IR - One Definition A Day - International Organisations

One-definition-a-day: International Organisations (p. 270, Ref. 1)

Formal institutional structures transcending national boundaries which are created by multilateral agreement among nation-states. Their purpose is to foster international cooperation in areas such as security, law, economic and social matters and diplomacy. They are a relatively recent phenomena although many commentators, from the Ancient Greeks onwards, have advocated their creation in one guise or another. In fact they began to emerge in the context of the nineteenth-century European state system where there were specific and self-conscious attempts to facilitate international intercourse and to provide a functional enabling procedure for common international endeavours.

The first of these was the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine in 1815 and the most well known was modern International Telecommunication Union (ITO). In the twentieth century these organisations have proliferated to such as extent that on almost every issue, over and above the traditional state-to-state diplomatic network there exists a more or less permanent framework of institutions through which collective measures can be realised.

Modern international organisations are of two basic types, the 'public' variety known as intergovernmental organisations (IGOs) and the 'private' variety, the international non-governmental organisations (INGOs). Foremost examples of the former would be the League of Nations and the United Nations and of the latter, the International Red Cross and Amnesty International. Common characteristics of both types are voluntary membership, permanent organisation, a constitutional structure, a permanent secretariat and a consultative conference. 

IGOs are established by treaty thus their competence is initially limited to the specifics of the convention, but organisational task expansion to meet new contingencies will commonly follow if the IGO is to respond to change. In this way, although states retain ultimate authority, international organisations not only provide a means for cooperative action but also multiple channels of communication which on varying levels overlie traditional diplomatic structures. For example, it has been estimated that at present over 389 public and 4'700 private international organisations are operative on a day-to-day basis in world politics.

The theory of international organisation has evolved from developments in such areas as internationalism, trans-nationalism, complex interdependence, the study of regimes, functionalism, federalism and integration. 

The central focus of all these concerns is an attempt to get beyond the political, social and economic fragmentation which has traditionally characterised the more parochial and individualistic views of classic realism. While it is not easy to access the extent to which international organisations have contributed to the growth of internationalism, two basic views can be identified. 

On one hand, they are seen as early prototypes for an emerging global governance, and on the other they are regarded as ineffectual and largely symbolic subterfuges for unilateralism, which is the 'real' or 'proper' source of international behaviour. Neither extreme adequately captures the role of international organisations in contemporary world politics. Although doubts persist as to whether they are autonomous international actors with a defined legal personality, few deny that they have made an enormous contribution to the management of international relations.


(Source: Penguin Dictionary of IR)

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IR - One Definition A Day: IMF_International Monetary Fund

IR - One Definition A Day: IMF (International Monetary Fund)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established as part of the Bretton Woods system in 1944. Subsequently it became part of the UN structure. In conjunction with the World Bank, the IMF was regarded as one of the central institutions for the managment of post-war economic relations.

The IMF, as the name implies, was intended to supply international liquidity to member states finding themselves in balance of payments difficulties. In addition the Fund was to manage a system of stable (rather than fixed) exchange rates. A particular currency would have a 'par value' which was expressed in terms of dollars. Alteration of that rate would be effected, with the approval of the Fund, if the states' external payments balance was held to be in 'fundemenatal disequilibrium'. 

As already stated, in addition to its supervision of the exchange rate regime, the Fund lends money to member states in balance of payments difficulties. It is always assumed that the monetary authorities of the recipient state would take appropriate measures to correct such imbalances and indeed it has become a feature of the IMF lending that so-called 'conditionality' stipulations would be part of the 'rescue package'. 

Recognition of the right to lay down such conditions is indicated by the recipient government issuing a 'letter of intent' to the IMF. This whole procedure - of laying down conditions which are then accepted in the letter - is clearly a significant erosion of state sovereignty. Although an accepted and expected feature of the IMF's conduct it is not without controversy. The IMF has a tradition of requiring states in receipt of its loans to make structural adjustments to rectify the disequilibrium. Thus raising taxes and interest rates and cutting public expenditure, including subsidies, are typical IMF-preferred policies.

