Recent PowerPoint Presentations:
“Revolutionary Constitutions and their Constitutionalism: The Internalization of Fear as Process and the Performance of Crisis in the Service of Stability.” Remarks delivered at the International Scientific Conference ‘Legal Imaginaries of Crisis and Fear’ 9 November 2024, Sofia Bulgaria. ACCESS REMARKS HERE: Backer_Remarks_RevolutionaryConstitutions; TEXT of ESSAY MAY BE ACCESSED HERE: Backer_EmotiveSemiotics_Draft_v2.0; PPT MAY BE ACCESSED HERE: Backer_RevCon_Sofia-11-2024
“Cuba and the Constitution of a Stable State of Misery: Ideology, Economic Policy, and Popular Discipline.” Paper presented for the panel, Social and Cultural Consequences of Cuba’s Economic Path?, 2024 Annual Conference of the Association for the study of the Cuban Economy (Miami, FL 19 October 20204). ACCESS PPT HERE: Backer_CubaStateofMisery_ASCE2024. ACCESS PAPER HERE (SSRN).
“Cuban Socialist Democracy 2.1—Revolutionary Leninist Constitutionalism With Cuban Characteristics: Popular Participation and Engagement from Lineamientos Through Cuba’s 2019 Constitution, to Contemporary Administrative Techno-Bureaucratization;” Lecture delivered at Barry University Andreas School of Law 24 June 2024. PPT ACCESSED HERE: Cuban _Socialist_Democracy2.1_Lecture_BarryU2024
“The Two Towers: China, the U.S., and the Structural Characteristics of Competitive Advantage in AI Innovation;” Remarks delivered at the Conference: Cooperation, Competition & Conflict in East Asia, William & Mary Security and Foreign Affairs Initiative, Williamsburg, Virginia, 15 February 2024. ACCESS HERE: Backer_Remarks_W&MConf2-2024 ; PPT ACCESSED HERE Backer_TwoTowers_Conf_Presentation.
“Data/Governance With Ideological Characteristics: China in (and as) the Shadow of the US” Presentation at the Event: Data Governance and its Impact on U.S.-China Relations – China Focus | The Carter Center Emory University, Atlanta Georgia 26 September 2023. ACCESS PPT HERE: Backer-Demystifying-China-Data-Gov; PDF VERSION OF PPT HERE: Backer-Demystifying-China-Data-Gov
“ESG Trouble–From the Center to the Ends of the Silk Roads–A Comparative Problématique” Presentation at the Annual Conference of the European China Law Studies Association 22 September 2023. ACCESS PPT HERE: Backer_ESG-SocialCredit_ECLSA2023
“The Just Transitions of Risk—Human Rights, Sustainability and the ESG Wars” given at the Just Transitions Conference (University of Dundee; 7 September 2023). ACCESS PPT HERE: Backer_JustTransitions_of_RisK_ESG_9-2023
“Human Rights Due Diligence in the UNGPs.”Prepared for Workshop: The current state and future trajectories of human rights due diligence laws: New Legal Norms on Human Rights Due Diligence (6 September 2023; virtual). ACCESS PPT HERE: Backer_mHRDD-UNGPs-9-2023
“Inside the Cage of the System (制度的笼子里): Standards Setting, National Security Values, Tech Platforms, Regulation, and the Central Contradiction of Legality in the Current Historical Era;” Remarks delivered at the Workshop-Conference–Technological Platforms and National Security in Hong Kong: The Domain of Standards Setting; sponsored by the HKU Law and Technology Center and the Center for Chinese Law; University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, 25 August 2023. ACCESS HERE: Backer_Remarks_PPT8-2023 ; text of Remarks here: Technological Platforms and National Security in Hong Kong
“Social Listening and Infodemic—An Epidemiology for the Body Politic,” PPT for Remarks delivered at Conference: Governance of Social Listening in the Context of Serious Health Threats; University of Hong Kong; Hong Kong SAR, 22 August 2023. ACCESS HERE: Backer_Social_Listening_UHK8-2023(1) ; text of Remarks here: Backer_Remarks_Social_Listening_Conference8-2023
