
| Aid | Arbitration | Business |
| Energy | Environment | European Community |
| Extradition | Forum Selection | Human Rights |
| IMF | Intellectual Property | International/Foreign Relations |
| Law of the Sea | Laws of War | Multinational Peacekeeping |
| Nationality | Research | Self-Defense |
| States | Terrorism | United Nations |
| Publishers Information |
There has been a virtual glut of civil wars and other forms of internal violence, particularly in
the aftermath of the Cold War. IGOs, NGOs, and a host of private organizations have attempted
to rehabilitate the affected societies during and after the cessation of hostilities. The authors of
the thirteen chapters in this collection of essays generally observe that the traditional economic aid
approach to resurrecting such societies does not do enough--political and social factors must play
a larger role in the rebuilding process.
The fundamental inquiries of this study are thus as follows: which sectors of society require
assistance for promoting true economic stability and economic growth? What lessons may be
drawn from past experience, to augment the likelihood of future success? How should the players
coordinate policy so as to ensure successful implementation? Sufficient attention to these queries
will avert renewed conflicts, a lesson learned the hard way from the "aid-only" approach.
Given the comparatively limited caseload of institutions like the International Court of Justice
and the Permanent Court of Arbitration, one may conveniently look to the work of the Iran-U.S.
Claims Tribunal as a major source of decisional law for contributions to the progressive
development of international commercial and expropriation-related law. This particular work
provides a scholarly but practical insight into the work of the Tribunal--authored by the only
member to have served continuously since its inception in 1981. Further, it succinctly summarizes
the work product of the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal, consisting of twenty-seven volumes and
several hundred individual decisions.
Judge Aldrich, who doubles as Professor of International Humanitarian Law at Leiden
University, captures the essence of the substantive case law and associated procedural
frustrations. This publication conveniently arranges the Tribunal's work into a well-organized
restatement of a vast work product reduced to one informative text. The author also provides a
balanced perspective--highlighting both the pluses and minuses on the balance sheet of this
prominent institution.
Because the work of the institution is nearing completion, this text is timely and a virtually
indispensable adjunct to libraries and any international arbitration practice collection focusing on
the host of issues spawned by the claims against Iran resulting from the so-called "Iranian Hostage
Crisis" of 1979-1980.
This is a user-friendly text, containing a number of useful forms for the banker or legal
professional in need of authoritative coverage on a traditionally technical subject. The convenient
organizational format lends itself to the quick access needed by busy users seeking a commentary
directed to the reader and not just experienced colleagues in the field.
The seventeen chapters thus include offerings on essential definitions, nomenclature, basic
mechanics, an analysis of relevant portions of the American Law Institute's Uniform Commercial
Code, the International Chamber of Commerce's Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary
Credits, jurisdiction/choice of law, and an array of other practice analyses designed to direct the
reader through a commercial minefield filled with traps for the unwary. For example, Chapters 12
and 13 provide an anatomy of sample forms (Chap. 12) and associated language and procedure
for obtaining desired results with the proper form and clauses (Chap. 13). Chapter 14 then
presents illustrative transactions. The authors further facilitate access to content via their tables of
cases and UCC/UCP references. (3rd ed. Butterworths, 1994)
[692].
The Energy Charter is a significant cog in a wheel consisting of trade, investment, commerce,
development, and the environment. It is the culmination of negotiations spawned by the 1991
European Energy Charter, and conclusion of the 1994 Energy Treaty and its related agreements
focusing on long-term Eurasian energy needs.
The twenty-seven chapters by various authors present an integrated package which would
satiate all readers, regardless of experience level. After an informative overview, Part One
provides the context for the negotiations--essentially the need for investment in the CIS countries,
as influenced by the geopolitics of Eurasian energy. Parts 2 and 3 are a chronicle of the region's
energy process, focusing on the perspectives of affected countries and industries (including
material on the rationale for US resistence to this process and relations with the European
Union).
