Book Reviews Knipping, Franz, Hans von Mangoldt, and Volker Rittberger (eds). The United Nations System and its Predecessors/Das System der Vereinten Nationen und seine Vorläufer. English/German. Berne: Verlag Stämpfli + Cie AG, Munich: C.H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1996. 2 vols. DM 561. Knipping, Franz, Hans von Mangoldt and Volker Rittberger (eds). The United Nations System and its Predecessors. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. 2 vols. £195. This bilingual edition of documents on the history and current situation of the United Nations and related agencies is of tremendous practical use for academics and practitioners in the field of international organizations. (The English language edition is, in principle, identical to the bilingual one, with the exception that it also includes some documents translated from the original French version and some more recent documents). In an exemplary manner, all documents are preceded by the official or unofficial source, and are followed by a short introduction and references. Some documents have been translated into German here for the first time. Volume I/1, edited by lawyer Hans von Mangoldt and political scientist Volker Rittberger, opens with the Charter of the United Nations and its drafting history, beginning with the Atlantic Charter. The volume also contains the most important documents from UN organs and subsidiaries, such as the Security Council, including the resolution establishing the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the 'all necessary means' resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq; the General Assembly, including the Uniting for Peace Resolution, the Friendly Relations Declaration, the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States; and the most important human rights treaties, such as ECOSOC, the International Court of Justice (Statute and Rules only), the Commission on Human Rights, UNCTAD and UNCED. Volume I/2, also edited by Professors von Mangoldt and Rittberger, deals with specialized agencies, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the IMF. It also comprises some secondary sources, such as ILO Conventions 87, 98 and 111 containing ILO 'core labour standards'. In the English language edition, the texts of GATT 1947/94, the WTO Statute, the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding and the Trade Policy Review Mechanism complete the picture of international economic law. Still missing, however, is the Law of the Sea. The sections containing General Assembly and Security Council resolutions have also been updated in the English edition. Thus, it now bears witness to one of the most serious failures of the United Nations since the end of the Cold War, namely the establishment of so-called 'safe areas' in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The second volume, edited by historian Franz Knipping, contains 107 documents in total. These include the agreements establishing the Holy Alliance, documents of the Pan-American Union and the Hague Peace Conferences, the statutes of the early Administrative Unions such as the General Postal Union, the ILO Statute and, most importantly, extensive documentation on the League of Nations. Documents on this last cover its drafting history, rules of procedure, and resolutions, from the Aaland Islands to the Spanish Civil War. The brief but well-written introductions by the editor are very useful. This compilation provides astonishing insights. For example, who is still aware of the 'Scheme for a European Union' proposed by a resolution of the League Assembly following a proposal by the French Prime Minister Aristide Briand on 16 September 1930? The documents are not only of historical interest, though. In a time when the so-called international community, represented by the Security Council, is intervening in more and more conflicts all over the world, one is struck by certain parallels with the Holy Alliance. The volume ends with a Convention concluded on 3 July 1933 between the Soviet Union and its neighbouring states, which defines aggression in rather clear and simple terms. One can hardly think of a more timely example, given the failure of the Rome Conference on the establishment of an International Criminal Court to define the crime of aggression. It goes without saying that every reader will notice the lack of some documents. On the part of this reviewer, these include, for instance, the Dumbarton Oaks proposals which served as a blueprint for the UN Charter, and the statement of the Security Council meeting at the level of Heads of State and Government on 31 January 1992. These omissions are certainly due to space restrictions. The policy of reproducing documents before 1919 in French and after that time in English has some strange repercussions, but this affects only a few documents in the bilingual edition. One might also ask whether the English-language version needed to contain several documents that are only of limited interest to the non-German reader, such as the documentation on the Germanic confederation in the 19th century. The most important criticism which this reviewer feels compelled to make, though, concerns the exorbitant price, and this in spite of public funding from the German Foreign Ministry and the State of Baden-Württemberg. But if these are the sum of the book's shortcomings, they do not take away from the exciting panorama of the efforts, achievements and failures in the history of international organization provided by this compilation. Andreas L. Paulus Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
	© 1990-2004 European Journal of International Law All comments and suggestions should be sent to webmaster This site is part of the Academy of European Law online, a joint partnership of the Jean Monnet Center at NYU School of Law and the Academy of European Law at the European University Institute. This file was last modified: Tuesday, October 14, 2003 01:13PM