“Whole Process Democracy” as Applied Constitutionalism.” Presentation at the City University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law, Public Law and Human Rights Forum, Hong Kong SAR, 7 June 2023. ACCESS PPT HERE: Backer_WholeProcessDemocracy_CityUHK-7June2023
“The Semiotics of Democracy and Ideologies of Meaning in Constitutional Orders,” presentation for the Wagner-Linares Workshop, 23rd International Roundtables for the Semiotics of Law, Pontificia Università Antonianum, Rome, Italy 24 May 2023. ACCESS PPT here: Backer_Semiotics_Democracy_IASL_2023; ACCESS Abstract HERE:The Semiotics of Democracy and Ideologies of Meaning in Constitutional Orders
“The UNGP’s 2nd Pillar as Soft Public and Harder Private Law,” presentation made at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, Berlin, Germany (20 March 2023). Access PPT here: Backer_ECCHR Presentation_Berlin3-2023
“Chinese State-Owned Companies: Congruence and Dissonance in Outbound Investment; the Americas and Europe,” presentation at the Oxford China Law Center, 16 February 2023. ACCESS PPT HERE: Backer_China_SOEs_2-2023.
“The ESG Wars.”Presentation at University of Dundee (Scotland), 13 February 2023. ACCESS PPT HERE: ESG Wars (Penn State Studendent Teach in lecture 28 April 2023).
“Un Somaro Piumato: Rethinking the Scope and Nature of State Liability for Acts of their Commercial Instrumentality.” Book Launch Event, “Regulation of State-Controlled Enterprises: An Interdisciplinary and Comparative Examination (Springer, 2022), edited by Julien Chaisse, Jędrzej Górski, and Dini Sejko; University College London, 10 February 2023. ACCESS PPT HERE: UnSomaroPiumentato_SOEs-Backer
“Climate Impacts, Labor Rights, and Pathways to Remedy.” Presentation for the Workshop: Weather and Work: How Climate Change Relates to Workers’ Rights”/Mëtéo et Travail: Comment le Changement climatique se rapporte aux droits des travailleurs, held at Osgoode Hall, York University, Toronto, Canada on 8 December 2022. ACCESS PPT HERE: ClimateImpoactsLaborRights
“From 11 July 2021 to Hurricane Ian in 2022: The Transformation of Mass Protests in Cuba and its Consequences.” Remarks delivered for the Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs Fall Speaker Series; Penn State University, State College PA, 25 October 2022. ACCESS PPT HERE: Protests_Cuba
“Linking People to Governing Institutions: 《中国新型政党制度》 (China‘s New Political Party System), 全过程民主 (Whole Process Democracy), and Leninist Political Parties Within Socialist Constitutional Democracy.” Workshop: Political Parties and Constitutions in Asia held on 23-24 September 2022 at St Hughes College, Oxford University. ACCESS PPT HERE:Backer_WholeProcessDemocracy(9-2022); PAPER ACCESS HERE
“The Imaginaries of Regulatory Spaces in an Age of Administrative Discretion: Social Credit ‘in’ or ‘as’ the Cage of Regulation of Socialist Legality.” Hybrid Workshop: Law and Social Credit in China; University of Cologne; 19 September 2022, Cologne, Germany. ACCESS HERE: BAcker_SCS_Cage_Regulation_9-2022
“The in/exclusiveness of law soft law instruments in international business and human rights (IBHR): Form and Function in the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights and the Framework Principles on Human Rights and the Environment.” Presentation for the IBHR IG Workshop (IN/EX-clusiveness through the lens of International Business and Human Rights), Annual Conference of the European Society of International Law Utrecht University (1 September 2022) ACCESS HERE: Backer_IBHR_IR_ESIL2022 (edited)