Part 4 covers essentials of the regional investment habitat, including the bilateral treaty regime and
the potential impact of nationalization and associated arbitration models. Part 5 focuses on the
trade regime: complete with Uruguay Round, GATT, and TRIMs analyses. Part 6 explores the
relation between transit, the environment, and regional competition. Part 7 assesses the
traditional treaty performance nemeses of implementation and compliance.
This collection of essays--well-conceived in terms of organization, expertise, and
readability--is a "must" for any international collection purporting to contain key titles as broad as
the aftermath of the Cold War, and as specific as any of the numerous subject areas previously
mentioned in this review.
This collection of essays contains eighteen chapters devoted to covering the waterfront of
international environmental issues. Some seventy contributors have joined to produce a scholarly
assessment of the state of legal issues concerning the environment. A very useful appendix
conveniently offers the principal treaties, protocols, and draft charters between the same two
covers.
This work is "chock full" of lively reading. Each chapter includes a subsection debate on some
fundamental problem in this field of law. This publication thus serves the teacher--who wishes to
use an interactive format, the general reader--who craves intellectually stimulating coverage, and
the scholar--who seeks authoritative coverage from a host of experts in the field.
This book analyses the intricacies of the Basel Convention, the centerpiece of the regime for
controlling hazardous waste in International Law, and related environmental treaties for
controlling its transboundary shipment. The book casts well-deserved attention on the 1989 Basel
Convention as the first global attempt to devise standards for controlling the increasing
international traffic in, and accidents involving, some very toxic substances. The major problem is
that the industrialized nations are dumping such wastes into nations with less advanced
technological capability to house them and minimal legal standards for protecting their
environment.
Although the Basel Convention entered into force in 1992, and a number of local and regional
control measures have been touted, many problems remain. These are addressed in this succinct
but authoritative analysis. The author examines the roots of the Basel Convention and the scope
of its various provisions. She explores its relationship with regional environmental instruments
including the O.A.U., E.U., and O.E.C.D. instruments on managing the exportation of hazardous
waste. The Basel Convention is appropriately identified as a starting point, but not much more,
for developing a regime that can effectively control this macabre facet of international trade.
There has been a vast quantity of written material about most facets of the European
Community. Now, one has access to a comparatively short but complete treatment of the legal
rights of private parties in the Community's legal process. The author, who teaches E.C. Law at
Cambridge, has assembled a succinct analysis of judicial review for challenging Community
administrative action. One may thus seek an annulment, for example, via the evolving process for
alternative review by private individuals and legal persons adversely affected by various E.C.
measures.
This is a refreshing perspective, because it directly tackles those situations where private
parties can expect to be frustrated by arguably inadequate methods of redress. The author
identifies the circumstances whereby one must distinguish between access to Community organs
via actions for annulment, actions for failure to act, indirect pleas for declarations of illegality (in
Part One), and other methods for seeking relief (in Part II). She vividly illustrates the major
limitation on private enforcement arising under treaty-based locus standi requirements.
An English Barrister, licensed to practice in the U.S., and a distinguished American law
professor have joined forces to produce what may be come the authoritative text on the European
Community's "constitutional law." While the E.C. does not have a constitution as such, the
absence of a single written document does not equate to the absence of a constitutional law
governing E.C. Members and their constituents. The uniqueness of the Community's evolution is
also a tribute to this process, because the legal traditions in the various components of the E.C.
represent a diversity of law, culture, and politics--especially, now that the pressures have mounted
to incorporate new members from the former Soviet bloc.
The authors have done a credible job in organizing and analyzing the array of threads which
form the fundamental constitutional principles of the E.C. as an. They explore the sometimes
rather obscure lines dividing the executive and legislative powers, the relations between the
respective laws of state members and the organization, and the rights and obligations of citizens
vis-a-vis the state and the international organization.
Professors considering an expansion of their international curriculum, practitioners in search of
the fundamentals of constitutional limitations on Community power, and others desiring a broader
perspective on the law of international organization will find this work (and its well-conceived
documentary supplement containing treaties, protocols, and member-state declarations)
a useful addition to their respective libraries.
