In this chapter, we first introduce the questions of when and how children start using connectives and discourse relations during their first years of life. We will see more specifically that mastering the complex form-function mappings involved in the understanding of many connectives is a complex task for young children. In addition, we will present research investigating school-age children’s comprehension of connectives, and show that it is only around the end of their primary school years that they fully understand frequent connectives. We will explore the causes of these difficulties, and discuss the differences between various connectives and discourse relations. We will then move on to other studies analyzing the way older children understand connectives, and see that their acquisition is not fully in place after primary school years, as teenagers keep developing their competence with connectives. Finally, we will briefly discuss the acquisition of connectives and discourse relations by children suffering from linguistic or cognitive impairments such as SLI and autism.

This chapter presents and applies an original framework – type theory – to identify a prohibited ‘use of force’ between States under article 2(4) of the UN Charter, focusing on the meaning of ‘use of force’ and the contextual element of ‘international relations’. The theory of ‘type’ is firstly set out before explaining how it applies to the prohibition of the use of force. This chapter argues that a prohibited ‘use of force’ between States is characterised by a basket of elements, not all of which must be present for an act to meet the definition. Instead, these elements – including certain effects, gravity and intention – are identified and weighed to determine whether the definition of a ‘use of force’ is met. Illustrative examples are given from State practice including targeted killing and excessive or unlawful maritime law enforcement. Finally, this chapter applies the type theory framework to the testing of anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons in outer space to show how it can be applied in novel contexts. Through these case studies, this chapter draws definitive conclusions regarding the definition of a ‘use of force’ and demonstrates how to apply this framework in practice.

Introduction

Education can play an important role – directly or indirectly – in advancing the achievement of each of the 17 SDGs. UNESCO argues that sustainable development for all countries is only truly possible through comprehensive cross-sector efforts that begin with education. SDG4 (Education) specifically sets a Target, education for sustainable development in all different contexts of life, living and society, in the following terms:

Education for sustainable development can be divided into two broad categories: (1) education and training of people who are engaged in collecting, processing, managing and making use of data and information related to the SDGs; and (2) education of students, academics, researchers, policymakers and members of the general public about sustainable development in all areas of life and a sustainable world. Several international agencies, such as the United Nations Statistics Division, and national agencies, like the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS), aim to build multinational collaborations to develop training programmes and pathways for the education of people who are engaged in collecting, processing and making use of data and information for measuring achievements in different SDGs, Targets and the relevant Indicators. Similarly, international agencies like UNESCO and national bodies, especially the government departments of education in different countries, are working to develop specific programmes and pathways for educating students at all levels about the role and importance of the SDGs in different areas of learning and living. Side by side, libraries, being a primary social institution for promoting education and supporting lifelong learning, and various international library associations, like IFLA (International Association of Library Associations and Institutions) and national library associations like CILIP: the Library and Information Association in the UK, ALA (the American Library Association) and so on have introduced different strategies and initiatives for developing awareness and training programmes for promoting education around the SDGs in general, and the sustainability and climate change agenda in particular.

State parties to multilateral environmental agreements establish secretariats to undertake tasks required for the efficient operation of the treaty body. A key area of responsibility for secretariats is the organization of meetings of Conferences of the Parties (COPs), during which state parties negotiate the ongoing work and focus of the treaty, including the budget that the secretariat can access for its activities during the subsequent year(s). A close examination of the decision-making process and structures for these budgets offers a window into the principal–agent relationship between member states and secretariats. This examination explores a mechanism through which the principals (states) exercise authority over the cognitive, normative, and executive influence of secretariats (agents), while at the same time demonstrating that these agents are seeking such influence in the first place. The chapter explores the negotiation dynamics regarding the budgets for the Rio Conventions – the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention of Biological Diversity, and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification – as well as budget dilemmas faced by two multilateral scientific bodies to explore the accountability mechanism that are brought to the relationship between member states and secretariats.

This conclusion sets out a definitional framework for a prohibited ‘use of force’ under article 2(4) of the UN Charter according to the type theory developed in this monograph. It sets out the contextual elements of that provision and the elements of a ‘use of force’ that are identified and discussed in greater detail in earlier parts of the monograph. Finally, it offers some reflections on the legal nature of this framework and its potential as a tool for scholars and practitioners to assess whether forcible incidents meet the threshold of a prohibited ‘use of force’ between States under international law.

