This book demonstrates the vitality of Arab political thought and its major controversies. It shows that the key players involved, far from being constrained by a theological-political straitjacket, have often demonstrated strong critical thinking when tackling religion and philosophy, anthropology and politics. Setting these thinkers and their works within two centuries of upheaval in the Arab world, Georges Corm demonstrates how Arab critical thought has been marginalized by powerful external forces: the military, the academy and the media. In its place has risen a hegemonic Islamist thought, used cannily by certain Arab regimes and their Western protectors. Closely tracing the successive transformations of modernist Arab nationalism, Arab Political Thought offers a blueprint for understanding the libertarian Arab Spring, as well as the counter-revolutions and external interventions that have followed. This invaluable guide comprehensively distils the complexity of Arab intellectualism, which is both critical and profane, and a far cry from the outdated politico-religious image it has acquired.

Georges Abi-Saab began his writing and teaching at a time when the process of decolonization, and thereafter the quest for emancipation, began to make its far-reaching impact on the international scene, producing significant changes in the international environment, both quantitatively in increasing the number of nation-States and qualitatively in changing patterns of interests and claims. This was bound to result in new pressures on the international legal system itself and in a questioning of the traditional Eurocentric content of international law. In his work and teaching Professor Abi-Saab viewed the dynamics of international law as a function of two driving forces: the emergence of the third world and the sense of injustice. In his view, the first driving force - the emergence of the third world - raised the problem of exclusion: exclusion from participation in the elaboration of international law and the decision-making process, and exclusion as beneficiaries of the resulting rules of international law. At the same time, this new force introduced diversity into the international scene, reflecting the richness of the international community in its different facets. This process remains relevant today, reflecting the contemporary problem of exclusion of new actors as well as their quest for participation. The second driving force - the sense of injustice - posed a teleological problem for him, that of defining community values in order that they capture the different facets of justice, whether formal or distributive. So long as there is no effective organic structure, international law in his view will continue to remain effectiveness-oriented, reflecting rather than impacting on the structures of power. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that there is an on-going process of development of community values and interests; as Georges Abi-Saab wrote with reference to international crimes: `law, like all social phenomena, is a continuous unfolding, a continuous process of elaboration'. He has also considered that the dynamics of the international legal process itself can be captured from the perspective of international organizations as vehicles for change in the international system. From his early writings, Georges Abi-Saab approached the United Nations Charter as a blueprint - both normative and institutional - for a certain type of international society. International institutions with all their imperfections, continue for him to be the means of realization of the law of cooperation which lies at the heart of his concept of the international system. The themes selected for this volume in honour of Professor Georges Abi-Saab are intended to reflect his unique and pioneering contribution to the field of international law. The contributors are drawn from what he has always considered to be his large `family' of former students: in his forty years of teaching, Georges Abi-Saab has acted as mentor to generations of students from all over the world who have benefited from his vision, insights, originality and creative and stimulating use of language. The contributors also include colleagues and friends who share a similar vision of the international legal system.

L’ambizione di questo volume è presentare nuovi paradigmi di analisi del processo di integrazione regionale nel 17 Maghreb, da un punto di vista politico, economico e della gestione della sicurezza. Frequentemente trascurata nell’ambito degli “studi comparativi regionali”, il regionalismo maghrebino rappresenta un fenomeno complesso, che può fornire interessanti informazioni sulle “intersezioni dei fattori domestici e internazionali che danno forma alle fortune economiche, agli interessi nell’ambito della sicurezza, e sulle attività culturali degli attori politici” (Katzenstein 1996, 5). Frequently neglected in the field of “comparative regionalist studies”, Maghrebi regionalism represents a complex phenomenon, which could provide interesting information concerning the “intersection of the international and domestic factors that shape the economic fortunes, security interests, and cultural activities of political actors” (Katzenstein 1996, 5).

Since 1945 there has been a tremendous growth in the number of international organizations, leading to the development of a body of law regulating the relationship between the organizations and their host states. International Organizations and their Host States examines the relationship from a practical perspective. Before examining the legal status, privileges and immunities that have commonly been granted to international organizations, the diverse sources where the law can be found are brought together in a new concept: the host arrangement. This concept forms an anchor for the examination of the following aspects of the legal relationship: the legal personality of the organization, the status of its seat, the inviolability of its premises, assets and archives, its jurisdictional immunity, its communications privileges, and its fiscal, customs and financial privileges. In conclusion, the legal concepts underlying the relationship between international organizations and their host states are analyzed and suggestions are made on improving the coherency of the law.