Framework Of Settlement Research Articles

Examining responses to informality in the Global South: A framework for community land trusts and informal settlements

Informality has been a predominant source of affordable housing for the urban poor in the Global South. Despite many efforts to eliminate and/or improve informal settlements, these communities still prevail as one of the only housing options for low-income households burdened by exclusion, dispossession, and stigma. This article evaluates the potential for and impediments to community land trusts (CLTs) as an alternative response to informality. We compare the CLT model to predominant policy responses to informality to understand it strengths and weaknesses. Based on this analysis, we propose a conceptual framework delineating the main conditions necessary to implement the CLT model within informal settlements in the Global South. This framework informs the work of communities, governments, practitioners, and researchers pursuing an alternative response to housing informality. This study expands the existing understanding about CLTs and their possibilities for application in the Global South.

The Politics of Shelter: Understanding Outcomes in Three African Cities

This paper analyses the politics of shelter provision in three African cities, focusing on the needs of and provision for the low- and middle-income residents. Housing is a priority for low- and middle-income households. Governments influence multiple facets of land and shelter and affect the shelter options realisable for urban residents. The significance of housing to citizen wellbeing means that housing policy and programming is attractive to politicians seeking popular support. The framework of political settlements is used to structure the analysis. In all three cities, national political elites seek to influence housing outcomes. In the two capital cities, elites use clientelism (backed up by violence) to advantage themselves and secure rents for influential local groups (or factions). Territorial controls are used by elites to influence electoral outcomes, while approaches to housing help to gain legitimacy through strengthening paradigmatic ideas that encapsulate a vision for development. To date, the framework has primarily been applied to the national level. Hence, this application is both novel and a test of the framework’s relevance at this spatial scale and with this sectoral focus.

Visualization in models of transformation of social space of the Eurasian macroregion: the example of the Urals

The relevance of the topic determines a lot of structural socio- economic changes associated with both globalization and crisis processes. Such changes affect various aspects of spatial development, including the transformation of social space. Prospects for research into the transformation of social space in such conditions are largely related to the development of complex problem-adapted systems of models and the use of computer technologies – visualization tools. These models consider the interconnected spatial objects most significant for transformation. Such objects include zones of transport corridors and agglomeration processes. The purpose of the research results presented in the article is to determine and approbate a number of provisions, the spatial development of the macroregion, as a complex heterogeneous multilevel socio-economic system. The key issues here are the construction of a multilevel framework of social space when adapting local models. In the study, the base was the territory of the macroregion of the “Big Urals”. The peculiarities of the methodology, first of all, are related to the issues: determination of the most significant elements of the structure and characteristics of the transformation of social space and building a system of information- adapted models. The following issues are considered here: problem- oriented zoning of territories, transformation of the settlement framework, integration of the most significant objects of social transformations. The main results of the research are related to the possibilities of significantly expanding the class of tasks for managing regional and municipal development, solving problems of strategic planning and forming programs for the development of territories.

The Political Economy of Central Bank Effectiveness: The Case of National Bank of Rwanda

In a survey conducted in Rwanda by the Pockets of Effectiveness project, the Central Bank was listed as among the top-performing government organisations in the country. This paper examines the political determinants of the portrayal of the National Bank of Rwanda’s (BNR) achievement of its mandate: promoting price and financial stability. The paper uses the political settlements framework to highlight the political determinants of financial sector reforms in the country. Rwanda’s underlying political economy – and particularly the government’s evolving relationships with domestic capital vis-a-vis foreign capital – has contributing to shaping the Rwandan financial sector’s trajectory. In particular, the Rwandan government has prioritised a strategy of being a financial sector hub, which is based on increased global financial integration and portraying the achievement of ‘best practice’ reforms. These goals have come at the cost of traditional developmentalists goals for central banks, including direct lending for structural transformation. BNR has achieved success in its mandate. However, achieving success in its market-led mandate reduces the policy tools at its disposal to promote structural transformation. The paper argues that reforming BNR along neoliberal lines has mirrored the broader macro-strategy of the country, with the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) choosing to rely increasingly on legitimacy with external actors, rather than supporting the growth of strengthening domestic state– business relationships to support economic transformation.

