Despite the key importance of accountability for the legitimacy of humanitarian action, inadequate academic attention has been given to how the concept of accountability is evolving within the specific branches of the humanitarian enterprise. Up to now, there exists no comprehensive account of what we label the 'technologies of accountability', the effects of their interaction, or the question of how the current turn to decision-making software and biometrics as both the means and ends of accountability may contribute to reshaping humanitarian governance. UNHCR and the Struggle for Accountability explores the UNHCR's quest for accountability by viewing the UNHCR's accountability obligations through the web of institutional relationships within which the agency is placed (beneficiaries, host governments, implementing partners, donors, the Executive Committee and UNGA). The book takes a multidisciplinary approach in order to illuminate the various layers and relationships that constitute accountability and also to reflect on what constitutes good enough accountability. This book contributes to the discussion regarding how we construct knowledge about concepts in humanitarian studies and is a valuable resource for academics, researchers and professionals in the areas of anthropology, history, international relations, international law, science, technology studies and socio-legal studies.

The United Nations Human Rights Council was created in 2006 to replace the UN Commission on Human Rights. The Council's mandate and founding principles demonstrate that one of the main aims, at its creation, was for the Council to overcome the Commission's flaws. Despite the need to avoid repeating its predecessor's failings, the Council's form, nature and many of its roles and functions are strikingly similar to those of the Commission. This book examines the creation and formative years of the United Nations Human Rights Council and assesses the extent to which the Council has fulfilled its mandate. International law and theories of international relations are used to examine the Council and its functions. Council sessions, procedures and mechanisms are analysed in-depth, with particular consideration given to whether the Council has become politicised to the same extent as the Commission. Whilst remaining aware of the key differences in their functions, Rosa Freedman compares the work of the Council to that of treaty-based human rights bodies. The author draws on observations from her attendance at Council proceedings in order to offer a unique account of how the body works in practice. The United Nations Human Rights Council will be of great interest to students and scholars of human rights law and international relations, as well as lawyers, NGOs and relevant government agencies.

The prohibition of the use of force in international law is one of the major achievements of international law in the past century. The attempt to outlaw war as a means of national policy and to establish a system of collective security after both World Wars resulted in the creation of the United Nations Charter, which remains a principal point of reference for the law on the use of force to this day. There have, however, been considerable challenges to the law on the prohibition of the use of force over the past two decades.
This Oxford Handbook is a comprehensive and authoritative study of the modern law on the use of force. Over seventy experts in the field offer a detailed analysis, and to an extent a restatement, of the law in this area. The Handbook reviews the status of the law on the use of force, and assesses what changes, if any, have occurred in consequence to recent developments. It offers cutting-edge and up-to-date scholarship on all major aspects of the prohibition of the use of force. The work is set in context by an extensive introductory section, reviewing the history of the subject, recent challenges, and addressing major conceptual approaches. Its second part addresses collective security, in particular the law and practice of the United Nations organs, and of regional organizations and arrangements. It then considers the substance of the prohibition of the use of force, and of the right to self-defense and associated doctrines. The next section is devoted to armed action undertaken on behalf of peoples and populations. This includes self-determination conflicts, resistance to armed occupation, and forcible humanitarian and pro-democratic action. The possibility of the revival of classical, expansive justifications for the use of force is then addressed. This is matched by a final section considering new security challenges and the emerging law in relation to them. Finally, the key arguments developed in the book are tied together in a substantive conclusion. The Handbook will be essential reading for scholars and students of international law and the use of force, and legal advisers to both government and NGOs.

In this detailed, candid and illuminating memoir, Ambassador Shola Omoregie sheds light on a personal journey from childhood in Nigeria, through professional transition in the Nigerian Foreign Service to his eventual elevation as a top United Nations Official.

This book evaluates the concept of the function of law through the prism of the International Court of Justice. It goes beyond a conventional analysis of the Court's case law and applicable law, to consider the compromise between supranational order and state sovereignty that lies at the heart of its institutional design.
It argues that this compromise prevents the Court from playing a progressive role in the development of international law. Instead, it influences the international legal order in more subtle ways, in particular, in shaping understanding of the nature or form of the international legal order as a whole. The book concludes that the role of the Court is not to advance some universal conception of international law but rather to decide the cases before it in the best possible way within its institutional limits, while remaining aware of law's deeper theoretical foundations.
The book considers three key elements: firstly, it examines the historical aspects of the Court's constitutive Statute, and the manner in which it defines its judicial character. Secondly, it considers the drafting process, the function of a dissenting opinion, and the role of the individual judge, in an attempt to discern insights on the function of the Court. Finally, the book examines the Court's practice in regard to three conceptual issues which assist in understanding the Court's function: its theory of precedent; its definition of the 'international community'; and its theory on the completeness of the international legal order.