“Hong Kong Between Sovereignties, Autonomies, and Self-Determination.” Rage, Reckoning & Remedy: 7th Global Meeting on Law & Society; Panels on: Law, Resistance, & Authoritarianism; Jointly Sponsored by CRN01, ALSA, CRN33, & IRC; Lisbon, Portugal 15 July 2022. Access HERE: HK_Sovereignty_LSA2022_Meeting
“Facilitating Energy Transition: A Human Rights and Soft Law Perspective.” 2nd Energy Transition Colloquium; West Virginia University, Rockefeller School of Policy and Politics, Dept. of Public Administration; Paolo D. Farah, Conference Chair. West Virginia University 16-17 June 2022. ACCESS HERE: Backer_Facilitating_Energy_Transition_2022
“Rethinking Climate Change from the perspective of the 2018 proposal for a “Framework principles on human rights and the environment” (A/HRC/37/59).” Seminario International: La lucha en clave judicial frente al cambio climaático (Francisco Javier Zamora Cabot, Lorena Sales Pallarés, and Maria Chiara Marullo (organizers) Universitat Jaume I, Castelló de la Plana, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain5 de Mayo 2022. ACCESS HERE:Backer_Seminario_Cambio Climatico2022
“Governing Platforms: Structural and Conceptual Challenges.” Prepared for Conference on Digital Platforms and Global Law organized by UNIDROIT, Roma Tre and the European Law Institute, Rome, Italy 29 April 2022. ACCESS HERE:Backer_GoverningPlatforms_UNIDROIT2022
“The Communist Party as Polity: The CPC and the Chinese Constitutional Order.” Prepared for Conference: Constitutional Law of Greater China organized by the Oxford Programme in Asian Laws (virtual; 9-10 December 2021). ACCESS HERE: CPC_as_Polity_Backer_PPT_12-2021. Paper may be accessed HERE.
“The Algorithmic Law of Business and Human Rights: Constructing a Private Transnational Law of Ratings, Social Credit, and Accountability Measures.” Prepared for Algorithmic Law and Society Symposium, HEC Paris & Ecole Polytechnique (1-3 December 2021). ACCESS HERE:Algorithmic_Law_Backer_ALSS_20231 Paper may be accessed HERE.
“Outlining and Final Exam Prep for 1Ls,” Penn State Law, Latinx Law Students Association (17 November 2021). Access HERE:LLALSA_Student_Exam_Study_-presentation_Backer_11-2021
“Robert Cover and International Law–Narrative Nudges and Nomadic Nomos,”prepared for the Conference, “The Life and Work of Robert M. Cover, ” panel on “Nomos and Jurisgenesis in International Law and Society, Touro Law Center, 4-5 October 2021 . Access HERE: Backer_Cover_Conf_2021
“Conceptualizing the Emerging Structures of Transnational Governance in the Age of Sovereignty — The Hong Kong SAR 2019-2020,” for panel: “New Actors and Dynamics in Transnational Law: Moving Borders and Changing Concepts of Borders, Demos and Territory” at the 15th Annual Conference of the European China Law Studies Association, University of Warsaw (26 September 2021) (Virtual).HK_Sovereignty_ECLSA2021_Meeting
“SOEs as Investors and Human Rights – Chinese FDI in Latin America and Europe;” for Book Project Workshop: Human Rights and environmental sustainability in state-owned enterprises in Latin America and Europe; Santiago, Chile, (21 September 2021) (Virtual).ChineseSOEsHumanRightsLatinAmerica9-2021
“COVID, Control, and Complicity: Human Rights Intersectionality in the Dead Spaces between Legal, Political, Normative, and Markets Regimes” Interest Group on International Business and Human Rights; Workshop: International Business and Human Rights: Changes in International Lawmaking (16th Annual Conference European Society of International Law; Stockholm University) 8 September2021 (Virtual).Backer_COVID_Complicity_IGBHR_8_Sept_2021
