In this thoughtful and meticulously researched book, Professor Blum makes a major contribution to the exposure of an important aspect of UN practice. He adds to his academic analysis the insight provided by his years as his country's Ambassador at the UN, and provides the reader with a fascinating and well-written argument. The book reflects events and developments that took place prior to the summer of 1990, during the period marked by global confrontation between the two major power blocs of those days. That confrontation found one of its strongest expressions in the United Nations, and was largely responsible for the deterioration of the legal-constitutional climate within the UN. With the end of that confrontation, as a result of the collapse of the former Soviet bloc and the disintegration of the Soviet Union itself, a new climate of parliamentary cooperation within the United Nations has come about. Consequently, there would now appear to exist a real prospect - perhaps for the first time since the establishment of the Organization - for a reconsideration of at least some of the practices that developed over the years within the cold war context, and which constitute a departure from the legal-constitutional requirements laid down by the Charter. It is in this spirit this book is offered to the reader's attention.

Abstension rule been eroded?

Identifies the major weaknesses in the current United Nations system and proposes fundamental reforms to address each. This title is also available as Open Access.

This major new handbook provides the definitive and comprehensive analysis of the UN and will be an essential point of reference for all those working on or in the organization.

The a oeconstitutionalizationa of international law is one of the most intensely debated issues in contemporary international legal doctrine. The term is used to describe a number of features which distinguish the present international legal order from a oeclassicala international law, in particular its shift from bilateralism to community interest, and from an inter-state system to a global legal order committed to the well-being of the individual person. The author of this book belongs to the leading participants of the constitutionalization debate. He argues that there indeed exists a constitutional law of the international community that is built on and around the Charter of the United Nations. In this book, he explains why the Charter has a constitutional quality and what legal consequences arise from that characterization.