Public and Administrative Law (Books and Journals)

• Devi Sookun

• Public Policy and Administration

Reform of the planning system, and the local authority context in which it operates, has been high on the political agenda for all governments in the United Kingdom in the 21st century, reflecting common broader international trends under New Public Management and neoliberalism. Whilst such reforms have been subject to a great deal of academic attention, much of this work has focused on central...

• Public Policy and Administration

I describe a policy theory story in which a decentred state results from choice and necessity. Governments often choose not to centralise policymaking but they would not succeed if they tried. Many policy scholars take this story for granted, but it is often ignored in other academic disciplines and wider political debate. Instead, commentators call for more centralisation to deliver more...

• Public Policy and Administration

Research innovations and breakthroughs are increasingly realised through collaborative networks amongst state and non-state actors. This article investigates the utilisation of such networks in the field of applied health services research, where policy narratives repeatedly emphasise the importance of collaboration between university researchers, clinical and health service leaders, patient...

• Public Policy and Administration

This article provides an introduction to discussions and empirical studies of the decentered state. The first section traces the historical origins of the concept of the decentered state. Group theory and interorganizational theory drew attention to the role of diverse actors in policymaking. The study of policy networks explored these actors and their relationships. The concept of the hollow...

• Public Policy and Administration

The aim of this article is to examine the impact of informal governance on democratic legitimacy. It draws on the literatures on informal governance and decentred theory to examine how governance mechanisms that are un-written, un-codified and non-institutional impact on democratic legitimacy in governance networks. Drawing on a case study of English devolution in the United Kingdom, this article

• Public Policy and Administration

The aim of this article is to examine Brexit through the lens of decentred theory. Decentred theory regards the British state as neither a monolith (as per modernist social science) nor a myth (as per post-modern theory) but rather as a repository of norms, customs, practices and thought acquired by elite actors, professionals and policy networks. The central thesis of the article is that the...

• Journal of Intellectual Capital

• Art Antiquity & Law

• Art Antiquity & Law

• Art Antiquity & Law

• Art Antiquity & Law

• LSE Law Review

For the first time, important public sector decisions are being taken in the absence of an accountable and identifiable human being. Instead, they are increasingly outsourced to machine learning algorithms (MLAs) to cut costs, save time, and, in theory, improve the quality of decisions made. However, MLAs also pose new risks to fair and legitimate decision making such as bias and rigidity. These...

• LSE Law Review

The CJEU's July 2021 judgment in WABE and Müller (Joined Cases C-804/18 and C-341/19) was anticipated by observers as a sequel to two earlier, highly controversial decisions regarding EU anti-discrimination law and workplace bans on religious dress, Achbita and Bougnaoui. In Achbita, the Court held that EU law permitted employers to prohibit employees from wearing Islamic headscarves and other...

• LSE Law Review

Manchester Building Society v Grant Thornton UK LLP and Meadows v Khan are twin Supreme Court judgments concerning what is often termed the scope of the duty of care in negligence. This controversial principle seeks to determine whether a loss (or part thereof) factually caused by the defendant's negligence is attributable to the defendant, or whether the defendant is not liable because the loss...

• LSE Law Review

The bill of lading has been a staple of the maritime shipping industry for centuries. Its evolution to facilitate three core functions was slow and arduous, with little change in the bill of lading's form and function ever since. The advances in electronic communication brought the prospect of electronic alternatives; however, the concept never succeeded, plagued with issues of excessive costs,...

• LSE Law Review

Conversion therapy is harmful, ineffective and lacks scientific and medical justification; yet 2% of LGBTQIA+ individuals in the UK have undergone it, and a further 5% have been offered it. This begs the question: why is conversion therapy still not banned in the UK? This article aims to rebut a common argument employed against conversion therapy bans, that is the right of LGBTQIA+ individuals to

• LSE Law Review

For decades, the UK has been the leading nation in the Western world when it comes to Islamic finance. Despite this fact, the Islamic banking industry within the UK is still far behind conventional finance in terms of growth and development. This article argues that a major obstacle in the path of this industry's growth is the regulatory framework which it is currently subject to. As it stands,...

• LSE Law Review

The question of how to determine the law of the arbitration agreement has long been a hotly debated topic in the field of international commercial arbitration. While this contentious issue was addressed by the UK Supreme Court in Enka v Chubb, the majority and minority judges disagreed on the appropriate approach to take when an express choice of law governing the main contract is absent. In this

• LSE Law Review

This article dissects a variety of structural issues that contribute to the 'legitimacy crisis' currently faced by Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) and in particular, treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration (ISA). Primarily, it addresses issues of jurisdictional overlap with domestic courts, and the inability of ISA to engender 'good governance' norms and the rule of law in respondent...

• LSE Law Review

The 'unwilling or unable' test is a real-world challenge that has the potential to make a mockery of the cornerstone of modern international law in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. The increasing prevalence of unattributable armed attacks by NSAs provides an opportunity for powerful victim States to expand the notion of the inherent right of self-defence through the 'unwilling or unable' test,...

• LSE Law Review

The legal mechanisms dealing with mergers, until recent developments, have lost sight of the principles of competition law. The CMA's ruling on the Meta–Giphy acquisition is very telling of the approach to come, but it is submitted that so much has passed through the weak sieve provided by competition law that to ring the alarm bells now would be unfortunate

• LSE Law Review

The Lotus rule has traditionally stipulated that, in international law, any conduct not specifically prohibited is allowed. However, there now is considerable disagreement as to whether this principle is still valid. This article argues that one should distinguish between the Lotus principle's conceptual origins and its core content. It will be shown that, given the evolution of international law,

• LSE Law Review

In Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), 'double hatting', or the playing of multiple roles by arbitrators in different ISDS proceedings as counsels, expert witnesses, or tribunal secretaries, is a problematic phenomenon. This regrettable practice results in the monopolisation of power and builds up suspicions regarding such arbitrators' impartiality which, in turn, threatens the legitimacy...

• LSE Law Review

This article seeks to argue for the imposition of liability onto parent companies for the damage to the environment caused by their subsidiaries. 'Eco-liability' will be suggested to be an appropriate means through which firms can be encouraged to engage in sustainable practices. This argument will be made in reference to the recent decision in Okpabi v Royal Dutch Shell,1 which, although...

• LSE Law Review

According to Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, when states do or should know that an individual is at a real and immediate risk of death, the state has an operational duty to take reasonable steps that might be expected to avoid that risk from materialising. This article explains and analyses interpretations of that duty, both by the European Court of Human Rights and by UK...

• Art Antiquity & Law

• Public Policy and Administration

Chinese central government in the past few years has embraced the expansion of various sharing economy initiatives. However, the expansion of these initiatives has given rise to public concerns. Central government in turn has adopted different strategies to address them. In this article, we investigate the question of how central government in China governed the two most popular sharing economy...

• Art Antiquity & Law

• Art Antiquity & Law

• Public Policy and Administration

This paper studies the intended and unintended effects of street-level bureaucrats’ enforcement style. More specifically, it answers to what extent street-level bureaucrats’ enforcement style affects citizens’ obedience (i.e. intended effect) during face-to-face encounters and willingness to publicly shame bureaucrats (i.e. unintended effect). Building on insights from street-level enforcement...