This volume examines the attitudes of political, military and non-state actors towards the United Nations Emergency Peace Service, and explores issues that might affect support for the establishment of UNEPS in both theory and practice. This book explores the United Nations Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS) proposal, which is a civil society-led idea to establish a permanent UN peacekeeping service to overcome some of the shortcomings facing UN peace operations as well as to operationalise the emerging norm of the responsibility to protect civilians from atrocity crimes. As with previous proposals for a standing UN army or peacekeeping capacity, the UNEPS proposal has received limited support from governments partly because of concerns about its feasibility and the perception that such a service would erode state sovereignty. The book argues that interest in, and support for, the UNEPS proposal is determined by the extent to which the norms embedded in the UNEPS proposal are consistent with actors' views on the world.Another factor influencing the support the proposal enjoys is the extent to which it is perceived as realistic, achievable and capable of contributing to the workings of the UN and regional peacekeeping systems in areas that are seen to be deficient. The book makes a case for localising the UNEPS proposal so that it honours and incorporates the normative and problem-solving preferences of respondents and other actors. Because of the diversity of responses, this book does not commit to any concrete suggestions for reforming the UNEPS proposal; however, it does suggest that UNEPS' architects might consider developing a less ambitious proposal as a first step to creating a rapidly deployable service with the mandate to prevent atrocity crimes. It examines various alternatives towards this end. The book concludes that because the UNEPS proposal is intricately linked to the UN, trust in the world organisation is an essential ingredient in generating support for the idea. It argues that a central way of achieving this is to ensure that the values and priorities of a wide range of stakeholders are seen to be represented in the Organisation's structure and workings.This book will be of much interest to students of peace operations, the Responsibility to Protect, the UN, International Relations and security studie in general.

Recent years have seen a remarkable expansion in the scale and importance of economic, social, and cultural rights (ESC rights) within international law, culminating in the adoption of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in December 2008, which gave individuals and groups the ability to bring complaints about rights violations before the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In this context, this book centres on the question of how the fundamental socio-economic human rights that are enshrined in international law are defined, interpreted, understood, and implemented. It assesses how effective efforts have been in realising ESC rights by investigating the contemporary challenges obstructing their protection. It investigates the impact of the global financial crisis and austerity measures, the human rights responsibilities of corporations, and the trends in the justiciability of those rights at the national and international level. The interrelationship between ESC rights and other legal regimes such as international economic law, trade and investment law, environmental law, international criminal law, or international humanitarian law is also thoroughly examined. It provides a careful analysis of the new tools and indicators available to measure the progressive realisation of ESC rights. This book clarifies and illuminates multiple aspects of the law governing ESC rights by bringing together the different aspects of ESC rights, restating the challenges they face, and assessing the progress that has been made in expanding their adoption. After an introduction by the editors on ESC rights and the contemporary issues that impact their realisation, the book contains seventeen further essays on the main questions which couch the progressive realisation of ESC rights and their monitoring mechanisms. The authors of the chapters, both scholars and practitioners, adopt interdisciplinary approaches that move beyond traditional analyses of ESC rights, contextualising their discussions through wider contemporary international law challenges. In reflecting this diversity of perspectives, this book sheds light on new methodologies for the implementation of ESC rights as well as the various obstacles they face.

Trade is the lifeblood of the global economy, but few would consider it a social good. Instead, our views on trade have polarized between two extremes: 'free trade' ideologues who regard trade as an end in itself, and 'protectionists' who view it as a destructive force to be contained. But there is another way to trade - one with the interests of people, not profit, at its heart. In this visionary work Christian Felber, founder of the Economy for the Common Good movement, offers a dazzling new paradigm for the global trading order. Confronting the 'free trade religion' which has reigned since Adam Smith, Felber champions an alternative approach in which trade serves the wider interests of society, incorporating the key issues of our time: human rights, climate change, and the growing divide richer and poorer countries. He proposes the groundbreaking idea of an 'Ethical Trade Zone', founded on a principled approach to tariffs and trade policies, and built with international cooperation on trade, taxation and labour. Penetrating and passionate, Christian Felber shows how this brave new economic world can be built democratically from the grassroots up, and how trading for good can be made a reality.