Features of territorial organization of population resettlement of the coastal strip of the Ukrainian Black Sea Region

This article deals with the features of population settlement within the Ukrainian Black Sea region and its coastal zone. It is emphasized that the problems of coastal resettlement, the factors that determine it, are highlighted in the works of foreign and Ukrainian scientists. The purpose of the work is to find out the features of the population settlement in the region of the Ukrainian Black Sea region. In the studied region, due to the territorial differentiation of economic activity, change in the intensity of economic use of the territory and the population density can be distinguished by the coastal, middle and peripheral economic zones. It was established that the supporting framework of urban settlement in the Ukrainian Black Sea region is characterized by a fairly sparse network, and the settlement process itself is in many respects still in the stage of formation, incompleteness. Unlike the whole region, for the coastal zone, the more prevalent network of urban settlements, which are represented within the coastal zone not only by small and medium, but also large cities (Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kherson), has contributed to the formation of urban agglomerations with wide distribution functions. In the zones of attraction of large cities, a new type of settlement was formed - in fact, suburban. In the Odesa metropolitan area, there are two powerful, fast-developing planning axes - Odesa- Chornomorsk and Odessa-Yuzhne. Seaside-facade linear planning organization agglomeration repeats the restructuring of the territorial structure of Odesa itself, which in the second half of the twentieth century turned from a city with a compact building pattern into a linear city, stretching along the sea bay. In the coastal zone of the Ukrainian Black Sea region, which occupies one third of the region’s area, live 65.0% of the total number of inhabitants of the region. The density of urban settlement network here is 1.5-2.0 times higher than the average indicators of the region, urban processes in the coastal zone are characterized by greater intensity. Small cities of the coastal zone in genetic typing are mainly seaport cities, urban-type settlements, and resort and recreation in character. More than 40% of the rural population is concentrated in the coastal regions and tends to agglomeration, which, in its turn, causes a steady flow of the settlement network from areas remote from the centers of economic activity. In the last 5 years, the demographic situation, both in the region as a whole and in the coastal zone, has deteriorated significantly, and here, as in other districts, depopulation is evident. The prospects for the development of the coastal resettlement system are directly related to the further intensification of maritime and recreational activities, and, first of all, with the development of recreational, tourist and port infrastructure.

The Successes and Failures of Economic Reform in Nigeria’s Post-Military Political Settlement

ABSTRACT There are limitations in the explanatory power of prevailing theories on the political economy of Africa’s growth without industrialization that emphasize the resource-curse, ethnicity, neopatrimonialism, and the developmental state. This article uses a political settlements approach to explain the institutional underpinnings of Nigeria’s economic transition. It shows how external constraints on ruling elites interact with the distribution of power and institutions to stimulate episodic reforms in an ‘intermediate’ Nigerian state. Rather than a ‘developmental’ state presiding over industrial upgrading or a ‘predatory’ state operating solely on neopatrimonial basis, this intermediate state presides over selective reforms and bursts of economic growth and diversification. Thus, specific constraints in Nigeria’s post-military political settlement from 1999 generated the initial impetus for successful telecoms liberalization, while inhibiting growth in the oil sector. This article contributes to advancing the political settlements framework in applying it to resource-rich countries, by outlining the four dimensions of the distribution of power and the constraints for institutional persistence or change, and their varying economic implications. It also reclaims the concept of ‘elite bargains’ as a defining feature of the horizontal distribution of power and demonstrates its centrality to the durability or fragility of institutions, especially at critical junctures of resource booms and busts.

POLITICAL SETTLEMENTS: ANTARA KONSEP DAN REALITAS

Political Settlements are often identified with post-conflict conditions. Basically the main idea of political settlements is a shared understanding among the elites in the context of power distribution. Common understanding is interpreted as an agreement on the negotiations carried out, which is intended for the continuity of the overall system after the conflict. Thus the study of political settlements will show how the elites, both the formal elite and the informal elite, as well as other institutions in the community carry out strategies or strategies to establish legitimacy. The political agreement also negotiates the distribution of available resources. Thus the power relations that occur will restore the classic concept of power from Laswell namely Who Gets What, When and How, showing who has power in the agreement. As political agreements emerge as a strategy for cooperation rather than competition, in order to secure their interests, it takes days or even centuries, to be renewed continuously. Those who agree would continue to contest and are subject to renegotiation. The result would be new regulations or policies in the context of maintaining the status quo. Therefore, the political settlement framework did not state that the emergence of each policy reflects the balance of power in a country. Although in reality political agreement occurs in every political action, but in concept not many people use it in political analysis. This paper tried to describe the development of the concept of political agreement by examining the level of reality.

