The Status of the Individual in International Law and the Age of Globalization

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2015 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, , language: English, abstract: Globalization is not a new phenomenon. Already before, there have been times of increased economic, cultural and political interaction, but also competition, for example during the 17th century when the English and Dutch East India companies heralded a phase of dominance for Northwestern Europe or in the 15th and 16th centuries, when Spain and Portugal colonized what is today Latin America. What is new today is the degree to which globalization affects the everyday lives of people around the world. One can compare today's era of globalization with the years immediately after the re-discovery of the Americas in 1492 as well as with other phases of increased globalization. While some challenges differ, some are essentially still the same. The key question raised by globalization is how to treat the other. This is the question which is behind all other questions, for example whether precedence should be given to the protection of the environment or free enterprise or the question which role NGOs can play in the legal process. In other words: what is the position of the individual in the international legal process? The question is answered by looking at international law and historic parallels to the current age of globalization.

Docent Dr. Stefan Kirchner, Assessor jur., MJI is Associate Professor for Arctic Law at the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, Finland, and Adjunct Professor of Fundamental and Human Rights at the same university. His work focuses on the crossroads of human rights, the environment, shared areas, in particular the oceans and outer space, and international business and trade. Prior to joining the Arctic Governance Research Group at the Arctic Centre he taught public law, international law and civil rights as Visiting Professor for Transitional Justice at the University of Turin (Italy), University Lecturer and Associate Professor for Fundamental and Human Rights, with a Special Focus on Indigenous Rights, at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi (Finland), Assistant Professor for International Law and Associate Professor for the Law of the Sea at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas (Lithuania), scientific employee in the Department of Public Law of the Faculty of Law of Georg-August-University in Göttingen (Germany), and Visiting Lecturer at the Institute of International Relations at Tars Shevchenko National University in Kyiv (Ukraine) and at the Faculty of Law Justus-Liebig-University in Giessen (Germany). Formerly a practising lawyer (Rechtsanwalt) in Germany for over a decade, he has worked on international trade law, corporate law, the law of the sea and human rights law, including cases at the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht), the German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof), the German Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht) and the European Court of Human Rights. In addition, he served as legal agent for Germany's Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, working on international shipping law, oil pollution and seafarer training issues. Dr. Kirchner is active in a number of professional organizations and is a regular reviewer for a number of academic publishing houses and academic journals, a member of editorial boards for several international academic journals and has written over one hundred academic articles and book chapters. He has been an evaluator of research projects for the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters. Prior to his legal career he worked as a freelance journalist in Germany, as an emergency medical technician (Rettungssanitäter) for the German Red Cross and as a factory worker for a company producing transformers.