The linchpin of the original Bretton Woods arrangement was the US dollar. The gold/dollar exchange rate had been fixed at 35 dollars per ounce in 1934 and it was assumed that this exchange rate was, to all intents and purposes fixed and immutable. During the early post-war period of reconstruction the principal concern about the dollar was its shortage. 

Although the US balance of payment began to move into deficit during the 1950s it was not regarded as serious. As long as the dollar shortage remained other states in the system were willing to see the US running deficits which were financed by the export of dollars. The IMF system was, in fact, a gold exchange standard with the dollar regarded as being 'as good as gold' for these purposes. The IMF system of stable exchange rates established as a fundamental principle of the system after 1944 began to be seriously questioned towards the end of the 1960s. By 1961 the great emerging problem was the US deficit. By running a deficit the US was funding the system but equally was running the risk that, if confidence collapsed, then a forced devaluation of the dollar would be necessary.

When the collapse of confidence in the dollar eventually came in 1971 it was both spectacular and momentous. Speculative attacks upon the dollar were encouraged by a series of poor trade figures which seemed to suggest that the link between gold and the dollar might have to be suspended or ended altogether. In August 1971 the US President announced that the convertibility of the dollar into gold was temporarily suspended. At the end of a year a joint meeting of the Group of Ten (G10) and the Excutive Directors of the Fund agreed to devalue the dollar 10 per cent against the other currencies in the Group. These decisions effectively brought down the Bretton Woods  system of stable exchange rates. Following a second dollar devaluation in February 1973 the system was abandoned and the new era of 'floating' rates replaced it.

Cautious and considered deliberations of these changes were reduced by the first oil shock in 1973-4. Suddenly states were moving massively into credits or debit on their balance of payments. Any chance of structured reform was abandoned and floating continued into the future. The Jamaica Agreement of January 1976 amended the Articles of Agreement of the Fund to legitimize floating. In reality there has been a good deal of 'managment' of the float by the central banking authorities of the principal G10 states since. The Jamaica Agreement also confirmed that for the future the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) would be the principal reserve asset of the Fund.

The debt crisis of the 1980s was a significant issue area in IMF management strategies. The IMF-Mexico resource package of November 1982 extended almost 4 billion dollars of IMF credit lines in return for structural adjustments such as reducing the budget deficit and subsidies from the Mexican government. Further IMF conditionality included a 5 billion dollar credit from commercial banks to match the IMF monies. The Mexican agreement became the model for other IMF-sponsored rescue packages. 

These atttempts at debt crisis management proved to be a Faustian bargain for many recipients. Growth rates significantly deteriorated as debt as a proportion of GNP rose. IMF structural adjustment demands were the object of party political atttacks from opposition groups. Eventually a new initiative under the so-called Brady Plan allowed for debts to be re-negotiated to reduce interest payments and, in some cases, to rescind the debt totally. Throughout the IMF has continued to insist upon structural adjustments as condition for debt relief.


French translation by Anh Tho Andres @YourVietnamExpert.com
Vietnamese translation by Cuong Phan
German translation by Han Dang-Klein 

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IR - One Definition a Day: International Relations (IR)

One-Definition-A-Day: International Relations (IR), (p. 274, Ref. 1)

This term is used to identify all interactions between state-based actors across state boundaries. The term can immediately be compared with, though is broader than, international politics. Indeed, the latter is subsumed as one, and certainly one of the most important, sub-fields of international relations. Thus international law is part of international relations but not international politics. Law is, after all, certainly in its customary form, created by interactions between state-based actors. Similarly international economic relations are part of international relations but not international politics. This is not to say that political calculations will not intrude into these areas, but only that they can be separated for the purposes of analysis.