Purdue Pharma Proposes Plan to Settle Opioid Lawsuits

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Government & LegalFull AccessPurdue Pharma Proposes Plan to Settle Opioid LawsuitsNick ZagorskiNick ZagorskiSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:10 Oct 2019https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2019.10b6AbstractThe proposed plan involves turning Purdue into a “public trust fund,” through which profits from Oxycontin and other drugs would be used to settle plaintiffs’ claims. Many states suing the company for its role in the opioid epidemic remain opposed to this deal.Purdue Pharma LP—the maker of the opioid OxyContin (oxycodone)—in September announced that it had reached a tentative agreement to settle a landmark lawsuit over the company’s role in contributing to the nation’s opioid crisis.iStock/PureradiancephotoPer the settlement framework, the pharmaceutical giant filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Following the dissolution of the company, Purdue would be restructured into what’s called a “public benefit trust”—a for-profit business model that allows profits to be used to improve the public good. This new company would continue selling OxyContin and other drugs but would use the profits to settle the plaintiffs’ claims. The new company would also continue to research and develop medications for opioid addiction and overdose, which would be made available to states and communities at no or low cost.The Sackler family would relinquish ownership of Purdue (as well as their other pharmaceutical assets) as part of the settlement and contribute $3 billion to the claim. Neither the company nor the Sackler family would admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement. In total, Purdue Pharma estimated the settlement would be worth $10 billion to $12 billion.Given that this national lawsuit against Purdue includes over 2,000 plaintiffs from state and local governments across the country, the reaction to the settlement terms has been split. As Psychiatric News went to press, 25 state attorneys general (plus the District of Columbia) were opposed to the deal, while 23 have agreed in principle to the terms. Kentucky and Oklahoma previously reached their own settlements with company.The major complaint among attorneys general opposing the settlement is that the Sackler family is getting off easy—both in monetary forfeiture and personal responsibility for their role in the opioid crisis. They cited evidence that the Sacklers were well aware of the risks of Oxycontin yet continued to push for aggressive marketing to line their pockets. (A recent Forbes estimate suggests the family is worth around $13 billion, largely from sales of their opioid painkiller.)“We have to ask ourselves, if we want real accountability for this wrongdoing, where should the money come from? Should it come from future sales of addictive and deadly drugs, as Purdue has proposed, or should it come from the Sacklers themselves?” wrote Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey in a Washington Post opinion piece.Others have questioned Purdue’s estimated $10 billion to $12 billion valuation of the deal.Those that support the deal—such as attorneys general from hard-hit states like Ohio and Tennessee—see it as a necessary path to get much-needed resources to communities affected by opioid use.“The only alternative involves years of additional litigation in the forlorn hope of getting more personal money for corporate conduct,” noted Ohio Attorney General David Yost in a statement.The settlement negotiations are ongoing in bankruptcy court. The Federal Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in White Plains, New York, will make the final decision on the approval, rejection, or potential modification of this deal.As part of the bankruptcy process, Purdue Pharma has been removed as a defendant from a federal trial in Ohio (scheduled to begin October 21), in which Summit and Cuyahoga counties are suing multiple pharmaceutical companies and distributors for creating a “public nuisance” that led to thousands of opioid addictions and deaths in these counties.Some news reports indicate that several other drug manufacturers named as defendants in the trial, including Allergan and Johnson & Johnson, have begun exploring a pathway in which they would contribute money to the new public trust company as part of a global settlement. ■ ISSUES NewArchived

Post‐‘Brexit’ Financial Governance: Which Dispute Settlement Framework Should Be Utilised?

