Search results

The United Nations held a week-long Congress on Public International Law at its headquarters in New York in 1995 - the year of the celebration of the Organization's fiftieth anniversary - under the general theme `Towards the Twenty-first Century: International Law as a Language for International Relations'. The purpose of the Congress was thus to assist the international community, and in particular the legal profession, to meet the challenges and expectations of the present-day world. Views were expressed, and exchanged, on the codification, progressive development and implementation of public international law, both in theory and in practice, as well as on its teaching and dissemination. The Proceedings of the United Nations Congress contain the presentations and lectures of well-known jurists and professors - in the language given (English, French or Spanish) - as well as discussions that took place after the lectures. Subject matter includes: (1) The principles of international law: theoretical and practical aspects of their promotion and implementation; (2) Means of peaceful settlement of disputes between States, including resort to and full respect for the International Court of Justice; (3) Conceptual and practical aspects of the codification and progressive development of international law: new developments and priorities; (4) New approaches to research, education and training in the field of international law and its wider appreciation; and (5) Towards the twenty-first century: new challenges and expectations

Cover -- Contents -- Preface -- Glossary -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- L -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- 1 The Development and Nature of International Law -- Introduction -- The Historical Development of International Law -- The Binding Nature of International Law -- The Enforcement of International Law -- Centralized enforcement machinery -- Extra-legal considerations -- The enforcement of international law by individual states -- 2 The General Principles of International Law -- States as Sovereign Entities -- What is a state? -- State sovereignty and international law -- States as the Primary Subjects of International Law -- International organizations -- Individuals -- The Sources of International Law -- Customary international law -- Treaties as sources of international law -- Other sources of international law -- 3 International Relations Perspectives on International Law -- The Approach of International Relations Theories to International Law -- Realism -- Institutionalism -- Liberalism -- Constructivism -- Recent Interdisciplinary Work on the Role of International Law -- Byers: custom, power and the power of rules -- Koh: why nations obey -- Arend: do international rules matter? -- Conclusions -- 4 Preventing the Use of Force by States: Korea, the Gulf Conflict and Beyond -- Introduction -- Korea (1950) -- The Gulf Conflict (1990-1) -- The Legality of Subsequent 'Enforcement' Actions -- Iraq (1998) -- Kosovo (1999) -- Conclusions -- 5 Diplomacy and the Threat of Force -- Introduction -- The Threat of Force as a Tool of International Diplomacy -- The Legality of the Threat of Force -- Permissible Threats of Force -- The Legality of the Threat of Force in the Gulf Conflict -- Conclusions -- 6 Extraditing Pinochet -- Introduction -- The Issues -- The Decision in Ex parte Pinochet -- Extraditable crimes.

In this paper I am going to argue a familiar but still controversial thesis about the relation between international ethics and international law, which I would sum up in the following list of propositions:First, international law is a source as well as an object of ethical judgements. The idea of legality or the rule of law is an ethical one, and international law has ethical significance because it gives institutional expression to the rule of law in international relations.Secondly, international law—or, more precisely, the idea of the rule of law in international relations—reflects a rule-oriented rather than outcome-oriented ethic of international affairs. By insisting on the priority of rules over outcomes, this ethic rejects consequentialism in all its forms.

Much of the contemporary literature on the utility of international sanctions approaches the apparent riddle of why sanctions are embraced so eagerly when they are supposedly such an "ineffective" tool of statecraft by focusing on the instrumental and rational purposes of sanctions. As a result, one purpose that does not always lend itself to a rational means-end calculus—the purpose of punishment—tends to be overlooked or, more commonly, dismissed outright. This article explores punishment as both a useful and an effective purpose of international sanctions. It argues not only that sanctions should be distinguished from other forms of hurtful statecraft but also that they are a form of "international punishment" for wrongdoing, despite the difficulties of applying the term "punishment" in the context of international relations. The article then examines the purposes of punishment and reveals that only some are understandable when a model of means-end rationality is used, suggesting that the element of the nonrational also plays an important role in international sanctions. The argument is then applied to the case of U.S. sanctions imposed after the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan to demonstrate the different purposes of punishment at work in this case. The article concludes that just as we cannot understand punishment as a purposive human activity solely by reference to a rational model of a means to a clearly delineated end, so too we cannot entirely understand sanctions as a form of international punishment by an attachment to a rational model of policy behavior. However, some forms of punishment are exceedingly effective, and this may explain why sanctions continue to be a popular instrument of statecraft.

Voitovich presents a clear and lucid discussion of the manner and form in which international economic organizations (IEOs) participate in two main stages of the international legal process: law making and law implementation. The book is based on normative instruments and fragments of practice of about fifty IEOs. In order to ensure a proper and timely realization of their normative acts, IEOs exercise a number of law implementing functions which are subject to a thorough comparative examination. The author concludes that existing IEOs, not being ideal institutional models, possess a sufficient arsenal of law implementing instruments to make a considerable impact on the international legal regulations in the economic field. The book will be of interest to academics and economic political scientists

Preface --Opening Address --Welcoming Address --Congratulatory Address --Introductory Remarks --Is There a Growing International Arbitration Culture? --Is There an Expanding Culture that Favours Combining Arbitration, Conciliation or Other Dispute Resolution Procedures? --To What Extent Do Arbitrators in International Cases Disregard the Bag and Baggage of National Systems? --When and Where Do National Courts Reflect an International Culture, When Deciding Issues Relating to International Arbitration ? --List of Oral Interventions.