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Contribution to Book
The Politics of Divestment
The Politics of International Economic Law (2011)
  • Perry S Bechky
Abstract

In the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act (‘SADA’) of 2007, Congress authorized state governments to divest from businesses investing in Sudan. Congress took this unprecedented step in the face of objections from the Bush Administration and the business community that state divestment intrudes unconstitutionally into the exclusive foreign-relations prerogatives of the federal government. SADA would be remarkable enough if it allowed state divestment while adhering to a dualist conception of federalism. This paper explores the possibility that SADA and its progeny – the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act (‘CISADA’) of 2010 – may signal the emergence of a dialogic view of federalism, under which the federal government recognizes that states may legitimately speak on international concerns within bounds that preserve ultimate federal control over foreign relations.

Keywords
  • economic sanctions,
  • divestment,
  • Iran,
  • Sudan,
  • Darfur,
  • SADA,
  • CISADA,
  • OFAC,
  • dialogue,
  • federalism,
  • dialogic federalism
Publication Date
2011
Editor
Tomer Broude, et al.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Citation Information
Perry S. Bechky,"The Politics of Divestment" in The Politics of International Economic Law 337 (Tomer Broude, et al.. eds.) (Cambridge University Press 2011). Available at: http://works.bepress.com/perry_bechky/6