This book provides a complete overview into the work of the International Court of Justice in the last twenty years. Since 1989, the author, a former Principal Legal Secretary to the International Court of Justice, contributed frequent articles on this subject to the British Yearbook of International Law continuing the work begun by Sir Gerald Fitzmaurice in 1950. This work brings together these articles in one place for the first time, with extensive cross-references, and a thorough index and tables, making it more accessible than ever. This collection addresses all of the areas of international law that the International Court of Justice has addressed with depth and nuance. The topics considered include general principles of law, sources of law, treaty interpretation, substantive issues such as the law of the sea, state sovereignty, and state responsibility, questions of jurisdiction and competence, and questions of the Court's procedure. A comprehensive work of incredible detail, this collection is essential reading for those studying the law and procedure of the International Court of Justice, and its role at the heart of the international legal system, as well as for practitioners appearing before the Court.

The United Nations in the 21st Century, Sixth Edition, provides a comprehensive yet accessible introduction to the UN. It explores the historical, institutional, and theoretical foundations of the UN as well as major global trends and challenges facing the organization today, including changing major power dynamics, new threats to peace and security, the migration and refugee crises, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the existential challenges of climate change and sustainability. Thoroughly revised and expanded, it contains two new chapters on the UN and the environment and on human security, including issues of health, food security, global migration, and human trafficking. There is enhanced analysis of theoretical perspectives on post-colonialism, feminist theory, constructivism, and non-Western views. New content has also been added on the UN's budget crisis, public-private partnerships, and the role of women in the organization. By examining the UN as an intergovernmental organization facing the broader need for global cooperation to address economic, social, and environmental interdependencies alongside the threats posed by rising nationalism and populism, this popular text is the perfect reference for all students and practitioners of international organizations, global governance, and international relations.

International criminal justice has undergone rapid recent development. Since the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 1993, and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in the following year, the field has changed beyond recognition. The traditional immunity of presidents or heads of government, prime ministers, and other functionaries acting in an official capacity no longer prevails; the doctrine of superior orders is inapplicable except, where appropriate, as in mitigation; and the gap between international armed conflict and non-international armed conflict has closed. More generally, the bridge has been crossed between the irresponsibility of the state and the criminal responsibility of the individual. As a result, the traditional impunity of the state has practically gone. This book, by one of the former judges of the ICTY, ICTR, and the International Court of Justice, assesses some of the workings of the ICTY that have shaped these developments. In it, Judge Shahabuddeen provides an insightful overview of the nature of this criminal court, established on behalf of the whole of the international community. He reflects on its transformation into one of the leading fora for the growth of international criminal law first-hand, offering a unique perspective on the challenges it has faced. Judge Shahabuddeen's experience in international criminal justice makes this volume essential reading for those interested in, or working with, international criminal law.

This textbook presents a detailed insight into the structures and processes of preparing students for Model United Nations (MUN) conferences and for attending Model United Nations conferences, subsequently. It serves as a handbook and practical guide for the implementation of MUN into courses and classes in educational institutions. Written by a Faculty Advisor, and offering additional insights from an experienced award-winning MUN delegate, the book provides a particularly exceptional insightful, and well-rounded approach. The author explains how a MUN course can be taught, presents exercises to prepare students for the conference, and discusses how the MUN delegation and trip to the conference can be organized. This comprehensive guide offers insights into a broad range of topics, including debates with peers, diplomacy to solve international crises, and learning about the system of the United Nations (UN) organization through simulation. Further, it covers the development of soft skills and communication at the conferences and building international friendships, while it additionally allows learning more about the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the process. With tips, tricks, and bonus material this book will serve as an anchor throughout the students' first MUN experience, as well as provide valuable help for more advanced participants. The book, therefore, is a must-read for both academic staff teaching MUN, as well as students attending MUN courses and planning to attend MUN conferences.

The Charter of the United Nations was signed in 1945 by 51 countries representing all continents, paving the way for the creation of the United Nations on 24 October 1945. The Statute of the International Court of Justice forms part of the Charter. The aim of the Charter is to save humanity from war; to reaffirm human rights and the dignity and worth of the human person; to proclaim the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small; and to promote the prosperity of all humankind. The Charter is the foundation of international peace and security.