AbstractThis contribution to the ongoing Brexit discussions addresses topical legal and regulatory issues in the post‐Brexit policy debate, especially the questions surrounding the important area of financial governance and dispute resolution. Specifically, a number of future UK/EU legal disputes with respect to financial services may emerge post‐Brexit. The article examines the UK's track record at the Court of Justice of the European Union, and discusses some likely future challenges. It then considers which institutional framework should be used for resolving disagreements. The article assesses the strengths and weaknesses of three potential models (the proposed Swiss/EU institutional framework; the EFTA ‘docking’ option; and the WTO system) and provides an original cross‐model evaluation. It also discusses the associated design challenges that EU and UK negotiators may encounter in the attempt to devise a post‐Brexit dispute settlement system.

The Role of Principles and General Principles in the \u2018Constitutional Processes\u2019 of International Law

The fundamental elements of the international legal system remain subject to debate. Constitutionalism is merely the latest instalment of this continuing conversation on the very nature of international law. In this context certain foundational aspects may be labelled as the system’s ‘constitutional processes’. The primary argument presented in this article is that principles and ‘general principles of law’, two frequently overlooked categories of norms, are particularly useful tools for the enhancement of these constitutional processes. While often conflated, principles and general principles are distinct, performing different roles in the architecture of the international legal system. Renewed attention and debate on the norms beyond treaties and custom is critical for the enhancement of international law’s systemic features. Two broad examples are given in support of this claim. First, general principles of law have the potential to add substance to the notion of an international community and the role of this community in the creation of international norms. Second, the legal framework for the judicial settlement of international disputes can be rendered more robust through the use of principles and general principles of law. While attempting to redesign or reconceptualise the system, constitutionalists have failed to actually engage with the system. Yet, the popularity of the constitutionalism debate presents an opportunity to re-examine the system’s constituent norms and consider their potential to strengthen international law’s constitutional processes.

Exploring wellbeing in human settlements - A spatial planning perspective

This paper explores wellbeing as a central concept in the larger conceptual framework of human settlement planning that combines ongoing debates related to climate change, sustainability, resilience, earth jurisprudence and builds upon similar recent research. As more and more people are living in larger settlements, there is growing a curiosity as well as need to understand what wellbeing is and how it can be understood from the spatial planning perspective. Prominent contemporary global policy documents including the New Urban Agenda (NUA) advocate cities to foster people's wellbeing by incorporating it in planning practices. However, there is a dearth of research that explores wellbeing in human settlements from the spatial planning perspective. This paper presents an interdisciplinary understandings of wellbeing and proposes the wheel of wellbeing in human settlements which consists of four pillars, participation and engagement, access, identity and safety. It also discusses the linkage between wellbeing and sustainable development and argues that by focusing on the wellbeing of people, settlements can become more resilient and sustainable. It further highlights prominent spatial features of wellbeing and the increasing attention that wellbeing is getting in policy formulations. Finally it concludes that even though a universal definition of wellbeing remains arguable, understanding wellbeing in human settlements as a spectrum of attributes and aspects that depend upon their context, can assist in formulating policies that enhance the wellbeing of people and make settlements more sustainable and resilient.

The Harms Caused: A Narrative of Intergenerational Responsibility

Born out of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the Independent Assessment Process is a program that provides monetary compensation to former students who suffered sexual and physical abuse at Indian Residential Schools. As “Canada’s Representative” during hearings of the Independent Assessment Process, this author, a young lawyer at the time, bore witness to grizzly accounts of acts perpetrated against claimants that left her unsettled. Unsettled by what was heard, yes, but also in her observations that the process did not satisfy the needs of all claimants, nor did it engage with her own sense of responsibility as a non-Indigenous Canadian.
 The author weaves together her experiences and observations as “Canada’s Representative” to explore intergenerational justice in a Canadian setting, and what processes might offer a more complete approach in handling the Indian Residential Schools legacy. First, shecanvasses the existing framework of dispute settlement in the context of Indian Residential Schools, namely criminal, tort, and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. While pointing out the strengths these mechanisms do have to address some of the harms of Indian Residential Schools, she ultimately suggests their inherent legal limitations make them inadequate tools to provide redress to victims and engage society more broadly.
 The author goes on to define transitional justice, set out its established tenets and themes, and begins to map out a Canadian application of these principles to the Indian Residential Schools policy by drawing on examples from Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. These principles take shape as innovative instruments for advancing the goals of reconciliation and of Canadian society. They are not without their own flaws, however, as the author also points out, that may affect how Canadians—in particular, non-Indigenous Canadians—view their legitimacy.
 Lastly, the author analyzes prevailing views of societal responsibility to provide a normative underpinning for intergenerational justice in a Canadian context. She concludes by advocating Canadians move from a stance of guilt and blame toward one of a broad assumption of responsibility as they continue to grapple with the legacy of Indian Residential Schools.