Focusing on three initiatives of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat – the Momentum for Change Initiative, the Lima–Paris Action Agenda, and the Non-state Actor Zone for Climate Action – this chapter studies how an international environmental bureaucracy can evolve from a low-key and servant-like secretariat to an actor in its own right. It argues that international environmental secretariats increasingly take on the role of an orchestrator that seeks to shape policy outcomes through changing the behavior of others. Using orchestration as a conceptual lens, the chapter identifies new types of influence of international bureaucracies. The forms of influence that the UNFCCC Secretariat exerts include in particular (i) awareness-raising, (ii) norm-building, and (iii) mobilization. This new way of how soft power is deployed underscores the increasingly proactive role of the UNFCCC Secretariat. The chapter concludes that the UNFCCC Secretariat is currently “loosening its straitjacket” by gradually expanding its original mandate and spectrum of activity. It is no longer a passive bystander but has adopted new roles and functions in the global endeavor to cope with climate change.

Once a defendant is deemed incompetent to stand trial (IST), the evaluator must indicate whether restoration can occur within the foreseeable future. This restoration must occur in a “reasonable” – but undefined – period. If restorable and the defendant is in the community, an outpatient restoration program might be utilized but only if the defendant does not constitute a physical threat to the community. If the defendant is incarcerated, the restoration process will likely occur in a secure hospital setting or a jail setting. Unfortunately, not every jurisdiction has an outpatient restoration program or a jail restoration program. The nature of the crime often creates what I call a “justice” bias toward competency or the restoration process. The more heinous the crime the more likely the defendant is to be competent or IST but restorable.

Studies and victimization surveys suggest that many, if not most, crimes are not reported to legal authorities. This is problematic because: (1) legal authorities are unable to address crimes they are unaware of, and victim or bystander reporting is the primary route by which authorities are made aware of crimes; and (2) people’s willingness to report crimes is an indicator of the public’s willingness to cooperate with legal authorities, which has long been noted as necessary for an effective criminal justice system in democratic societies. Academic attention to the role of bystanders was catalyzed largely by the story surrounding the assault and murder of Kitty Genovese in New York City in the 1960s, which elicited the question of why bystanders fail to report crimes. This chapter is about situational and bystander characteristics that relate to bystander decisions to report crime and provide information to legal authorities. It identifies gaps in the literature and proposes directions for future research.

One of the most important aspects of human rights law for children is the recognition that the state has positive obligations to protect them from harm, including harm suffered in the home. Child protection is one of the most important areas for protecting children’s rights, but also one of the most difficult. As well as the right to protection from harm, children and parents also have a right to protection of their family life together. This chapter considers the extent to which the law and process of child protection protect the rights of children at risk from harm. It considers the importance of supporting families and the difficulty of deciding when to intervene. It then considers child protection proceedings and the extent to which children’s rights are protected in the law concerning child protection orders. Finally, it considers children’s own perspectives and the extent to which they are heard in the process.

The concept of a global administrative space (GAS) denotes the emergence of administrative structures beyond the territory of the nation state that underpin processes of global governance. Against this backdrop, this chapter argues that an environmental GAS is emerging, which combines the development of independent administrative capacities at the international level with an increasing integration of a broad range of governmental and nongovernmental organizations at different levels of government. The GAS constitutes a complex multilevel and multiactor structure. Based on an original dataset covering issue-specific collaboration and communication flows between organizations operating in the fields of global climate and biodiversity governance, this chapter uses techniques of social network analysis to describe and analyze the structure and composition of administrative networks. It finds a relatively stable pattern of mutual interaction among international environmental bureaucracies, international organizations, national and subnational bureaucracies, research institutes and nongovernmental organizations that can be interpreted as an indicator for the emergence of a GAS in environmental governance.

This chapter introduces the theoretical literature concerning children’s rights. Although there is now widespread international agreement that children possess human rights, the theoretical underpinning of those rights is often said to be under-theorised. Further, sceptics have questioned whether children’s rights undermine their interests and the central place of the family in protecting those interests. This chapter addresses these debates, considering the theoretical basis on which children hold rights, the content of those rights and the connection between moral rights and international human rights law.