INTERNATIONAL LAW Martin Dixon б/в(була у використанні)

PREFACE

The fourth edition of this book sees international law and the international community trying to come to terms with major political, social, economic and emotional changes in the world community. The euphoria of the end of the ‘Cold War’ has passed and we are left with the realisation that the building of a viable international system for the 21st century is no easy task. There has been stability in some areas: the membership of the United Nations now only trickles ahead and the International Court of Justice continues to prove itself a viable and vital international judicial body. Yet, there remains uncertainty. The now pressing need to protect the international environment and the certainty that governments can no longer ignore the wishes of their own peoples add gunpowder to the mix. International law, in its turn, must now develop procedures and institutions to meet its changing role. If it does not, then international law will lose its raison d’etre as the oil in the engine of the international community.

There has been much law in the time since the last edition. The international court and other tribunals have been very active. New cases on sovereignty, jurisdiction, human rights, the ICJ itself and the vexed question of immunities have most clarified the law. Many areas of international law are facing a choice between ‘globalising’ their rules or ‘regionalising’ them. This is particularly acute in what some states persist in regarding as the ‘new’ or ‘emerging’ areas of international law: human rights and the environment. This is also the age of the multilateral treaty: the Law of the Sea Convention is well in its stride, with massive international support; we are soon to get an International Criminal Court; and a new realism in the International Law Commission means we may even see a long awaited Draft Treaty on State Responsibility. I have tried to incorporate these changes in the text in a way that does not over-complicate what are already difficult issues. I will be delighted if I have succeeded; if I have not, I would like to know. Several parts of the text have been re-written, for there was much to say. Nevertheless, the text is still designed to convey the basic structure of international law and open a window to some of its complexities.

Thanks are due as always to many. Robert McCorquodale’s diligent research for our Cases and Materials on International Law saved me much leg work, and the critical comments of my own students prevented me repeating some of the more obvious infelicities from previous editions. As well as the occasional spell of work, my own time has been occupied and disturbed in our house of w.o.e. (William, Oliver and Emily) and I would not have had it otherwise. This book is for them and for the saint that is their mother. For myself, I am about to embark on a new path in my academic life as I prepare to take my oath in Latin as a new Fellow of Queens’ College, Cambridge. I leave many friends behind, but I wish to record publicly my thanks to the Warden and Fellows of Robinson College for their considerable support over the years.

Martin Dixon

Cambridge

25 September 2000