This volume examines the role and influence of multiculturalism in general theories of international law; in the composition and functioning of international organizations such as the ICJ, the ILC, the UN, and the ICC; and in the progressive development of substantive international law regarding issues such as anti-terrorism, cultural identity, the Danish cartoons controversy, indigenous peoples, and cultural exemptions at the WTO. With Forewords from Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Shigeru Oda, this authoritative volume contains contributions from 36 distinguished scholars from every continent of the world tackling multiculturalism and international law an ever more topical issue in honour of, appropriately, Edward McWhinney, an eminent scholar who has spent a substantial part of his life promoting multiculturalism.

Challenging questions arise in the effort to adequately protect the cultural rights of individuals and communities worldwide, not the least of which are questions concerning the very understanding of ‘culture’. In Cultural Rights in International Law and Discourse: Contemporary Challenges and Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Pok Yin S. Chow offers an account of the present-day challenges to the articulation and implementation of cultural rights in international law. Through examining how ‘culture’ is conceptualised in different stages of contemporary anthropology, the book explores how these understandings of ‘culture’ enable us to more accurately put issues of cultural rights into perspective. The book attempts to provide analytical exits to existing conundrums and dilemmas concerning the protections of culture, cultural heritage and cultural identity.

Examining the unique cultures of the Islamic Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, Indianized Asia, and China, Adda Bozeman attacks the supposition that world unity can be achieved through the application of Western ideals of international law and organization. Originally published in 1971. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

This collection of essays pays homage to the multifarious and enduring work of Kalliopi K. Koufa, the first woman to become Professor of International Law in Greece. The volume brings together 37 contributions of renowned international law scholars from all over the world on a wide spectrum of important contemporary theoretical and practical issues. The essays reflect the multiple faces, the expanding scope and diversity of contemporary international law. Areas covered include the use of force, dispute settlement, international criminal law, international environmental law and, most notably, terrorism and human rights, areas on which the work of Professor Koufa in the United Nations and elsewhere has been particularly influential.

International human rights law was originally focused on universal individual rights. This book examines the developments which have seen it change to a multi-cultural approach, one more sensitive to the cultures of the people directly affected by them. It argues that this can provide benefits, but that aspects of universalism must be retained.

Outline of the book

Bringing together academics and private international lawyers from a wide range of jurisdictions and institutions, this volume explores how private international law can best contribute to the development of the global legal architecture needed to integrate our emerging multicultural world society.