This author needs no introduction to anyone versed in International Law. The Third Edition
of his casebook comes at a time when extradition has become a far more prominent feature of the
day-to-day discourse in newspapers, treaty practice, and academic offerings. Professor Bassiouni
has fortunately retained the same organization as the 1987 edition, enriched by his relatively
extensive practice in international criminal law throughout his career.
The casebook's focus is on U.S. practice: the essentials involving the executive branch's
treaty-making power, as implemented through its foreign relations practice, and as scrutinized by
the judiciary. It thus covers matters of asylum, constitutional law, immigration, and related
judicial procedure in the federal courts. But the book is not limited to just U.S. sources for
assessing the validity of executive action. Thus, one may glean a useful perspective of not only
the U.S. practice of criminal law, but also expectations arising under International Humanitarian
Law as well. A very useful appendix carries an array of relevant conventions, protocols, bilateral
treaties, and U.N. documents/resolutions.
Any school contemplating an expansion in its international curriculum should consider offering
an extradition elective conveniently premised on this coursebook. Practitioners would do well to
include this text in their library of authoritative resources.
A dozen prominent contributors have herein assembled a useful and insightful work about
forum selection in international contracts. They initially presented their respective expertise in
papers presented in an annual colloquium, focusing this year on the legal regime for regulating
international forum selection.
One may thus obtain guidance on how to mitigate the frustrating effects of concurrent
jurisdiction via forum selection clauses and arbitration agreements, the identity of relevant
provisional and protective measures, and when to anticipate judicial control of what some
jurisdictions might consider an improper forum selection scheme.
The first part of this collection of essays addresses Party Control over Forum Selection, such
as acceptable clauses and the arbitration paradigm under the major international treaties governing
international dispute resolution. The next part of the book covers Provisional and Protective
Measures, including extraterritorial provisional measures and measures in aid of foreign
proceedings. The final part assesses the regime on Judicial Regulation of Improper Forum
Selections, including the role of the US as a magnet for selection, adequacy of an alternative
forum, and an array of "Do's and Don'ts."
There have been far to few works on the vast corpus of issues involving the so-called "Fourth
World:" indigenous inhabitants of many states who are culturally distinct but without sufficient
representation in national and International Law. Professor Anaya has hereby made a splendid
contribution to filling this void. The timing of this book's release is most appropriate, given the
recent apology of the Australian state of New South Wales over its forced assimilation program
authorizing abductions of aboriginal children from their parents.
The author assesses the plight of various indigenous populations of the world. Colonization
and resulting land reforms adversely affected them, while International Law historically ignored
them. Now, however, the U.N. and other international organizations have bred an awakened
interest in the humanitarian aspects of their resulting existence. Professor Anaya assesses the
modern institutions and procedures for national and international recognition and potential cures
for assimilating indigenous peoples into modern normative behavior.
The timing of this human rights-oriented study of state immunity coincides with the recent
U.S. amendments to its Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act regarding terrorist states, and this
year's German court decision holding Iran responsible for homicides against Kurds on German
territory. The resulting flood of attention to state abuse, historically protected from judicial
analysis under the cloak of sovereign immunity, has spawned a forceful undercurrent favoring
greater access to judicial remedies against certain state-supported perpetrators.
The author theorizes that International Law does not per se dictate foreign sovereign
immunity, and that instruments like the European Convention on Human Rights would thus be
violated by broadly-based grants of immunity when there are gross human rights violations. The
author advances the theme that greater restrictions are warranted, in both the state and diplomatic
immunity contexts, if there is to be an acceptable balance between the rationale underlying
immunity and the rights of those who would be unprotected without a sufficient degree of judicial
accountability in courts of the state where the harm occurs.
This is the first substantial revision of the very first course text to address the Inter-American
Human Rights system (in 1982). It presents an authoritative account of the work of the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights, as well as the evolution of the instruments serving as
cornerstones for protecting human rights in Latin America. It vividly articulates the regional and
global context in which the local institutions operate, as part of what one will be able to one day
characterize as a fully functional and integrated whole. This text may thus supplement a first
course on International Law or an undergraduate course where the teacher seeks informative and
comprehensive coverage of the international human rights agenda. A major reason for its utility is
that the authors provide an intelligent but lively critique of the array of economic, social, and
political variables affecting the legal landscape of human rights. The book conveniently includes
appendixes so that users have an integrated library between two covers .
