Book Reviews Martin, Pierre-Marie. Les échecs du droit international. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1996. Pp. 128. Pierre-Marie Martin, Professor at the University of Toulouse 1 (France) has written a short book on the setbacks of public international law. After a brief introduction – containing judicious remarks on the oft misused concept of international community – the first part of the essay deals with the failure of the international law-making process. Exclusively centred around treaties and resolutions of international organizations, the study is well conducted, though one may be disappointed to find that the analysis does not cover important topics such as custom, general principles, unilateral acts of states and judicial decisions. The second part of the book tackles the failure of the implementation of international law. The first chapter in this part studies the obstacles erected by the sovereignty of states. This is followed by an analysis of the difficulties – to say the least – relating to the efforts to suppress the use of force in international relations. Finally, a third chapter explores the uncertain implementation of the so-called international law of development. The topics examined in these first two chapters, although well chosen, do not provide a comprehensive coverage of the issue. They do, however, offer an acceptable overview. The chapter on the international law of development, on the other hand, deals with an area of law that is far from being universally accepted and determined. Therefore, one may question whether it was worth occupying nearly a quarter of the book with this subject at the cost of other essential matters, such as the debate on the efficiency of international justice. Published in a series intended for the general public, this essay does not provide particularly useful material for the experienced international lawyer. A sound – though incomplete – criticism of public international law, it does not particularly stand out among similar – and often more stimulating – works. Still, the law student already familiar with the basics of public international law may find in this accessible volume some interesting, albeit not original, thoughts on the imperfect generation and implementation of the rules of the ‘international judicial order’. Frank Attar Paris, France
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