UN Maps showing Member States and non-self-governing and Trusteeship territories
UN Yearbook / 
Boundaries and Secession in Africa and International Law /
This book challenges a central assumption of the international law of territory. The author argues that, contrary to the finding in the Frontier Dispute case, uti possidetis is not a general principle of law enjoining states to preserve pre-existing boundaries on state succession. It demonstrates that African state practice and opinio juris gave rise to customary rules that govern sovereign territory transfer in Africa. It explains that those rules changed international law as it relates to Africa in many respects, leading chiefly to creating norms of African jus cogens prohibiting secession and the redrawing of boundaries. The book examines in-depth the singularity of secession in Africa exploring extensive state practice and case law. Finally, it advances a daring argument for a right to egalitarian self-determination, addressing people-to-people domination in multi-ethnic African states, to serve as an exception to the fast special customary rule against secession.
Building States / 
The Charter of the United Nations /
Since the second edition of this commentary on the Charter of the United Nations was published the text of the Charter may not have changed but the world has. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have had a lasting impact on international law and the Commentary has been fully updated to take theirimpact into account. The new edition has been completely revised and features a completely new chapter on UN reform, analyzing the effect of reforms which have already been implemented and examining why other proposals for reform have failed. It will assess how these proposals could be improved,with a particular focus on the Security Council. This new edition also includes coverage of the creation of the Human Rights Council and the impact of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine.This is the authoritative, article-by-article account of the legislative history, interpretation, and practical application of each and every Charter provision. Written by a team of distinguished scholars and practitioners, this book combines academic research with the insights of practice, and isan indispensable work of reference for all those interested in the UN.The Commentary will be crucial in providing new directions for the development of international law and the United Nations in the twenty-first century.
The Creation of States in International Law /
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 AfricanHomelands 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 smallterritories 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 internationalorganizations 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 betweenstatehood 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 orrecession, 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', andthe 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.
Self-Determination in the International Legal System : whose claim, to what right? / 
International Environmental Law and the Global South /
The unprecedented degradation of the planet's vital ecosystems is among the most pressing issues confronting the international community. Despite the proliferation of legal instruments to combat environmental problems, conflicts between rich and poor nations (the North-South divide) have compromised international environmental law, leading to deadlocks in environmental treaty negotiations and noncompliance with existing agreements. This volume examines both the historical origins of the North-South divide in European colonialism as well as its contemporary manifestations in a range of issues including food justice, energy justice, indigenous rights, trade, investment, extractive industries, human rights, land grabs, hazardous waste, and climate change. Born out of the recognition that global inequality and profligate consumerism present threats to a sustainable planet, this book makes a unique contribution to international environmental law by emphasizing the priorities and perspectives of the global South.
International Law and Empire /
In times in which global governance in its various forms, such as human rights, international trade law, and development projects, is increasingly promoted by transnational economic actors and international institutions that seem to be detached from democratic processes of legitimation, thequestion of the relationship between international law and empire is as topical as ever. By examining this relationship in historical contexts from early modernity to the present, this volume aims to deepen current understandings of the way international legal institutions, practices, and narrativeshave shaped specifically imperial ideas about and structures of world governance. As it explores fundamental ways in which international legal discourses have operated in colonial as well as European contexts, the book enters a heated debate on the involvement of the modern law of nations in imperial projects. Each of the chapters contributes to this emerging body of scholarshipby drawing out the complexity and ambivalence of the relationship between international law and empire. They expand on the critique of western imperialism while acknowledging the nuances and ambiguities of international legal discourse and, in some cases, the possibility of counter-hegemonic claimsbeing articulated through the language of international law. Importantly, as the book suggests that international legal argument may sometimes be used to counter imperial enterprises, it maintains that international law can barely escape the Eurocentric framework within which the progressiveaspirations of internationalism were conceived
International Monitoring of Plebiscites, Referenda and National Elections /
International monitoring of plebiscites, referenda and national elections has given a guarantee to the populations and the countries directly involved, and to the international community, that the people themselves have been able to exercise freely their right to self-determination through these processes. By focusing international attention on an internal electoral process, international monitoring may deter fraud by government, armed forces or electoral authorities. It shows international support for democracy and elections, as well as for human rights. While the international monitoring of elections does not guarantee that a dictatorship will evolve peacefully into a pluralist democracy, free and periodic elections are an essential prerequisite to the creation and maintenance of democracy, which is itself a prerequisite for the protection and promotion of human rights. The United Nations and other international organizations and groups are openly supporting the worlds evolution towards democracy. This book will be of great use for those who are actively involved in international monitoring as well as for researchers in the field of democracy and human rights.
The United Nations : International Organization and World Politics /
The fourth edition of THE UNITED NATIONS heralds an organization at the crossroads of history. This best-selling text is a comprehensive volume of all that is relevant of the United Nations system from its inception to these opening years of the millennium, analyzing the history, processes, structure and functions of the organization. While the thread of terror weaves its way through the text, every effort has been made to discuss the world organization's continuing role in assisting nations and peoples in distress from underdevelopment, from population overload, from pandemic disease, and political instability.