Haiti, Sierra Leone and Kosovo. Such ad-hoc interventions led to intensifying calls for the recognition of a norm of humanitarian intervention that would de-prioritise the pre-eminent position of state sovereignty and the inviolability of international boarders in place of a larger focus on the objective of a system of globalised humanitarian protection, based on the broad premise of international citizenry. An attempt to codify and formulate the guiding principles underpinning such humanitarian intervention, particularly in the aftermath of unilateral NATO intervention into Kosovo in the late 1990s, has culminated in the formulation of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine (herein R2P). Instead of focusing on the longstanding debate over whether a ‘right to intervene’ existed, the doctrine of R2P tried to find an innovative way of talking about protection against grave atrocities while mandating a respect for sovereignty as proposed by the UN Charter. R2P stands largely for the proposition that sovereignty entails not just rights but also responsibilities. Thus the idea of ‘conditional sovereignty’ is essential to our understanding the central normative tenet of the R2P and stands for the overall proposition that if a state is unable or unwilling to exercise its responsibility, its sovereignty is abrogated and international intervention will ensue. Critics however argue that the purpose of R2P is to promote a homogenous world-view based on the politically subjective basis of the rule of law. This presentation seeks to outline the genealogical development of the R2P doctrine. In doing so it will argue that the discourse surrounding the Responsibility to Protect indicates a biopolitical reprogramming of contemporary sovereignty and global governance. Further it will be argued that the whole construct of R2P constitutes a project of managing and regulating the global population through a variety of securitizing, economizing, and normalizing rationalities and techniques based on a number of subjective considerations. It thereby seeks to challenges the legal, conceptual and largely normative priority accorded to juridical sovereignty in international law, and to state- and institution-centric accounts in IR theorizations of global governance. The presentation seeks to illustrate this by pointing to the existence of the biopolitical rationales of human security and collective security, which exist through the recent invocation of R2P in Libya through Resolution 1970/1973. This will be counter-balanced by a bio-political analysis of the response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria. Overall then the presentation shall conclude by seeking to defend Agamben’s “bare life” thesis.
Legislative Drafting by Stephen Kirwan
Bill drafted for use by Barnardos in its project to provide free primary education for all childr... more Bill drafted for use by Barnardos in its project to provide free primary education for all children.
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Journal Articles and Research Papers by Stephen Kirwan
Conference Presentations by Stephen Kirwan
Legislative Drafting by Stephen Kirwan