PhD Thesis Title
‘Liminal Territorial Entities in International Law: Kosovo, Palestine, and Taiwan in Perspective’
PhD Supervisor: Nico Krisch
My thesis offers an anthropological take on the process of state creation as a rite of passage and seeks to articulate a legal status for contenders that fail to achieve that telos unequivocally and find themselves struggling with the ambiguous condition of liminality, that is, territorial entities of contested statehood. It does so by investigating how they navigate their condition in both the formal sources of international law and alternative methods of informal international lawmaking to specify the defining traits of their engagement with their proximate environment and overall participation in the international legal system. My ultimate objectives are to clarify the contemporary and colliding meanings of statehood in international law and the capacity of contested actors to update their status or entrench new forms of territorial organization through socialization processes.
Short Biography
Victor S. Mariottini de Oliveira is a double-qualified lawyer in Portugal and Brazil and a PhD candidate in International Law at the Geneva Graduate Institute. He holds a summa cum laude Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Economic Law from the same institution and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from the University of São Paulo, Brazil with two exchange semesters at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. His interests cover a broad spectrum ranging from statehood, territorial disputes and general international law, to investment, trade, international business law and dispute settlement. Since arriving in Geneva, Victor accumulated work experiences with the Small Arms Survey, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the European Parliament, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and the Permanent Mission of the State of Qatar to the World Trade Organization. Prior to this, Victor collaborated with the Capital Markets transactional practice of Clifford Chance LLP in São Paulo and was a legal assistant to Prof. Luiz Olavo Baptista in international arbitration proceedings.
Publications and Works
- Prescriptive Pricing and Stabilization Clauses in Investment Agreements in Missing Dollars: Illicit Financial Flows From Commodity Trading (coauthored with Irene Musselli) International Development Policy | Revue internationale de politique de développement 17 (2024)
- Russia’s Passportization and the Pitfalls of ‘Personal Annexation’ in the Post-Soviet Space: Recasting the Limits of Nationality Attribution in International Law? European Society of International Law Research Paper Series 18 (2024)
- State Succession to 'in rem' Obligations and the Right of Peoples to Self-Determination: a Case Study of Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile University of Denver Water Law Review 27(1) (2024)
- Where De Fato States Come to Rest: The Approaching Demise of the So-Called Republic of Artsakh Opinio Juris (2023)
- Statehood for Sale: Derecognition, “Rental Recognition”, and the Open Flanks of International Law Jus Cogens (2023)
- On Ceasefire Agreements and (Counter)Offensives: Notes on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict and a Word of Caution for Ukraine Völkerrechtsblog (2022)
- The Uyghur Genocide and Remedial Secession: Legal Grounds for the Rebirth of East Turkistan? Cambridge Journal of International Law Blog (2021)
- Sailing Off the UNCLOS Radar: China’s Responsibility for Maritime Militia Activities in International Waters Georgetown Journal of International Law Blog (2021)
- The Caucasus is a Delicate Chessboard: The Military Offensive for Nagorno-Karabakh and the Implications of the New Ceasefire Agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan (in Portuguese) Cosmopolita (2021)
Affiliations
- Portuguese Bar Association (2023)
- Brazilian Bar Associaction (2021)