Full Description
The Impact of International Organizations on International Law addresses how international organizations, particularly those within the UN system, have changed the forms, contents, and effects of international law. Professor Jose Alvarez considers the impact on sovereigns and actions taken by the contemporary Security Council, the UN General Assembly, and UN Specialized Agencies such as the World Health Organization. He considers the diverse functions performed by adjudicators - from judges of the International Criminal Court to arbitrators within the international investment regime. This text raises fundamental questions concerning the future of international law given the challenges international organizations pose to legal positivism, to traditional conceptions of sovereignty, and to the rule of law itself.
"A masterfully crafted piece of scholarship that engages with the very raison d'être of international organizations. Written by one of the leading authorities in the field, this book provides an insightful, perspicacious and to-the-point analysis of the impact of international organizations in today's international legal order while also shedding light on their weaknesses. A must read for all those whose work touches upon the law of international organization." ‾Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, University of Geneva
"The role of Public International Law, rooted largely in decisions of or relating to international institutions, has been steadily, quietly re-shaping international economic relations and other links between states and regions for decades. There is no greater authority on international organizations within the American law community than Professor José Alvarez. This volume illuminates these trends as well as their limitations and vulnerabilities. It delivers a first-rate, incisive primer on the field." ‾David M. Malone, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Rector of the UN University
Contents
I. Legal Positivism and its Discontents
(1) The Mainstream: Legal Positivism
(a) Positivist Treaties
(b) Positivist Custom
(c) Positivist General Principles
(2) The Institutional Challenge to Legal Positivism
(a) The Reality of Institutionalization
(b) The International Judiciary
(c) The Return of Domestic Analogies
(d) From State Rules to Process
(e) From Process to Inter-disciplinarity
(3) Caveats
II. The UN Charter Over Time: The Contemporary Security Council
(1) What is the UN Charter for?
(2) The UN Charter as Positivist Instrument
(3) The Council and the "Contracting Out" of Force: Iraq
(4) The Council as Extradition Tool
(5) The Council and Ad Hoc War Criminal Tribunals
(6) The Council and the "Right to Democracy"
(7) The Council's "Smart" Sanctions
(8) The Council's Global "Legislation"
(9) The Council's New Tool: The ICC
(10) The Council and "Human Security"
III. The Contemporary General Assembly
(1) The Assembly and the Sources of International Law
(2) The Assembly as Charter Interpreter
(3) The Assembly as Human Rights Interpreter and Enforcer
(4) The Assembly as Peace and Security Institutional Actor
IV. A Contemporary Specialized Agency: The World Health Organization
(1) The Origins of the WHO
(2) The Fall of the Old IHRs
(3) The Rise of the Revised (2005) IHRs
(4) The WHO's First Treaty: The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
(5) The WHO in Larger Context
V. The Main Functions of International Adjudication
(1) Introduction
(2) The Complex Dispute Settlement Function
(3) The Fact-Finding Function
(4) The Law-Making Function
(5) The Governance Function
(6) Conclusions
VI. Three Challenges Posed by International Organizations
(1) The IO Challenge to Legal Positivism
(a) The challenge to the primacy of states and state consent
(b) The challenge to the Article 38 source of international obligation
(c) The challenge to bindingness
(d) Explaining how IO charters "evolve"
(2) The IO Challenge to Sovereignty
(3) The IO Challenge to the Rule of Law
(4) Conclusion