This is a welcome contribution to the rather sparse literature on humanitarian intervention. In
the aftermath of the Dayton Peace accords, and the establishment of the Yugoslavian and
Rwandan tribunals, the international community has learned that peace treaties do not necessarily
protect existing refugees, quash ethnic cleansing in the field, nor prevent the repetition elsewhere.
Pervasive problems remain: in most villages or cities, damaged buildings and homes; little or no
running water and electricity; nonexistent governmental infrastructure.
Renewed calls for humanitarian intervention were spawned by the Security Council's
post-Cold War renaissance, the drive toward market economies for improving international trade
and consumerism, and geometrical advances in communications technology. The author thus
addresses the linkage between humanitarian aspirations and existing constraints on effective
resolution. To what extent can other states, or international organizations, really achieve the
penchant for humanitarian assistance when significant barriers to effective action remain? Sean
Murphy has done a credible job of integrating the theoretical and policy-oriented facets of a very
complex problem.
Professor Teson's new edition analyzes the numerous developments in this field, spawned
largely by action of the UN Security Council. The first part of his book lays the foundation for
defending humanitarian intervention, notwithstanding some past abuses in its implementation. His
theme is essentially constructed as follows: states must respect human rights. Tyrannical
governments are therefore subject to shedding their entitlement to legitimacy and associated
sovereign rights, when they act with disregard of clearly established international
expectations.
The second part of this book develops the fundamental, but perennially controversial,
perspective that modern International Law does not prohibit humanitarian intervention undertaken
in appropriate circumstances. He invokes the UN Charter, customary state practice, and various
judicial decisions to analyze the contours of recent interventions (both UN and otherwise).
Some two dozen authors have contributed this collection of essays on a rather neglected, but
significant, facet of human rights analysis. Its companion volume, with a similar title, focuses on
"Religious Perspectives." The legal analysis is extraordinary. It illustrates an ironic state of
affairs whereby regional and global efforts have wrought an intense focus on protecting religious
rights, while religious orders are witnessing some of the worst abuses.
Leading commentators from all over the world herein assess religious rights and the tarnished
implementation of those rights in selected states and regions. A stated in Jimmy Carter's Preface,
all nations purport to recognize religious rights as falling within the corpus of international human
rights law. However, the gap between principle and practice is perpetuated by atrocities
committed in the name of God.
Increasing attention to this part of today's national and international human rights dialogue
suggests that, as a minimum, academic offerings include reference to this major component of the
legal landscape. Libraries and teachers would be well advised to include this title in their graduate
and undergraduate collections and course bibliographies.
This nicely organized and lively presented publication provides a fascinating insight into the
internal workings of the International Monetary Fund. It is particularly useful because it adds a
significant dimension to the literature, particularly how the institution interprets its voting power
in an arena often thought to impose the will of one class of states upon another. This is not, of
course, a problem limited to just this international organization. As the author notes, resort to
interpretation is not limited to matters of textual ambiguity. Interpretation can be employed for
consensus building--to help avoid the appearance that the IMF is only a pretext for perpetuating
traditional state distinctions like the "haves" and the "havenots."
The text opens with a succinct description of the IMF, its Articles of Agreement, purposes,
etc. The chapters promptly illustrate the work of the IMF, concentrating on the role of
interpretation of the basic text and amendments to the IMF's written mandates. They directly
address those situations where the organization has apparently engaged in questionable
interpretations or misinterpretations of its role. Throughout, the book contains a rich assortment
of cases from the World Courts, other international tribunals, and various state courts dealing
with trade and monetary issues of concern in IMF matters. It provides useful guidance to legal
advisors and anyone interested in the work of this body, which is often overlooked in the
academic literature.
Intellectual Property is reportedly the most sought-after elective in today's legal academic
environment. Given the impact of the world wide web, no course could ignore the international
features of this popular law school elective. Professors D'Amato and Long have produced a text
which is succinct, but authoritative, and comprehensive, but vivid, in its account of this dynamic
field.