The Concept of Potential Spatial Frameworks of Historical Settlements

The topic of the article arose on the basis of the current promises of recent times, which largely determine the creative tasks of both practicing architects and scientists in the field of theory and history of architecture: the implementation of the priority project "The formation of a comfortable urban environment", the all-Russian contest "Historical settlements and small towns", the formation in the Russian Federation of a newlist of historical settlements, which is being worked on by the Association "Russian province" scientific and expert Council. The article introduces the concept of "potential spatial framework of historical settlement", which is formed as an integral one on the basis of natural-ecological, historical- cultural, social and business spatial frameworks of the city. Depending on the "dominant" dictating a particular type of potential spatial framework, it can be museum and exhibition, cultural and educational, pilgrimage, tourist, ethnographic, etc. Frameworks nodes fix respectively valuable natural landscapes, objects of cultural heritage, elements of the system of service. Axes - transport and pedestrian communications carried out at different hierarchical levels: connection of cultural heritage objects in a historical settlement; connection of transit public spaces; communication within districts; connection of historical settlements with each other; their connection with a large city. Public space is considered as a typological unit of the architectural environment; which merged its natural, historical and social components. In the creation of potential spatial frameworks in small historical cities and historical centers oflarge cities, where the basis of spatial development are monuments of architecture and it is possible to implement the principle of continuity of the public spaces, the approach to the revitalization of historical settlements is seen.

Geographic and Spatial Assimilation of Immigrants from Central America's Northern Triangle

AbstractWith declines in migration from Mexico, the countries of the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA) – El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala – are now responsible for some of the largest increases in the population density of Latinos in the United States. Using data from the 5‐year estimates of the 2016 American Community Survey and the Atlas of Rural and Small‐Town America, this article provides a spatial framework for settlement among NTCA immigrants in America. Findings illustrate that, unlike previous streams of Latino migration, which tended to be more agriculturally driven, NTCA immigrants are likely to choose settlement destinations in densely populated counties which support manufacturing rather than those which are farming dependent. We also find that while NTCA communities are predominant in new destinations like Prince Georges and Montgomery counties Maryland, they are also dominant in older Latino destinations like Harris County, Texas and Los Angeles county, California.

Family Law Property Settlements: A Liberal Theoretical Framework for Law Reform

This article sets out a law reform framework for family property settlements, drawn expressly from a theoretical foundation. It applies Rawls’ theory of justice, which falls under a liberal philosophical umbrella. It explains the choice of a liberal theory for use in family property settlements and constituent elements of Rawls' theory of justice. Drawn from Rawls' theory, four foundation principles emerge. These are the rule of law (including transparency, consistency, and clear purpose), non-discrimination between spouses, recognition of financial disadvantage, and priority to the economic interests of children. From those principles, this article constructs the elements of a potential alternative property settlement law combining a rule of equal division while retaining judicial discretion for specific purposes.

Factors Influencing the Rural Settlement Development

The paper contains research results in modelling settlement basic framework. The settlement basic framework components were considered. They are historical-cultural, natural-ecological, transport-communication and settlement frameworks. Necessary and sufficient criteria for an integrated assessment of rural settlement basic framework were justified. The research methodological basis were system approach, comparative method and cartographic modeling. A settlement potential cartogram for Mogilev region has been compiled. Based on research results some recommendations have been formulated for determining the strategic approaches of Mogilev region sustainable development, taking into account the perspective of rural settlement.

Пространственная динамика численности населения малых городов Центральной России в постсоветский период

Small cities are the most vulnerable part of the urban settlement system of Russia: their depopulation has been rooted not only in the demographic crisis of the 1990s, but has also been triggered by the rapid migration outflows. In Central Russia, this process is more obvious due to Moscow metropolitan area which is absorbing the migration flows even from the big cities that are also losing their population. However, the pace of population shrinkage is not even and depends on the ability of the city’s economy to make the most of the city’s functional profile and adjust to the changes of the economic environment. This article focuses on the analysis of the most important factors which enable some small cities of Central Russia to maintain or even increase their population and cause population outflows from other cities. The article identifies the patterns of those factors in the spatial aspect. The results of the study suggest that the spatial dynamics of the population of Central Russia observed in the post-Soviet period leads to a thinning of the urban settlement framework which is a consequence of the transition of a number of medium-sized cities to the category of small ones and an increase in the share of “ultrasmall” cities with a population of less than 10 thousand people.