This book examines how the United Nations Security Council, in exercising its power to impose binding non-forcible measures ('sanctions') under Article 41 of the UN Charter, may violate international law, in the sense of limits on its power imposed by the UN Charter itself and by general international law, including human rights guarantees. Such acts may engage the international responsibility of the United Nations, the organization of which the Security Council is an organ. It then proceeds to assess how and by whom the engagement of this responsibility can be determined. Most importantly, the book discusses how and by whom the responsibility of the UN for unlawful Security Council sanctions can be implemented. In other words, how the UN can be held to account for Security Council excesses. The central thesis of this work is that States can respond to unlawful sanctions imposed by the Security Council, in a decentralized manner, by disobeying the Security Council's command. In international law, this disobedience can be justified as constituting a countermeasure to the Security Council's unlawful act. Recent practice of States, both in the form of executive acts and court decisions, demonstrates an increasing tendency to disobey sanctions that are perceived as unlawful. After discussing other possible qualifications of disobedience under international law, the book concludes that this practice can (and should) be qualified as a countermeasure.

Where do strong conservative parties come from? While there is a growing scholarly awareness about the importance of such parties for democratic stability, much less is known about their origins. In this groundbreaking book, James Loxton takes up this question by examining new conservative parties formed in Latin America between 1978 and 2010. The most successful cases, he finds, shared a surprising characteristic: they had deep roots in former dictatorships. Through a comparative analysis of failed and successful cases in Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, and Guatemala, Loxton argues that this was not a coincidence. The successes inherited a range of resources from outgoing authoritarian regimes that, paradoxically, gave them an advantage in democratic competition. He also highlights the role of intense counterrevolutionary struggle as a source of party cohesion. In addition to making an empirical contribution to the study of the Latin American right and a theoretical contribution to the study of party-building, Loxton advances our understanding of the worldwide phenomenon of "authoritarian successor parties"-parties that emerge from authoritarian regimes but that operate after a transition to democracy. A major work, Conservative Party-Building in Latin America will reshape our understanding of politics in contemporary Latin America and the realities of democratic transitions everywhere.

As the Kadi-hype following the 2008 European Court of Justice judgment demonstrated, there are many problems associated with the judicial review of acts of international organizations. This book is the first to present a broader overview of how acts of international organizations have been challenged before national courts. It covers such diverse organizations as the United Nations, its subsidiary organs, such as the specialized international criminal courts for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the European Patent Office, the European Schools, EUROCONTROL, OPEC, and INTERPOL Building extensively on the case law of domestic courts, the chapters highlight reoccurring legal issues in light of four working hypotheses. These relate to the nature of judicial review of the acts of international organizations, its interdependence with domestic methods of incorporating international law, the conditions of a human rights-based review, and the tension between the independent functioning of an organization and guaranteeing legal protection against its acts. This approach ensures consistency among the book's chapters, which each focus on a different organization. Its conclusion brings the different findings together and analyses them in the light of the working hypotheses. It also discusses whether attempts to secure a certain minimum level of legal protection against acts of international organizations through judicial review by national courts may contribute to securing greater accountability of international organizations.

The issue of state succession continues to be a vital and complex focal point for public international lawyers, yet it has remained strangely resistant to effective articulation. The formative period in this respect was that of decolonization which marked for many the time when international law 'came of age' and when the promises of the UN Charter would be realized in an international community of sovereign peoples. Throughout the 1990s a series of territorial adjustments placed succession once again at the centre of international legal practice, in new contexts that went beyond the traditional model of decolonization: the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia, and the unifications of Germany and Yemen brought to light the fundamentally unresolved character of issues within the law of succession.
Why have attempts to codify the practice of succession met with so little success? Why has succession remained so problematic a feature of international law? This book argues that the answers to these questions lie in the political backdrop of decolonization and self-determination, and that the tensions and ambiguities that run throughout the law of succession can only be understood by looking at the relationship between discourses on state succession, decolonization, and imperialism within the framework of international law.

When international courts are given sweeping powers, why would they ever refuse to use them? The book explains how and when courts employ strategies for institutional survival and resilience: forbearance and audacity, which help them adjust their sovereignty costs to pre-empt and mitigate backlash and political pushback. By systematically analysing almost 2,300 judgements from the European Court of Human Rights from 1967–2016, Ezgi Yildiz traces how these strategies shaped the norm against torture and inhumane or degrading treatment. With expert interviews and a nuanced combination of social science and legal methods, Yildiz innovatively demonstrates what the norm entails, and when and how its contents changed over time. Exploring issues central to public international law and international relations, this interdisciplinary study makes a timely intervention in the debate on international courts, international norms, and legal change. This book is available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

This book provides an in depth-examination of the principle of complementarity in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the implications of that principle for the suppression of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes on the domestic level. The book is set against the general background of the suppression of these crimes on the domestic level, its potential and pitfalls. It traces the evolution of complementarity and provides a critical and comprehensive analysis of the provisions in the Rome Statute and the Rules of Procedure and Evidence relevant to complementarity. In so doing, it addresses both substantive and procedural aspects of admissibility, while taking account of the early practice of the ICC. Further attention is devoted to the question whether and to what extent the Rome Statute imposes on States Parties an obligation to investigate and prosecute core crimes domestically. Finally, the book examines the potential of the complementary regime to function as a catalyst for States to conduct domestic criminal proceedings vis-a-vis core crimes.

