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Book Reviews
Birgit Schmidt am Busch, Die
amerikanisch-sowjetische Rüstungskontrollabkommen im Recht der
völkerrechtlichen Verträge, Berlin, Duncker & Humblot (1993)
364 pages.
Though limited in number, the bilateral treaties between the United
States and the Soviet Union (and the latter's successor States) on disarmament,
arms control and crisis management are not only of great political and military
importance but also raise numerous interesting questions on the level of
international law. In her doctoral dissertation at the University of Munich,
Birgit Schmidt am Busch shows a remarkable knowledge of both the substance and
the legal aspects of those agreements. After giving a brief survey of the
milestones on the road to recent genuine disarmament, she focuses on various
issues in the field of the law of treaties against the backdrop of two
overriding conflicting interests which the contracting parties try to promote:
on the one hand, stability in their relations and consequently, the formulation
of precise rules and their strict observance under effective verification; on
the other hand, the need for flexibility and therefore the possibility of
adapting and even terminating their security arrangements. The author first
deals with the legal nature of the agreements under consideration (legally
binding treaty or merely political pledges?), the procedure of their
conclusion, their contents and entry into force, as well as the prohibition to
frustrate the objects and purpose of a treaty in the period between its
signature and entry into force, a principle of particular significance in the
area of arms control. The analysis also includes the complex problems of
interpretation, the characteristic withdrawal clauses, the reasons for the lack
of provisions on the peaceful settlement of treaty disputes and on
sanctions.
Finally, the effects of the agreement vis-à-vis non
parties are discussed, a question of concrete relevance for certain allies of
the two superpowers in the case of the INF Treaty. Although the Vienna
Convention on the Law of Treaties (which the United States has not yet
ratified) is not directly applicable, its provisions are used as points of
reference, because the author rightly regards most of them as codification of
customary international law. In the last chapter of the book, problems of State
succession, to which the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 has given
rise, are raised. Birgit Schmidt am Busch is to be commended on her analytical
skills and her solid legal argumentation. Whenever she takes a stand on a
controversial issue, her position is at least tenable, in most cases
convincing. One has no difficulty in subscribing to her main conclusions,
including her proposal for a typology of international treaties not only
according to formal criteria but also on the basis of their subject matter,
with arms control and disarmament agreements providing a good example.
Hanspeter Neuhold
University of Vienna, Faculty of Law
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