International relations (IR) is thus an interdisciplinary and heterogeneous area of study. It has no unifying methodology because, taken with three examples mentioned above, international economics is an empirical social science, international law is far more normative than most social sciences while international politics is eclectic, borrowing from a number of traditions and divided in many minds into a rather unruly flock of activities. It should also be noted that the above listing is illustrative rather than exhaustive, diplomatic history, which again has its own methodology, being an obvious omission.

Despite its multidisciplinary and fragmented nature, most students of international relations view it as a sub-discipline of political science, broadly conceived. Although the main professional societies in the Anglo-American world have specifically and deliberately avoided using the term IR in order to indicate its multidisciplinary character (The International Studies Association and the British International Studies Association) the majority of members are in fact drawn from the study of politics. Indeed the domain of IR is often still referred to as 'international politics' despite the differences noted above. This terminological imprecision can also be noted in related labels such as 'world politics', 'foreign affairs', 'international affairs' and more recently 'international studies' and 'global politics'. Foreign policy analysis, security studies, International Political Economy and normative theory are the most vibrant sub-fields and these also are dominated by political scientists.

History and approaches

As a separate fields of academic inquiry distinct from International law, Political Theory and Diplomatic History, IR effectively began with the establishment of its first chair at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth in 1919. The first general theoretical perspective was popularly labelled idealism and was characterized by a belief in progress; that the international system could be transformed into a fundamentally more peaceful and just world order.

From the start therefore IR was policy-orientated. Thereafter the subject underwent a succession of waves of theoretical activity which inspired a number of 'great debates' within the discipline. In rough chronological order (mindful that these 'schools' are not exclusive and do overlap) these are: realism, behaviorism, neo-realism, neo-liberalism, world systems theory, critical theory and postmodernism. These perspective shifts often involved bitter disputes about methodology, epistemology and ontology. However, there is now general acceptance within IR that given the range and complexity of the subject matter, a wide variety of theoretical approaches might be an asset rather than a liability. 

Most of these paradigm controversies were centred on the work of analysts in the USA and Europe (sometimes, inaccurately referred to as the 'Anglo-Amercian tradition' which tended to concentrate on great power/superpower issues. IR students in the Third World or South by and large, by-passed these debates and not unnaturally focused on particular policy problems with their states or regions. 

Overall theoretical perspectives, if developed at all, usually had their origins in Marxist/Leninist theories of imperialism in dependency theory and structuralism. With the ending of the Cold War, IR like its subject matter is in the state of flux. The two dominant perspectives are neo-realism and neo-liberalism but the general uncertainty about the continued validity of the state as the key actor in world politics, has led to doubts about the ability of IR in its present form, to survive as a separate area of academic study.

Remarks: ONE DEFINITION A DAY is a campaign by YourVietBooks.com to encourage young Vietnamese talents to practise their translation skills and learn more on Vietnam's Culture, the Land and the People. Volunteers are welcome to contribute their translated version of today's DEFINITION in the comments below.

Original Title in English: Dictionary of International Relations, Penguin (1998) by Authors Graham Evans and Jeffrey Newnham

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IR - One Definition A Day: Adjudication

IR - One Definition A Day: Adjudication

A method of settling disputes by referring them to an established court; as such, it ought not be confused with arbitration. The basis of adjudication is that the adjudicator applies international law to settle the dispute. The creation of the World Court in the present century has meant that the means for international adjudication now exists on a permanent basis. 


In 1920 the Permanent Court of International Justice (JCIJ) was established by the League of Nations and between 1922 and 1940 it made thirty-three judgments and gave twenty-seven advisory opinions. In 1945 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was established as its successor. The main difficulties both courts have experienced are the limitations upon their jurisdiction. Parties can only submit a case for adjudication by express consent, although there is an optional clause in the statute of the ICJ (see Article 36). Moreover, only states may be party to cases before the Court (Article 34). This has had the effect that important non-state actors, including individuals, cannot directly initiate litigation.