After initial chapters in Part I defining course content, Part II delves into the array of issues
which lie at the forefront of intellectual property--including cultural differences and the moral
rights debate. Part III covers the essential procedures for registration and governmental takings,
remedies for infringement, and accessing the various treaties available to the practitioner (WTO,
WIPO, etc.). Part IV uncovers the "emerging battlefields" regarding technological innovation,
protections in underdeveloped nations, and the market economies emerging in the aftermath of
the Cold War. The useful and quite relevant appendixes conveniently permit the reader to quickly
access the text of the essential treaties.
Several years ago, an ASIL panel consisting of several prominent journalists assessed the
so-called "CNN Effect" of news coverage on international crises. This book, by an author from
the U.S. Agency for International Development, vividly portrays the "nuts and bolts" of that
theme.
Civil war and other hostilities are an increasingly common feature of day-to-day news
coverage, particularly in the aftermath of the Cold War. To what extent has immediate and
relatively pervasive news coverage impacted the events in the featured arenas of Bosnia, Haiti,
northern Iraq, Rwanda, and Somalia. It is evident from the daily newspapers and nightly
newscasts of critical political events that the individual participants, military leaders, and
governmental representatives use the media to "push" their respective agendas.
This work by a media professional should be incorporated into our respective dialogues when
we teach our international courses, advise our foreign clients about certain risks, and comment on
the interplay of the phenomenal advances in technology and day-to-day journalism in the world's
hotspots. It is an unusually fascinating account of a significant dynamic in the evolution of
regional and international relations.
Although I try not to inject personal accounts into my book reviews, I cannot resist
mentioning the memorable day when Professor Henkin signed my student copy of the First
Edition just after I purchased it from the bookstore. I could only hope that one day I would have
the opportunity to comment on how much I enjoyed what I discovered between those two covers.
Now, I have the honor of paying homage to this "academic All American" in this brief review of
his Second Edition.
Both the novice and the expert continue to benefit from a reading of this classic, now updated
to address events which have not only intervened, but which have also have shed light on
perspectives expressed in the First Edition. Professor Henkin explores the intricacies of the
Constitution, and its interpretation by a variety of actors, as the foreign relations practice of the
U.S. has evolved since the dawn of the republic. He vividly illustrates how conflict and
cooperation have marked the interplay of U.S. foreign affairs, the Constitution, and contemporary
perspectives about that document's limitations on the political branches of the
government.
The Second Edition features the usual Henkin cornerstones: a richly adorned blueprint, a
solidly researched foundation, and a writing style which hammers the essentials into elegant
construction.
This primer replenishes the stock of law of the sea materials with its legal analysis of the
embargo, maritime interception, and blockade in International Law. These variant forms of
international relations are defined and applied in the historical context (e.g., Korean War, Cuban
Missile Crisis) as well as in the contemporary practical context (Persian Gulf War, Former
Yugoslavia, and Haiti).
The author begins by providing the scholarly background, including Nineteenth and early
Twentieth Century international instruments, which have served as models for modern strategies.
These include the State practice of establishing maritime zones in hostile settings, as well as
actions taken in the name of the UN Charter's self-defense provision. Professor Fielding vividly
evaluates the legality of the interception and economic sanctions regimes in the various
contemporary environments spawning the many issues about future expectations. She thus
recommends a greater role for these related devices, as a means of implementing Security Council
oversight in the post-Cold War era.
Eight authors, who are experienced professors and international practitioners, herein critically
analyze the current state of the international law of war crimes. The first chapter opens with a
frank assessment of the reality that war crimes are committed every day. The second offering in
this collection of essays covers the historical span, from early Chinese practice to the work of the
U.N.'s Sixth Committee to implement controls. The next four chapters provide an analysis of
national commitments as expressed by the practice of a number of European nations, Israel in
relation to the Holocaust, Australia, and Canada. The three remaining chapters address
Nuremberg/Tokyo in contemporary perspective, the experience of the Yugoslavia/Rwandan
tribunals, and the prospects for accomplishing a lasting regulatory regime for war crimes.
