Robert Russo | University of British Columbia (original) (raw)

Papers by Robert Russo

Houston Journal of International Law, 2018

listing examples of these works or undertakings include railways, bus operations, trucking, pipel... more listing examples of these works or undertakings include railways, bus operations, trucking, pipelines, ferries, tunnels, bridges, canals, and telephone and cable systems).

This paper analyzes the linkage between migration, economic globalization and terrorism concerns.... more This paper analyzes the linkage between migration, economic globalization and terrorism concerns. On a broad level, I analyze Canadian economic and political considerations, searching for causal relationships between political and economic actors on the one hand, and Canadian immigration law on the other. Specifically, the paper argues that there are contradictory impulses affecting state sovereignty. These impulses are are currently being played out in the field of Canadian immigration law through several proposed changes to Canada-s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). These changes reflect an ideological conception of sovereignty that is intrinsically connected with decision-making capacity centered on an individual. This conception of sovereign decision-making views Parliamentary debate and bureaucratic inefficiencies as both equally responsible for delaying essential decisions relating to the protection of state sovereignty, economic benefits and immigration control T...

Law and Business Review of the Americas, 2011

Clinton's administration, the labor side accords to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFT... more Clinton's administration, the labor side accords to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have been extensively examined, occasionally ridiculed, and often dismissed as irrelevant. Most analysis tends to focus on the disappointing results of the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC) in affecting meaningful changes in the conditions of workers in Mexico. 2 In this article, I aim to take a different approach. My analysis focuses instead primarily on the efficacy of the NAALC process when complaints are made about alleged labor law violations in the United States. To provide some context for this analysis, I will briefly examine two recent complaints submitted to the NAALC's National Administrative Office (NAO) in the United States regarding the rights of Mexican migrant workers in U.S. territory. The central contention of this article is that the NAALC offers disappointing results when applied against the United States as well, due to a fundamental conflict in the functioning of the NAALC within regional economic integration that encourages increased labor migration. A re-examination of the NAALC is also timely because it is portrayed by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico as expanding the "legal framework for affirming the human rights and employment opportunities of migrant

Alberta Law Review

Most mainstream media coverage of lawyers tends to focus on individual court rulings or spectacul... more Most mainstream media coverage of lawyers tends to focus on individual court rulings or spectacular cases of individual character deficiencies within the legal profession. Consequently, society in general has formed a world view that tends to overlook the role of legal actors in struggling for basic rights in all except the most exceptional cases. Fighting For Political Freedom: Comparative Studies of the Legal Complex and Political Liberalism thus fills an essential gap in providing a view into worlds where “ordinary” members of the legal complex regularly play pivotal roles in advancing the causes of liberal society. The book frames its arguments by defining a “legal complex” whose core is composed of lawyers and judges, but extends far beyond this to include all legally trained personnel in a society, including civil servants and prosecutors involved in administering justice. The most impressive contribution made by this book is the universality of the theory of the legal complex...

Bc Studies the British Columbian Quarterly, Jun 3, 2011

Alberta Law Review, Jan 10, 2009

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

—This paper analyzes the linkage between migration, economic globalization and terrorism concerns... more —This paper analyzes the linkage between migration, economic globalization and terrorism concerns. On a broad level, I analyze Canadian economic and political considerations, searching for causal relationships between political and economic actors on the one hand, and Canadian immigration law on the other. Specifically, the paper argues that there are contradictory impulses affecting state sovereignty. These impulses are are currently being played out in the field of Canadian immigration law through several proposed changes to Canada's Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). These changes reflect an ideological conception of sovereignty that is intrinsically connected with decision-making capacity centered on an individual. This conception of sovereign decision-making views Parliamentary debate and bureaucratic inefficiencies as both equally responsible for delaying essential decisions relating to the protection of state sovereignty, economic benefits and immigration control This paper discusses these concepts in relation to Canadian immigration policy under Canadian governments over the past twenty five years.