Law and Practice of the United Nations

Law and 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 describing how the documents that ensue illustrate a set of legal, institutional, and political issues relevant to the practiceof diplomacy and the development of public international law through the United Nations. Each chapter also includes questions to guide discussion of the primary materials, and a brief bibliography to facilitate further research on the subject.This second edition addresses the most challenging issues confronting the United Nations and the global community today, from terrorism to climate change, from poverty to nuclear proliferation. New features include hypothetical fact scenarios to test the understanding of concepts in each chapter. This edition contains expanded author commentary, while maintaining the focus on primary materials. Such materials enable a realistic presentation of the work of international diplomacy: thenegotiation, interpretation and application of such texts are an important part of what actually takes place at the United Nations and other international organizations.This work is ideal for courses on the United Nations or International Organizations, taught in both law and international relations programs.

This book is overdue and immensely valuable. The United Nations used to merit a couple of chapters in an often dry-as-dust casebook on international organizations generally, chapters devoted to the law of the Charter but never the political practice that illuminates it and makes it both trying and occasionally triumphant. Here, at last, is a volume entirely devoted to the United Nations for scholars of both international law and international relations, in an accessible format with challenging issues at every turn."-Anne-Marie Slaughter, President and CEO of the New America Foundation, International lawyers everywhere should rejoice that Thomas Franck, along with colleagues Simon Chesterman and David Malone, have at last made widely available the primary documents that have long formed the backbone of Franck's renowned 'UN Law' course. Their casebook - which examines through a legal lens the relevance, capacity, practice, and accountability of the UN - stresses the interaction between law and politics without confusing the two. From its opening introductory section discussing, among other things, why the UN Charter ought to be regarded as a 'constitution', to its closing chapter devoted to the prospects for UN reform, this is a book that makes immediate and concrete what it means to have an international rule of law."-Jose E. Alvarez, Hamilton Fish Professor of International Law & Diplomacy, Columbia Law School, Law and Practice of the United Nations is part casebook, part textbook and, throughout, a profound set of reflections on the past, present and future of the UN as a 'constitutional' framework for global governance. It is designed for students, but there is no specialist on the UN who would not learn from this impressive volume." -Michael W. Doyle, Director, Columbia Global Policy Initiative, and University Professor, Columbia University, These three highly respected authors have created a volume from which any serious scholar can gain tremendous insight. ... First, I believe that the inclusion of a broad range of original documentation makes this a much more useful book than has been published anywhere else in recent years. Second, the authors provide in their commentary very rich explanations of the practical contexts within which these documents have arisen; these explanations provide deeper understandings of the legal and political considerations standing behind the documents. Third, the authors have addressed important topics of very recent vintage, allowing instructors and students to make meaningful evaluations of contemporary public events. These authors have generated such a breath of fresh air that I must admit that I very much look forward to using the text."-Edwin Smith, Leon Benwell Professor of Law, International Relations and Political Science, University of Southern California, The book's central strength is that it situates its legal analysis in the context of policy and practice. The selection of cases and documents are excellent - effectively illustrating the impact of law on practice and, more generally, the interaction between law and politics in international affairs. The overall scope and content are ideal for both law and non-law students (at the graduate level)."-Ian Johnstone, Associate Professor of International Law, The Fletcher School, Tufts University

Simon Chesterman is Dean and Professor at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law. He is also Editor of the Asian Journal of International Law and Secretary-General of the Asian Society of International Law.Ian Johnstone is Professor of International Law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. He is on the editorial board of Global Governance and International Organizations Law Review.David M. Malone is Rector of the UN University (UNU) in Tokyo and Under-Secretary-General of the UN. He has served as a Canadian ambassador to the UN and as Canada's high commissioner to India, and from 2004 to 2006 oversaw multilateral and economic diplomacy within Canada's Foreign Affairs Department.