“Trust Platforms: The Digitalization of Corporate Governance and the Transformation of Trust in Polycentric Space.” Workshop Presentation Chinese Social Credit Reading Group 31 August 2021.TrustPlatforsm
“Cuba in the Era of Olokun: From the 8th Congress of the Cuban Communist Party to the July 11th Protest Movement and the Future of the Cuban Political-Economic Model.” Presentation at the 31st Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (13 August 2021). PowerPoint HERE:Backer_8Th_Congress_ASCE_2021
“Transparency, Good Governance at the African End of China’s Silk Road—Challenges and Opportunities,” PowerPoint of Presentation at the Conference: Belt and Road Initiative in Africa: Addressing the Issues of Debt, Dispute Resolution, and Transparency, 24 February 2021. PowerPoint HERE: Backer_BRI-Africa_Transparency-Governance2-2021
Discussant presentation for Aaron A. Dhir: “Black Star Line, Inc.: Race in the Historical Life of the Corporation.” Business and Human Rights Workshop Series, University of Connecticut Human Rights Institute, 19 February 2021. PowerPoint HERE:Backer_Discussant_Dhir_Black Star Line_UConn2-2021
“Entangling the Legalities of Utopia: New Terrains of Entanglement Among Traditional and Data Driven Governance.” Panel on “Invisible Drivers Behind Formal Law.” Virtual Conference: “Multiple Legalities: Conflict and Entanglement in the Global Legal Order,” sponsored by the Graduate Institute Geneva, and Humboldt University Berlin, 15 January 2021. ACCESS HERE: (1) Essay Backer_Think_Piece._Entangled_Legalities2021docx; (2) PowerPoint.Backer_PPT_Multiple LegalitiesCOnf_Jan_2021
“Cuba’s Response to COVID-19 and the Consequences for Cuba of the Pandemic.” Panel on Cuban Economy, Cuba-Venezuela Interactions. ASSA (American Economic Association) Virtual Conference, 3 January 2021.Backer-Gonzalez_Cuba_PandemicAEA2020
“From the Belt and Road Initiative to Social Credit Systems: Tech and Business Relations Between the US and China.” Presentation for Global China Connection Penn State Chapter Industry Expert Series (Virtual) 10 December 2020. Available HERE: PSU_Presentation_ChinaBusinessTech12-2020; Video Available HERE
“Platform Governance: Chinese Social Credit and Socialist Digital Markets.” Prepared for Virtual Workshop “Governance and Emerging Technological Change in China” Institute of East Asian Studies, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany 20 November 20, 2020 (virtually) ACCESS AND DOWNLOAD HERE:Backer_SocialCreditPlatforms_DuisbergEssen2020
“El estado del litigio en materia de cambio climático en los EEUU [The State of Climate Change Litigation in the USA]” Presentation for the I Congreso Italo-Español sobre la Lucha en clave judicial frente al cambio climático (First Italo-Spanish Congress on the Key Role of the Courts in the Fight Against Climate Change); 19 November 2020, Universitat Jaume I (virtually) Valencia Spain. ACCESS and DOWNLOAD PPT HERE:Climate_Litigation_US_2020
“COVID, Control, and Complicity in Rwanda: Human Rights Intersectionality in the Dead Spaces between Legal and Markets Regimes.” Presentation for Roundtable Sponsored by Penn State Law and School of International Affairs (21 October 2020 (Virtual). Access and Download PPT HERE:Backer_COVID_Complicity_Rwanda_PSLHuamnTightsSocirty_21October2020
“Chinese Social Credit and Pandemic.” Prepared for “Case Study on Personal Data—Social credit scoring models from China to Silicon Valley,” 3rd Annual Innovation and Technology Law Conference (all sessions conducted virtually) 2020 Theme-Data Justice: Legal and Policy Issues in Data Collection, Usage, and Ownership; Seattle University School of Law; Friday August 21, 2020. ACCESS AND DOWNLOAD PPT HERE: Backer_Seattle_SocialCreditPandemic.