Rethinking Elite Commitment to Social Protection in Ghana: Insights from an Adapted Political Settlements Approach

This paper explores the political economy drivers of Ghana’s flagship cash transfer programme, Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP). In contrast to existing accounts of the LEAP as a domestically driven cash transfer scheme, the evidence here shows that donor pressures, leveraged through financing, played a more prominent role than the paradigmatic ideas of domestic political elites in shaping the adoption of the LEAP. Despite the recent discovery of oil and the country’s subsequent ascension to middle-income status, donors remain important players in the Ghanaian political economy, given their dominance in the investment component of government’s budget and the resultant inability of political elites to generate the rents that are so badly needed for meeting various redistributive demands without donor financing. However, once the LEAP was adopted, domestic political calculations and the incentives generated by Ghana’s political settlement dynamics took centre stage in shaping the actual implementation of the programme, especially around questions of targeting and geographical coverage, and the prioritisation of reforms with more visible impact that could be leveraged upon to win competitive elections. These findings suggest that an adapted political settlements framework that goes beyond domestic political calculus, and which explicitly incorporates the influence of ideational and transnational factors, can greatly improve our understanding of the political economy drivers of social protection in Africa.

Comparison of built‐up area maps produced within the global human settlement framework

AbstractThe validation of built‐up areas derived from different sensors is crucial for gaining a deeper understanding of the consistency and interoperability between them. This article presents the methodology and results of an inter‐sensor comparison of built‐up area data derived from Landsat, Sentinel‐1, Sentinel‐2, and SPOT5/SPOT6. The assessment was performed for 13 cities across the world for which cartographic reference building footprints were available. Several validation approaches were used: cumulative built‐up curve analysis, pixel‐by‐pixel performance metrics, and regression analysis. The results indicate that Sentinel‐1 and Sentinel‐2 contribute greatly to improved built‐up area detection compared to Landsat, within the global human settlement framework. However, Sentinel‐2 tends to show high omission errors while Landsat tends to have the lowest omission error. The built‐up area obtained from SPOT5/SPOT6 shows high consistency with the reference data for all European cities, and hence can potentially be considered as a reference dataset for wall‐to‐wall validation in Europe.

К вопросу о правомерности применения воен- ной силы иностранными государствами (на примере Сирии).

INTRODUCTION. Military interventions in Syria by the US and its allies confirm a tendency in the policy of Western countries to ignore international law and to act in accordance with the “rule of force”, without the sanction of the UN Security Council. Russia, as a state that respects its sovereignty and international law, does not accept this approach. Russia stands for diplomatic dialogue at all venues in order to stop destabilization in international relations, including the confrontation in Syria, and to find proper legal solutions. The article recommends specific options for such solutions. MATERIALS AND METHODS. The study relies on such legal sources as the UN Charter, generally recognized principles of international law, UN Security Council resolutions, the Joint Statement of the Presidents of Russia and the United States on Syria of November 11, 2017, the joint press conference of the Presidents of Russia and the United States in Helsinki on July 17, 2018 as well as scientific studies of Russian and foreign researches. The research involved general scientific and comparative legal and historical methods of study. RESEARCH RESULTS. The author concludes that the United States and its allies using military force in Syria act in violation of the UN Charter. Russia, on the contrary, uses its military contingent in Syria in full accordance with the provisions of the UN Charter on the collective self-defense, at the request of the legitimate government of Syria. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. The author makes a concrete proposal for the search of a peaceful settlement in Syria on the basis of the Joint Statement, which was approved by the Presidents of Russia and the United States in November 11, 2017 following their meeting on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Danang, Vietnam. The author advocates that Russian and American experts jointly reconsider main elements of this document and provide an up-dated version with due account of new realities, and submit it to the UN Security Council for the adoption of a consensus resolution that would lay down the international legal framework for a peaceful settlement in Syria.