It must be recognised that many disputes are simply not justiciable. International actors find that other modes of conflict settlement allow greater flexibility for bargaining and comprise and do not imply the same loss of control over the outcome that is inherent in adjudication. Also, international law tends to have a status quo orientation. Revisionist states thus tend to find that the use of adjudication does not allow sufficient scope for peaceful change. This must be said notwithstanding the ability of the World Court to apply principles ex aequo et bono if the parties agree (see Article 38).


Although the World Court represents the most significant attempt yet to apply the rule of law in international disputes instead of the more traditional modes of settlement (war, diplomacy, arbitration), it is severely hampered in its operation by the absence of the principle of compulsory jurisdiction. International adjudication is always dependent on the consent of states, and this is rarely given on matters of vital importance. The doctrine of sovereignty is therefore seen by many as an insuperable barrier to the development of the international judicial system. Compulsory jurisdiction is not on the horizon and the international judicial process has played no significant part in the major issues of world politics since 1946 (e.g. The Cold War, the anti-colonial revolution, the North-South division, or the regulation of nuclear weapons).


(Source: Wikipedia)







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IR - One Definition A Day: Arbitration

IR - One Definition A Day : Arbitration (p. 33, Ref. 1)

A method of conflict settlement involving third-party intervention. Arbitration is a favored method of settlement in domestic labor-management conflicts, at least in the advanced industrial countries (AICs). The basis of an arbitration award is that the parties to the conflict agree to submit their differences to the third party to make a binding decision to settle the dispute. 

The arbitrator may apply known rules, precedents and laws in seeking a settlement and the arbitration award may be reinforced by sanctions to secure compliance. It is possible, and desirable, for the parties to agree to these rules, at least implicitly, in advance. This means that existing rules and practices can be abandoned in favor of any agreed-upon set of principles. Thus arbitration is more flexible than adjudication because the latter process tends to rigorously eschew innovation and to reflect a status quo frame of reference.


In international relations arbitration as a form of settlement has always had powerful advocates but, apart from a short period in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it has been little used. Anglo-American diplomacy provides the best examples in the modern world. The Jay Treaty of 1794 inaugurated arbitration as a method of settlement between the two states. The most famous case is that of the Alabama Arbitration of 1872. Scholars are generally agreed that this settlement in favor of the US was prompted by the desire of both parties to improve their relations rather than by any philosophical commitment to the arbitration process.


Many idealists regarded the development of arbitration as essential if war was to be eradicated from international relations. The two Hague Peace Conferences (1899 and 1907) failed to achieve agreement on compulsory arbitration but succeeded in creating the Permanent Court of  Arbitration. This was, in point of fact, neither permanent nor a court. It was a list of persons from which the parties to a conflict could select a name.


Arbitration has not had the success or impact that the nineteenth and twentieth century idealist believed. Essentially the consensus that is required to make arbitration work has been absent. Moreover, although it is marginally more flexible than adjudication, arbitration appears not to be favored in the present system as a means of settlement. The growth of international regional institutions in the contemporary system must be as accounted a major force in reducing the potential for arbitration as a third party mode.


(Source: Penguin Dictionary of IR)



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IR - One definition a day: Alliance

IR - One definition a day: Alliance

A formal agreement between two or more actors - usually states - to collaborate together on perceived mutual security issues. By allying themselves together it is anticipated that security will be increased in one, some or all of the following dimensions: by joining an alliance a system of deterrence will be established or strengthened, by joining an alliance a defence pact will operate in the event of a war, by joining an alliance some or all of the actors will be precluded from joining other alliances. 

Allies will stipulate in treaty form the conditions under which a military response will be required. At a minimum this collaboration will cover mutual obligations upon the outbreak of hostilities, but collaboration often extends beyond this. Joint military exercises, staff training and weapons procurement may all be regarded as proper activities under the rubric of 'being allies'. Allies may feel the need to support each other diplomatically in the conduct of their foreign policies. As with any diplomacy, alliances may be secret or open, bilateral or multilateral. It is not difficult to see why, under traditional concepts of state-centrism, alliance diplomacy was regarded as paradigm high politics.