“Belt and Road Initiative and the Future of Global Trade?” Prepared for Panel: Shifting Registers in International Economic Law and Development, 29 May 2020, Law and Society 2020 Annual Conference Online. ACCESS PPT HERE:Backer_BRI_LSA_2020
“Multinational Corporations as Objects and Sources of Transnational Law.” Delivered at the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Transnational Business Law: Erasing Borders” [Международная научно-практическая конференция “Транснациональное бизнес-право: стираем границы” ]hosted by the School of Law and Public Policy, Narxoz University, Almaty, Kazakhstan, 17 October 2019. DOWNLOAD POWERPOINT HERE: Kazahkstan_MNEs2019_Backer; ACCESS PAPER HERE.
“Blacklists and Social Credit Regimes in China,” Prepared for the interdisciplinary symposium Super-Scoring? Data-driven societal technologies in China and Western-style democracies as a new challenge for education.Cologne, Germany; October 11, 2019 DOWNLOAD HERE:Blacklists_SuperScoring_Backer10-2019 PAPER AVAILABLE HERE:Blacklists and Social Credit Regimes in China
“The Lawyer is not an Algorithm”: Remarks on the Ethical Responsibilities of Lawyers in Relation to Sustainability and Corruption (Presentation for the Joint Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP Business Law Forum, and the Wickwire Legal Ethics Lecture, “ The ethical and professional responsibilities of business lawyers: Business, Human Rights, and the Sustainable Development Goals;” Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia 26 September 2019)
“How to Become a Full Time Law Professor” PowerPoints to accompany Transcript of Remarks Delivered at the Panel Session, Panel 4G: How to Become a Full-Time Law Professor –A Workshop for Aspirants, 4th National People of Color Scholarship Conference: “People of Color and the Future of Democracy” (22 March 2019), American University Washington College of Law, Washington, D.C. Access PowerPoints HERE:Backer_How To Succeed NEPOC4 Access Transcript HERE .
Socialist Constitutional Democracy in the Age of Accountability (责), Remarks presented for the Panel: The Emerging Structures of Chinese Constitutionalism in the New Era; The 13th Annual Conference of the European China Law Studies Association; Turin, Italy 13 – 14 September 2018. DOWNLOAD VERSION HERE: Backer_ECLSA_2018
“Constitutional Rights and Obligations of Corporate Persons in the United States: Constitutional Methods and Mechanisms for Corporate Accountability in Business and Human Rights.” Panel on Constitutional Rights and Corporate Actors; ICON-S Conference, Hong Kong, 26 June 2018. Download PowerPoint HERE: ICONCorpConstOblgtnPRESENTATIONVERSION6-2018
“Human Rights Responsibilities of Social Media Companies and Regulation/Moderation of Content: Markets, Monitoring, Accountability.” Contribution to Roundtable on Human Rights and the Business of Social Media, Sponsored by City University of Hong Kong; Human Rights and Policy Forum, Hong Kong SAR., Monday, 25 June 2018. PowerPoint HERE: BHRWorkShopCUHK6-2018.
