Common Heritage or Common Burden?

Common Heritage or Common Burden? contains a comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the US role in the negotiations on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and particularly in the negotiations on one of the remaining commons, the ocean floor beyond national jurisdiction. The author first examines the US view of the lawfulness of deep seabed mining under international law. He reviews the bureaucratic struggles, within the US Administration and theCongress, concerning the options to be pursued at the Conference; analyses the US position in the seabed negotiations from 1974 to 1980; and casts a fresh look both on the Reagan Administration's `policy review' of 1981-1982 which threatened the Conference's outcome, and current US oceans policy whichremains an impediment to the Convention's early entry into force. The study suggests that despite significant compromises negotiated between the US and developing countries at the Conference up to 1980, the emerging seabed regime was not as widely endorsed by US officials as is generally assumed. Drawing on material collected from interviews with many key negotiators, the study contributes to a better understanding of domestic and international decision-making procedures and the dynamics of international negotiations.

`A comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the United States role in the negotiations on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.' IMM Abstracts, `fascinating ... an authoritve account of relationships within the delegation, between it and Washington and of the impact of American policy on the Convention' Alan Archer, International Relations, `an excellent account of those parts of the United Nations Law of the Sea Conference ... concerned with deep sea-bed mining' IMM Minerals Industry International, `The book seems to be the best study ever written on the deep sea-bed regime in the context of international law and international relaltions, and will certainly prove to be a valuable guide for both scholars and practitioners dealing with ocean affairs and the law of the sea.' Dr Barbara Kwiatkowska, Associate Director, Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea, Netherlands International Law Review, No. 2 1990, `The book is thorough. It is, moreover, unique not merely because of the author's great initiative and industry in securing his many interviews, but also because it is the only account of the development of the deep sea-bed mining regime from its early stages to the present which emphasises the particular role of the key country, the United States ... this is certainly a book which I would recommend.' Glen Plant, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol.40, January 1991