The alliance was a key variable in the balance of power system. States were assumed to blance against a revisionist state or coalition to maintain stability. In this context alliances were contingent, issue-orientated. Waltz (1979) has suggested that an equally plausible dynamic in the balance of power would be for states to 'bandwagon' behind a putative victor rather than balance against it. In a bipolar system, bloc leaders and superpowers will engage in ally-seeking in order to counter perceived threats at the margin or periphery. Since military capabilities are unevenly distributed in bipolar alliances, serious conflicts can occur within the blocs over the scope and domain of bloc leadership and followership. This tendency is often referred to as polycentrism.

In a multipolar system, alliance dynamics are intrinsically more fluid and there may be greater uncertainty and less predictability about foreign policies and alliance dynamics.As Christensen and Snyder (1990) have suggested, under conditions of multipolarity states may either 'chain gang' (rush headlong into hostilities in support of their allies) of 'buck pass' (stand off from hostilities in the expectation or hope that others will not do so). This dilemna is built into multipolarity and - as the authors suggest - non-systemic, perceptual agent-centered considerations may ultimately decide the dilemna.

The twentieth century has seen ally-seeking and alliance construction as typical repertories of state behaviour. The examplaes of 1914 and 1939 have been widerly studies to extrapolate and validate theories about alliances and occurrence of war. The findings seem to be ambivalent as to whether alliances inhibit or encourage states to go to war. The outbreak of the Cold War confirmed many of the bipolar dynamics already referred to. Both the United States and the former Soviet Union found that bloc leadership could not presume bloc followership. 

Many saw nuclear weapons as exacerbating these tendencies to centrifugalism. Gaulism was perhaps the most explicit statement of these views. The end of the Cold War and the demise of the Soviet Union has left the system with 'morning after the night before' remnants of the old bipolar structure. Whilst the Warsaw Pact has now gone, NATO continues to re-invent itself although whether it is still an 'alliance' remains a moot point.

(Source: wikipedia)

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IR - One Definition A Day: NIC (Newly Industrialized/Industrializing Country)

 IR - One Definition A Day: NIC - Newly Industrialized/Industrializing Country (p. 372, réf 1)

NIC is an acronym for Newly Industrialized / Industrializing Country (both terms are found in the literature). 

There is some debate and discrepancy about the membership of this grouping but four unequivocal NICs can be identified in the region of East Asia: South Korea, Taiwan, Hongkong and Singapore. Other putative NICs in other regions of the system are referred to below. In passing it should also be noted that of the above four, Hongkong is sui generis. Its status was that of a dependent territory, not a state: it has now been repatriated to China. Nor does its undoubted economic prosperity make it typical of the NICs. Unlike the other three, Hongkong has developed as a key financial and business centre, playing an entrepôt role vis-à-vis China and East Asia in general.

Notwithstanding the Hongkong case, the NICs have been able to expand their manufacturing sectors because they have enjoyed advantegeous comparative costs vis-à-vis the market leaders, the advanced industrial countries (AICs). They have a high level of entrepreneurial skill amonst their populations, an open economy regarding foreign invesetment and stable, if undemocratic, potlitical regimes. 

The emergence of the NICs exemplifies a real shift in productive resources from the North to selected sites in the South. Typical examples of manufacturing growth can be cited in such fields as: cars and trucks, consumer electrical goods, shipbuilding, steels and textiles. Among Third World states the NICs stand out for their achievement of self-sustained, export-led economic growth. They have, moreover, avoided the kinds of debt problems associated with the recent economic performance of the putative NICs of Latin America. 

The evident success of these NICs has had two effects upon the relations in the field of political economy. First, their success has weakened the concept of Third World solidarity. Ideologically the NICs have achieved their impressive economic performance by applying the principles of economic liberalism and by following the example of Japan. They have been willing to see multinational companies (MNCs) investment in their economies and have often facilitated such capital flows by offering a permissive taxation regime to corporations. Their political systems, if stable, have poor human rights records and limited and restricted opportunities for participation. 