“Where Neither Corporate Nor International Law Converge: The Multinational Enterprise and Societal Frameworks.” Presentation at ASIL International Legal Theory Interest Group (ILTIG) Symposium, When Corporate and International Law Meet: Corporate Agency in a Global Context. Washington, D.C., 11 May 2018. ASILTillarHouseMNCsSocialNorms2018
“The Protection of the Rights of Corporations Under U.S. Constitutional Law.” Workshop presentation, East China University of Political Science and Law. Shanghai, China, 27 April 2018. ECUPLPresentation4-2018
“The Structures and Ideologies of Social Credit in the U.S.” conference, 欧美国家信用法治经验及对中国的启示 [Experiences of Credit Law Practices From the U.S. and European Countries and its Implications for China], hosted by 首都师范大学 信用立法与信用评估研究中心 [Capital Normal University Research Center for Credit Law and Credit Assessment], Beijing, PRC, April 25, 2018. SocialCreditWestBeijing4-2018_v3
“Designing an Ideal Curriculum for China’s One Belt One Road Initiative.” seminar presentation at Henan Normal University 河南师范大学 Law Faculty, Xin Xiang, Henan Province, PRC, on April 23, 2018. IdealOBORCurriculumV3
La debida diligencia de derechos humanos y las universidades/Human Rights Due Diligence and the University. FORO: RETOS Y DESAFÍOS DE LAS EMPRESAS Y LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS; Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Facultad de derecho y Consejería Presidencial para los Derechos Humanos. Panel 5: Empresas y derechos humanos: los retos desde la Academia; Bogotá, Colombia, 20 Marzo 2018. HRDD_University_Colombia_WEBSITE VERSION3-2018
La gobernanza multinivel en el ejercicio de la profesión legal en empresas y derechos humanos/Multilevel Governance and the exercise of the Legal Profession respecting business and Human Rights. FORO: RETOS Y DESAFÍOS DE LAS EMPRESAS Y LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS; Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Facultad de derecho y Consejería Presidencial para los Derechos Humanos. Panel 2: El ejercicio de la profesión legal y los derechos humanos; Bogotá, Colombia, 20 Marzo 2018. Backer_BHR_LegalServ_ForoBHR3-2018
The Obligation of States to Prevent Negative Effects to Human Life and Health Caused by Climate Change: The View from International Human Rights Frameworks. ESIL Research Forum on “International Disorder and Contestation,” Hebrew University of Jerusalem 28 Feb.- 1 March 2018. BackerESILClimateChange2-2018; For Presentation Summary HERE
“Corporations and the U.S. Constitution: Origin of Rights and Recent Trends.” Presentation for Seminar on the Constitutionalization of the Corporate Institution, East China University of Politics and Law, Shanghai, China, 23 October 2017. POWERPOINT SLIDES HERE: Backer_CorpConstitutonECUPL; 中文版 Revised Chinese Version Backer_CorpConstitutonECUPL
“The (In)Visible Corporation: Asset Partitioning and Corporate Personality for an Emerging Age.” Paper delivered at the International Conference: The Corporation in a Changing World . International Commercial Law Center Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai, China, 21-22 October 2017. POWERPOINT SLIDES HERE: Backer_Corp(In)Visibility_Conf10-2017; 中文版 Chinese Backer_CorpInVisibility_Conf10-2017
“Governance Polycentrism–Hierarchy and Order Without Government in Business and Human Rights Regulation.” Presentation for Seminar Corporate Governance, Governance Regimes and the Management of the Human Rights Effects of Economic Activity, University of Manchester; Alliance Manchester Business School, Manchester, UK., 12 October 2017. POWERPOINT SLIDES HERE:Backer-Collissions_Manchester10-2017
“Measurement, Assessment and Reward: The Challenges of Building Institutionalized Social Credit and Rating Systems in China and in the West.” Paper delivered at the International Conference: International Symposium on Rule of Law & Social Credit Systems. KoGuan Law School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, September 23, 2017. POWERPOINT SLIDES HERE: Backer_MeasurementPPT
“Foreign Investment in Cuba: Law, Policy, and Practicalities.” Presentation for the 27th Annual Conference Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy Miami, Florida; 28 July 2017. ACSE_CLE_PPT_Backer_2017
The State of CSR in the United States (December 14, 2015) The PowerPoints of that presentation can be accessed here.
Rule of Law, the Chinese Communist Party Basic Line, and Judicial Reform (法治，中国共产党基本路线原则，以及司法改革) (December 11, 2015) ENGLISH AND CHINESE VERSIONS AVAILABLE
Stress Points and Structural Challenges for the Continued Viability of the University Faculty Senate (September 2013)
The Proletarian Corporation (2012)
´The Artist´: Legality and Legitimacy in the Savage Lands of Governance. (April 16, 2012).
Governance Without Government or Government Without the State: An Inquiry. (March 1, 2012).
Transparency and Business in International Environmental Law. (Jan. 18-21, 2012).