For over 25 years, The Annual Review of United Nations Affairs (ARUNA) has been the print source for researchers needing a comprehensive document collection that highlights the work of the United Nations' six principal organs each year. Recognized as the only print and bound collection for these documents, ARUNA is an essential reference for academic researchers and policy-makers. Coverage spans important resolutions and decisions, focusing on the significant documents and collaborative work of the United Nations. Selected reports of intergovernmental bodies and expert groups are also included and documents are grouped together by subject matter for easy reference. Each year, a new guest author provides an introduction to the set, analyzing the major themes covered throughout that year. ARUNA provides an in-depth view to an organization that today has more the 63,000 employees located in nearly 175 countries and is responsible for implementing the decisions of the governing bodies. This particular edition (2006-07): The past year has been one of the most tumultuous and challenging in the U.N.'s history and, indeed, in the modern history of the entire globe. This year's edition of ARUNA presents the story of that tumult as well as the story of the U.N.'s efforts to resolve both global conflicts and internal controversy. Specifically, this year's set of volumes includes documents related to the U.N.-based World Food Programme, whose management provoked an international scandal last year. However, most the 2006-07 edition of ARUNA focuses on the more critical issues affecting millions of lives around the world in the past year: the Darfur genocide, climate change, the Palestinian refugee crisis, West Africa's political and social instability. By providing the full text of both the resolutions addressing these topics and the U.N. reports concerning them, ARUNA 06/07 delivers a unique resource for students, scholars, and practitioners. The series' topic-based organization of the materials and subject index lend invaluable guidance to all researchers. This year, Dr. Edward Luck , the Director of the Center on International Organization of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, is contributing an introductory essay that will illuminate this year's varied and troubling world events. This particular volume (Vol. 2): This volume consists solely of G.A. resolutions from the second half of the G.A.'s 61st session (January to September of 2007). This collection of recent resolutions focus primarily on the following topics: BLHuman Rights abuses by the governments of Myanmar, Israel, and Iran. BLThe use of torture by officers and agents of a government. BLAfrica: development, infectious diseases, U.N. intervention in regional conflicts, the U.N.'s Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa, U.N. funding of the Sierra Leone and Rwanda tribunals, and cooperation between the U.N. and the African Union. BLCombatting poverty worldwide. BLCombatting the defamation of Islam by media sources. BLCombatting denials of the Holocaust. BLThe imperative that governments observe human rights principles while conducting the global war against terrorism. BLThe imperative that U.N. peacekeepers refrain from sexual exploitation. BLClimate change and natural disasters. BLGlobalization, development in the poorest countries, fair trade practices, and the fight aganst poverty generally. BLThe U.N.'s internal management of its own financial practices. For more specific information regarding this title please contact Customer Service at +44(0)1536741727. About this Volume This particular edition (2006-07): The past year has been one of the most tumultuous and challenging in the U.N.'s history and, indeed, in the modern history of the entire globe. This year's edition of ARUNA presents the story of that tumult as well as the story of the U.N.'s efforts to resolve both global conflicts and internal controversy. Specifically, this year's set of volumes includes documents related to the U.N.-based World Food Programme, whose management provoked an international scandal last year. However, most the 2006-07 edition of ARUNA focuses on the more critical issues affecting millions of lives around the world in the past year: the Darfur genocide, climate change, the Palestinian refugee crisis, West Africa's political and social instability. By providing the full text of both the resolutions addressing these topics and the U.N. reports concerning them, ARUNA 06/07 delivers a unique resource for students, scholars, and practitioners. The series' topic-based organization of the materials and subject index lend invaluable guidance to all researchers. This year, Dr.Edward Luck , the Director of the Center on International Organization of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, is contributing an introductory essay that will illuminate this year's varied and troubling world events. For more specific information regarding this title please contact Customer Service at +44(0)1536741727.