The second consequence of NIC success has been that it has provoked a backlash amongst the AICs. One form this has taken has been for increases in protectionism on the grounds that 'cheap' imports are flooding into home markets from these areas. A second response, particularly favoured in the United States, is to argue that the NICs have 'graduated' into the first division and that henceforth they should cease to regard themselves, or be regarded by others as Third World states requireing special consideration. Institutionally their appropirate destination would seem to be the Organisation for Econocomic Cooperation and Development (OECD) according to this perception.

Four unequivocal NICs were identifed earlier. Overlapping membership with the colloquial Asian Tigers is evident. 

Putative membership for the next decade and the new century must include many - if not all- of the recently identified big emerging markets (BEMs).

(Source: Dict Penguin IR)

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THE INTERNATIONAL LAW OF TREATIES

Original Title in English: THE INTERNATIONAL LAW OF TREATIES

by Author © Walter Gehr 2001-2010

Sources: 

English version

French version

German version

Introduction:

Nowadays as in the past, treaties play a fundamental role in international relations. The present website aims at offering to an interested public an introduction to international treaty law, i.e. the law of the treaties concluded between States in written form and governed by public international law.

In proceeding by deduction, the author's intention is to present international treaty law by starting from its inherent principles as embodied in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969. This convention has entered into force on 27 January 1980 and has been ratified by more than 100 countries.

THE SOURCES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, considered by some as the "Bible of the Poor" of those who seek quick answers despite of the complexity of international relations, constitutes nevertheless a good starting point for the understanding of the sources of international law. According to this article, international law finds its origin in the following three sources:

      - international conventions of general or particular nature;

      - international custom, as evidence of a general practice accepted as law;

      - the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations.

Most international law experts would rush to add the "unilateral acts" to these three sources of law and to declare that Article 38 of the Statute has omitted to mention these unilateral acts for which the United Nations' International Law Commission (ILC) has elaborated Guiding Principles in 2006. Contrary to this opinion, other international lawyers would maintain that these unilateral acts constitute specific expressions of the will of States leading eventually to agreements which are then governed by the rules applicable to international conventions.

Finally, the idea of justice and equity originating in the philosophy of natural law is not to be discarded as a source of international law, since it is the opinion of the International Court of Justice itself that whatever the legal argumentation of the judge, his or her decisions have to be just and in that sense must correspond to justice and equity. Moreover, the judges of the International Court of Justice are expressly authorized to decide a case ex aequo et bono, if the parties agree thereto, i.e. to found their judgements on arguments of equity (Article 38 (2) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice).

International treaty law as codified by Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969 is open for considerations of justice too (Preambular para. 4 and 5 and Article 44 (3)). Moreover, the concept of "jus cogens" seems also to be an angle of incidence for natural law ideas.

Since, on the basis of their sovereignty and therefore independence, the equality of all States constitutes the theoretical foundation of international relations and although public international law, by definition, does not belong to civil law, international legal debates are often reminiscent of the discussions known in the latter area, in particular in the context of the law of contracts.

However, the analogy with the law of contract ends where measures are taken on the basis of Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. Although they are foreseen in an international treaty - in particular by Article 25 of the Charter - these measures deserve to be highlighted because of the legal obligations they impose to the whole world, their political significance and the remarkable development they have undergone since the Gulf War of 1991. The measures taken by the Security Council and which are expressly based on Chapter VII of the Charter encompass not only military as well as economic sanctions against

      - certain States (Ethiopia, Eritrea, Iraq, Yougoslavia, Sierra

        Leone etc.)

      - or insurgents (Angola's UNITA, see resolution

        1173/1998 of 12 June 1998) or even political parties in

        government (the Afghan faction of the Taliban, see res.