-
Professor Mays has herein added a useful tool for increasing access to the vast literature on
peacekeeping. This is a very handy tool for quickly accessing a universe of information
containing much substance, but little in the way of signposts.
The first (and bulk) of three parts in this annotated dictionary consists of an "A to Z"
compendium of people, places, and events which have shaped the history of international
peacekeeping. Rather than covering the waterfront with many cursory entries, he intelligently
selects the significant highlights with ample descriptions of each. The second part is an extensive
hundred-page bibliography of the literature on peacekeeping. The final part, six appendixes,
provide selected examples of the prominent peacekeeping instruments--thus providing a snapshot
of the actual mandates under which peacekeeping forces have operated.
In light of ethnic cleansing and other assaults on nationality, this book presents a provocative
perspective in defense of nationality. Because nationality so often dominates contemporary
political discourse, few seem willing to endorse any nationalist ideology. The author's elements of
justification, however, are that one's national identity is a source of one's personal identity; that
citizens should rightfully owe special obligations to their fellow citizens; and that nationality has
nurtured the evolution (not just breakdown) of self-determination within larger social contexts.
The author convincingly articulates his postulate that the nation-state is in decline (reminiscent
of the breakdown of sovereignty theme of one of our recent ASIL Annual Meetings). Political
organization based on nationality appears to be headed for either a collapse or a new source of
identity. With the geometrical advances in communication technology and trade, there is an
increasingly global effect on life styles everywhere--producing an increasing degree of cultural
uniformity. Also, international organization is contributing to the nation state decline in terms of
the locus of political decision-making. Thus, nationality is on the decline, at least in Western
liberal democracies. The author closes out the book with his analysis of this decline, in
juxtaposition with his assertion that nationality may be perceived as a positive component in the
maintenance of localized democracy and social justice.
This is a collection of published commentaries, drawn from the Association of American
Libraries Summer Institute on the Contemporary Practice of Public International Law (Summer
1996). It is an excellent research tool because it contains fourteen separate chapters, mostly
written from a research perspective. Ten of the sixteen participants (including the editors) are
distinguished library professionals. The remaining contributors are prominent law professors and
practitioners.
The chaptered analyses include both substantive and bibliographical components presenting
important collection development issues. Each generally tracks the ICJ Statute Article 38 listing
of sources in developing the chapter's theme. The substantive chapter topics include an overview
of contemporary practice, a bibliographical guide, varied perspectives about customary
International Law and how to efficiently research it, the collection development component of
state and diplomatic immunity, state succession and researching its intricacies, international
criminal law and its research component, litigation and its bibliographic element, refugees and
sources, and human rights law.
This is the last of five publications in this valuable series (reviewed in prior issues of this
newsletter--see our website, then search Oceana in recent individual issues). It is an important
contribution for anyone seeking collection development data for integrating both the substantive
and bibliographical components of "hot button" issues in contemporary practice.
The issue of self-defense in International Law has received much attention in the academic
literature of late. This contribution adds a significant dimension: how a "first strike" might be
characterized as falling within the four corners of modern self-defense analysis. The international
community chastised Israel's 1981 bombing of an Iraqi nuclear reactor, ten years before the same
community approved sanctions against Iraq for its clandestine development of a nuclear program,
and Iraq's failure to fully cooperate with the Security Council measures involving weapons of
mass destruction. The UN Special Commission was established to identify and destroy Iraq's
nuclear and biological weapons capabilities. The 1981 Israeli attack was thus a major setback for
Iraq in the interim period, prior to rather intrusive U.N. sanctions as a result of the Persian Gulf
War.
The contours of self-defense, and so-called "anticipatory" self-defense, have not been precisely
defined. This book illuminates the relevant legal and political features for making a more focused
assessment of the appropriate limits. It analyzes the argument that the U.N. Charter preserves the
right to exercise self-defense, well beyond the ":armed attack" provision in Article 51. The
author, an Australian professor, concludes that Israel was justified in its 1981 pre-emptive
action--given the circumstances surrounding Iraq's nuclear development program.