Law & Practice of the United Nations: Documents and Commentary combines primary materials with expert commentary, demonstrating the interaction between law and practice in the UN organization, as well as the possibilities and limitations of multilateral institutions in general. Each chapter begins with a short introductory essay by the authors that describes how the documents that follow illustrate a set of legal, institutional, and political issues relevant to the practice of diplomacy and the development of public international law through the United Nations.
The authors help students form a realistic idea of the work of international diplomacy, as the negotiation and interpretation of such texts is an important part of what actually takes place at the United Nations and other international organizations. A wide variety of documents are presented, each of which must be read differently: treaties and resolutions based on political compromises, judicial opinions that are based on legal reasoning, policy documents intended to justify specific actions, and advocacy intended to pursue a national or other interest. Students will develop the ability to read these documents critically, parsing not only the meaning but the political and bureaucratic interests behind them.
Law & Practice of the United Nations is ideal for courses on the United Nations or International Organizations, taught in both law and international relations programs.

The recent spate of threats to cultural heritage, including in Iraq, Mali, Nepal, Syria, and Yemen, has led to increased focus on the sources of international cultural heritage law. This edited volume shows that international cultural heritage law is not a discrete and contained body of law, but one whose component parts are drawn from diverse fields of public international law. It shows how cultural heritage law has been shaped by its interaction with other areas of international law, and how it has contributed to international law in turn. In this volume, scholars and practitioners explore some of the primary points of intersection between international cultural heritage law and public international law. Chapters explore instersections with the law of armed conflict, international and transnational criminal law, international human rights, the international movement, regulation, and restitution of cultural artefacts, and the UN system. The result is a cohesive collection that not only explores many facets of the intersections of cultural heritage law and public international law, but also examines how the regimes operate together and how the relationship between them largely facilitates, but also sometimes hinders, the development of international law governing the protection of cultural heritage.

In January 1942, the Declaration by United Nations forged a military alliance based on human rights principles that included over 24 countries, marking the beginning of the UN. But how did the armies of the United Nations co-operate during World War II to halt Nazi expansionism? When did the UN start to tackle the international economic and social challenges of the post-war world? This is the first book to explore how the profound restructuring of the international world order was organized. Drawing on previously unknown archival material, Plesch analyzes the engagement with the UN by all levels of society, from grassroots to the political elites. Plesch has pieced together the full story of how the UN intervened in surprising ways at a pivotal time in world history and argues that the UN s success is as vital today as it was then."

These Recommendations have been developed by the United Nations Economic and Social Council's Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods in light of technical progress, the advent of new substances and materials, the exigencies of modern transport systems and, above all, the requirement to ensure the safety of people, property and the environment. They are addressed to governments and international organizations concerned with the regulation of the transport of dangerous goods. They do not apply to the bulk transport of dangerous goods in sea-going or inland navigation bulk carriers or tank-vessels, which is subject to special international or national regulations.

As much as was ever the case in 1979 when the first edition of The Creation of States in International Law published, in the 21st century problems of territorial status and statehood are likely to continue to be a focal point of international disputes. As Rhodesia, Namibia, the South African Homelands and Taiwan then were subjects of acute concern, today governments, international organizations, and other institutions are seized of such matters as the membership of Cyprus in the European Union, application of the Geneva Conventions to Afghanistan, a final settlement for Kosovo, and, still, relations between China and Taiwan. The remarkable increase in the number of States in the 20th century did not abate in the twenty five years following publication of James Crawford's landmark study, which was awarded the American Society of International Law Prize for Creative Scholarship in 1981. The independence of many small territories comprising the 'residue' of the European colonial empires alone accounts for a major increase in States since 1979; while the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the USSR in the early 1990s further augmented the ranks. With these developments, the practice of States and international organizations has developed by substantial measure in respect of self-determination, secession, succession, recognition, de-colonization, and several other fields. Addressing such questions as the unification of Germany, the status of Israel and Palestine, and the continuing pressure from non-State groups to attain statehood, even, in cases like Chechnya or Tibet, against the presumptive rights of existing States, James Crawford discusses the relation between statehood and recognition as it has developed since the eighteenth century. The criteria for statehood and the effect on those criteria of evolving standards of democracy and human rights; their application in international organizations and between States; the creation of States by devolution or recession, by international disposition of major powers or international organizations and through institutions established for Mandated, Trust, and Non-Self-Governing Territories, are also discussed. Apart from the general argument of the normative significance of the legal concept of 'State', and the analysis of the numerous specific cases, this new edition of a landmark book provides a full and up-to-date account of the general development which has led to the birth of so many new States.