Bibliographie sélective OHADA

The promotion of sustainable development is an objective shared by African Union (AU) member states and the pursuance thereof is expressly mandated by the Constitutive Act of the African Union, 2000 and the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community, 1992. Lack of access to modern energy sources, such as electricity and the heavy reliance on traditional biomass as primary energy source are factors contributing to the non-achievement of the promotion of sustainable development. These factors are collectively referred to as energy poverty. The African Continent as a whole has limited, and in some instances, lack access to modern energy sources while the majority of its population relies heavily on traditional biomass as primary energy source. Africa can accordingly be classified as an energy poor region–a situation which does not bode well for the promotion of sustainable development. Access to reliable, affordable, economically viable, socially acceptable and environmentally sound energy services and resources is fundamental to socio-economic development. Mitigating the impacts of energy poverty and more specifically lack of access to modern energy sources on the sustainable development of Africa depends upon ensuring increased access to modern energy sources. The above-mentioned instruments furthermore contain provisions which link regional cooperation on the formulation of coordinated regional law and policy on areas/matters of common concern with the achievement of the objective of promoting sustainable development in Africa. One of the areas of common concerns listed is that of energy. Regional cooperation must accordingly be geared towards the effective development of the continent‘s energy and natural resources; promoting the development of new and renewable energy in the framework of the policy of diversification of sources of energy; and establishing an adequate mechanism of concerted action and coordination for the collective solution of the energy development problems within the AU. The formulation of coordinated energy law and policy should take place with reference to the specific sources of energy to be regulated. In this regard, the provisions of the Abuja Treaty and other sub-regional energy access initiatives list various sources of energy as forming part of a diversified AU energy mix – one of which is nuclear energy. In this study recommendations are made as to what should be embodied in a coordinated AU regional nuclear legal framework aimed at regulating increased access to nuclear energy capable of contributing towards the promotion of sustainable development. The recommendations are based on an examination of relevant international, regional and sub-regional legal instruments and other initiatives.

This thesis critically assesses the effectiveness of WTO legal rules in the regulation of international trade in petroleum and highlights potential conflicts between competing resources of energy from the WTO regime’s perspective. The theoretical framework of the thesis is built on the concepts used in natural resource economics, trade theories and international relations. On the basis of Hotelling’s rule of natural resource economics, it proposes a model that reconciles the use of petroleum and the development of renewable sources of energy in the power generation sector, which prospectively can be adopted with respect to the transport sector and other sectors involving energy use. The proposed model may improve global sustainable development. However, it is argued that WTO rules are not properly designed to regulate trade in petroleum and, if applied without due respect to specific issues pertaining to the petroleum industry, would obstruct the achievement of the social optimum, and detrimentally affect the national economies of WTO members and global welfare in general. To improve the WTO system, I propose a reformation of its normative ideology through the introduction of the strategic trade policy theory in complement to the neoclassical theory of trade, at least when trade in energy is concerned. On the basis of the study of the applicability of WTO rules to trade in petroleum and a review of proposals put forward by other scholars to improve the regulation of trade in energy, it is argued that the most effective way to improve the trading regime is to negotiate a new general agreement on trade in energy.The role of the WTO in the regulation of trade in energy is analyzed through a regime management theory borrowed from international relations studies. It is argued that the WTO as a regime manager is capable of improving the regime by properly maintaining the existing equilibrium and by initiating, and leading in negotiations of a new equilibrium.

This thesis explores three important issues in financial distress and corporate bankruptcy: bankruptcy venue choice and creditor recovery, the efficiency of Chapter 11 corporate bankruptcy and distressed exchanges, and the bankruptcy ripple effect on peer firms’ investment policy.

This thesis seeks to determine whether the evolution of international law has allowed for the concept of cultural genocide to be addressed in spite of its non-codification. It firstly provides an assessment of the evolution of the concept of cultural genocide, from a technique to a process of genocide, also known as 'ethnocide'. Acknowledging that the codification of the concept is unlikely in the future, it therefore undertakes a study of the evolution of international law with regard to the main components of the concept, namely genocide, culture and group. The evolution of the legal concept of 'genocide' raises the question of the interpretation of the international definition of genocide, which is enshrined in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, so as to encompass instances of cultural destruction. The state of international and domestic judicial practice illustrates the limits of an evolutionary interpretation. In contrast, international law has evolved considerably in relation to the protection of some groups and their culture, so that customary international law, and especially international human rights law, may be deemed to prohibit group cultural destruction and consequently entail State responsibility. The thesis argues that this evolution could ground the articulation of an international law-based approach to the concept of cultural genocide both by allowing for its criminalisation through the crime against humanity of persecution and by providing tools for a stronger framework of State responsibility, especially in the context of genocide prevention. Furthermore, this approach would give rise to the possibility of further conceptualising reparation for the intended cultural damage. Against this background, the thesis firstly draws conclusions as to the irrelevance of enclosing the debate exclusively at the level of the genocide legal framework and, secondly, as to the relevance of cultural genocide as a 'paralegal concept', an understanding which would drive the interpretation of international legal norms, especially in cases involving indigenous peoples' cultural harm.