Chance, Order, Change: The Course of International Law, General Course on Public International Law by J. Crawford The course of international law over time needs to be understood if international law is to be understood. This work aims to provide such an understanding. It is directed not at topics or subject headings — sources, treaties, states, human rights and so on — but at some of the key unresolved problems of the discipline. Unresolved, they call into question its status as a discipline. Is international law “law” properly so-called? In what respects is it systematic? Does it — can it — respect the rule of law? These problems can be resolved, or at least reduced, by an imaginative reading of our shared practices and our increasingly shared history, with an emphasis on process. In this sense the practice of the institutions of international law is to be understood as the law itself. They are in a dialectical relationship with the law, shaping it and being shaped by it. This is explained by reference to actual cases and examples, providing a course of international law in some standard sense as well.

The course of international law over time needs to be understood if international law is to be understood. This work aims to provide such an understanding. It is directed not at topics or subject headings — sources, treaties, states, human rights and so on — but at some of the key unresolved problems of the discipline.0Unresolved, they call into question its status as a discipline. Is international law “law” properly so-called ? In what respects is it systematic ? Does it — can it — respect the rule of law ? These problems can be resolved, or at least reduced, by an imaginative reading of our shared practices and our increasingly shared history, with an emphasis on process. In this sense the practice of the institutions of international law is to be understood as the law itself. They are in a dialectical relationship with the law, shaping it and being shaped by it. This is explained by reference to actual cases and examples, providing a course of international law in some standard sense as well.

Also available as an e-book International law's archipelago is composed of legal "islands", which are highly organized, and "offshore" zones, manifesting a much lower degree of legal organization. Each requires a different mode of decisionmaking, each further complicated by the stress of radical change. This General Course is concerned, first, with understanding and assessing the aggregate performance of the world constitutive process, in present and projected constructs; second, with providing the intellectual tools that can enable those involved in making decisions to be more effective, whether they are operating in islands or offshore; and, third, with inquiring into ways the international legal system might be improved. Reisman identifies the individual as the ultimate actor in international law and explores the dilemmas of meaningful individual commitment to a world order of human dignity amidst interlocking communities and overlapping loyalties.

This volume consists of a carefully edited version of the General Course on Public International Law delivered at the Hague Academy of International Law to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the United Nations. The author brings to them not only his background of academic distinction, but his experience as a practitioner concerned with major international legal issues. The rule of law in international affairs is a question of perennial concern but it is of greater moment these days for a number of reasons. The active agenda of the Security Council and its relative solidarity creates a paradox. Its increased political power is a source of hope but the modalities of the exercise of power present problems of principle and of legal concern. Another area of concern is the International Court, which has had a successful record since the early eighties and provides one of the guarantees of the maintenance of legality. Recent successes of the Court include the effective resolution of the territorial dispute between Chad and Libya. The general level of compliance with its decisions by States is impressive. Yet its success is matched not by encouragement and enhancement of its facilities but by United Nations financial constraints which hinder its work and, ultimately, may threaten its independence in relation to the political organs of the United Nations.