The admission of a state to membership is an important decision for an international organisation. In making this determination, organisations are increasingly promoting the observance of human rights and democratic governance as relevant principles. They have also applied the same criteria in resolving the question of whether existing members should be excluded from an organisation's processes. Through a systematic examination of the records, proceedings and practice of international organisations, Alison Duxbury examines the role and legitimacy of human rights and democracy as membership criteria. A diverse range of examples is discussed, including the membership policies and practice of the League of Nations and the United Nations; the admission of the Central and Eastern European states to the European Union; developments in regional organisations in Africa, Asia and the Americas; and the exclusion of members from the UN specialised agencies.

Japan has consistently been pursuing the goal of a permanent UN Security Council seat for 30 years. The book investigates the motives for this ambition, and how it has been pursued domestically and internationally. It is therefore a study of the inner workings of the Japanese Foreign Ministry as well as of the country's underdeveloped multinational diplomacy.

The Yearbook of the International Law Commission contains the official records of the Commission and is an indispensable tool for the preservation of the legislative history of the documents emanating from the Commission, as well as for the teaching, study, dissemination and wider appreciation of the efforts undertaken by the Commission in the progressive development of international law and its codification. Volume I reproduces the summary records of the Commission's annual sessions

In recent decades the explosive growth of globalization and regional integration has fuelled parallel growth in multilingual conferences. Although conference interpreting has come of age as a profession, interpreter training programs have had varied success, pointing to the need for an instructional manual which covers the subject comprehensively. This book seeks to fill that need by providing a structured syllabus and an overview of interpretation accompanied by exercises in various aspects of the art. It is meant to serve as a practical guide for interpreters and as a complement to interpreter training programs in the classroom and online, particularly those for students preparing for conference interpreting in international governmental and business settings. This expanded second edition includes additional exercises and provides direct links to a variety of web-based resources and practice speeches, also including additional language combinations.