Turkey is positioned to exert its influence in a way not possible since the end of the Ottoman
Empire. It is curiously located on the brink of East-West relations, and likely to remain there in
the midst of tension which has mounted since the end of the Cold War. It is free to reexamine its
links with the West, and poised to forge major ties with its Middle Eastern neighbors.
A dozen authors, from a number of countries, have thus produced this collection of essays
assessing Turkey's place in the contemporary world order. They draw upon its past, and predict
what lies in its immediate future. They assess a variety of features in Turkey's international
relations posture including chapters on its affiliations with Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Israel, as well as
the broader regional and global implications of Turkey's participation in the Middle Eastern
political scene.
One who wishes to augment an international book collection with significant and informative
content should consider this new addition to the literature on terrorism. Few texts so vividly
illustrate the many faces of terrorism, with pictures or charts to provide better access to the
underlying content. Also, texts in this arena tend to focus on some particular facet of this
international scourge. This set does both, in a quite "user-friendly" context.
Volume One contains the historical background and related introductory materials--prior to
1939, then during WWII, etc. Volume Two focuses on the particular terrorist groups and their
campaigns. It proceeds generally on a region-by-region basis in a global context. Volume Three
shifts to terrorism in the industrialized world, covering various countries and their responses to
terrorism. This volume also examines state terrorism and international responses. Some useful
appendixes conveniently chronicle major terrorist events since 1945, provide an "A-Z" chart of
terrorist groups at a glance, and a "select" but rather comprehensive bibliography in each region
of the globe.
The author, Professor of Government and Co-Director of the U.N. Legal Order Project of the
American Society of International Law, has produced a refreshing and informative text in the
voluminous cache of literature about the U.N. This work is an abridgement of Oscar Schachter
and Chris Joyner's 1995 two-volume work United Nations Legal Order (reviewed in an earlier
issue).
The text's sixteen chapters (and authors) assess the U.N.'s contributions to the international
law-making process. They present the detail whereby various U.N. institutions have made the
law, how it has been implemented in state practice, and the varying degrees of resulting
compliance. Part I analyses the U.N.'s role as a source of International Law, emphasizing both
general and specialized law-making functions. Part II delves into the creation of the substance of
International Law with chapters on force, human rights, refugees, gender and labor issues,
economic relations, the environment, law of the sea, outer space, and international criminal law.
Part III focuses on the internal law of the U.N.--including chapters on international civil service
and U.N. financial responsibility.
This compilation of essays, by a dozen well-known authors, analyses the perennial but
apparently just-now-focused role of NGOs in shaping the agenda for major global conferences
such as the Rio Earth Summit, the Vienna Human Rights Conference, the Cairo Population
Conference, and the Copenhagen Social Summit. The PRC discovered, for example, that it could
not conduct the 1995 World Conference on Women without paying due respect to the presence
of the many NGOs in attendance.
This collection also explores other essentials: the meaning of the term "NGO," recognition at
the U.N., resulting rights of participation, and other evidence that the U.N. is not only a center
for the world's diplomats. Certain NGOs have enjoyed "consultative" status since the inception of
the U.N.--and the influence they wield has since grown immeasurably. They routinely participate
and shape the agenda of an array of U.N. agencies and various regional development institutions
throughout the globe. One seeking reliable guidance about the origins, role, and operations of
NGOs, and how they impact the U.N. system, will find a very informative analysis between these
two covers.
No International Law collection would be complete without a text on the work of the U.N.'s
International Law Commission (ILC). A fresh edition is now available from the U.N. Sales Office
(4th ed. reviewed in an earlier issue).
Part I covers the origin and evolution of codification, including the work of the League of
Nations and the drafting of the U.N. Charter (Art. 13a on progressive development and
codification of International Law). Part II addresses the organization and operation of the ILC.
Part III summarizes the various topics explored by, and then analyzed in, an ILC Final Report--or
currently under consideration. The annexes include the Statute of the ILC, present and former
members, various drafts prepared by ILC members, resulting conventions, and a
bibliography.