        1267/1999 of 15 October 1999),

     

but also

      - the creation of special tribunal to prosecute war crimes or

        crimes against humanity in the territory of the former

        Yougoslavia (res. 827/1993 of 25 May 1993) and in Ruanda

        (res. 955/1994 of 8 November 1994)

      - or of special administrative zones like in East Timor (see

        res. 1272/1999 of 25 October 1999) or in Kosovo (see

        res.1244/1999 of 10 June 1999)

        as well as

      - measures against terrorism in general (res. 1373/2001

        of 28 September 2001).  

These sources of international law are supplemented by two subsidiary means for the determination of rules of law (Article 38 (1)(d) of the Statute), i.e. by

      - judicial decisions (although even the decisions of the

        International Court of Justice have binding force only between the

        parties and in respect of the particular cases submitted to the

        Court - Article 59 of the Statute) and

      - the teachings of the most highly qualified publicists of the

        various nations.

This website, for its part, is devoted to the international law of treaties as codified in the Vienna Convention. The principles of this convention as well as their application constitute its main subject-matter.

Vietnamese translation by 

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IR - One Definition A Day: Act of War

IR - One Definition A Day
Act of war
Any act which is incompatible with a state of peace. Under customary international law states had the right to resort to war whenever they deemed it necessary. The principal restraint upon this behaviour was thus the laws of warfare. Distinction must immediately be made between the laws covering the conduct of war - jus in bello - and the laws governing the resort to conflict - jus ad bellum. The idea of an act of war, therefore, properly comes under jus ad bellum. 
Before the establishment of universal international institutions in the twentieth century, there was a good deal of auto-interpretation attached to this concept. In practice, states could decide for themselves what constituted an act of war. Once war had been declared between the parties then notice was served upon the whole state system that relations had changed from peace to war. 
A complicating factor in this was the alliance. States entering alliances took upon themselves obligations to fight each other's wars. If the alliance was to function properly the parties needed to know what constituted an act of war against themselves whereby the alliance would become operational. This is referred to as the casus foederis.
The current century has seen important changes in the laws of war, both ad bellum and in bello. Treaty law, such as that set out in the United Nations Charter, now draws a clear distinction between the legal and illegal use of force. The presumption is now made that force can only be used in self-defence. In the absence of more effective means of conflict resolution, states will resort to force. 
The twentieth century has required its statements to be more imaginative in seeking justification for doing so than in the past. At the same time, use of less direct modes of aggression, such as guerrilla warfare, have made it more difficult to apply the laws of war. 
External intervention in civil wars has become widespread in the twentieth century. Some of the most intractable regional conflicts - such as the Arab-Israeli conflict - originated as communal differences. In sum, just as international lawyers have attempted to establish new criteria for the use of force, other developments have increased uncertainties belligerency.


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Vietnamese Translation by





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Droit International Public

Original Title in French Droit International Public (5e édition)
By Authors  Nguyen Quoc Dinh , Patrick Daillier & Alain Pellet
Publisher LGDJ, 1994, ISBN 2275004025, 1317 pages
Proposed  English Title : International Public Law
About the Book
Le droit international a évolué rapidement ces dernières années sous l'influence de nouveaux rapports géopolitiques. Des problèmes "classiques" connaissent une nouvelle actualité; les rapports entre le droit communautaire et le droit international sont de plus en plus denses; certaines controverses idéologiques son affaiblies.
About the Author(s)
Professeur Nguyen Quoc Dinh fut l'initiateur de ce projet. Après son décès, les auteurs ont continué son oeuvre pour "éviter que meure le grain qu'il a semé".
Patrick Daillier est professeur à l'Université de Paris X-Nanterre;
Alain Pellet est professeur à l'Université de Paris X-Nanterre et à l'I.E.P. de Paris, et membre de la Commission du Droit international des Nations Unies.
Contents
Plan général de l'ouvrage
Introduction générale
Définition du Droit international
Chapitre I. Histoire du droit international
Chapitre II. Théorie du droit international
Première partie
Formation du Droit international
Titre I. Formation conventionnelle
Chapitre I. Conclusion des traités
Chapitre II. Validité des traités
Chapitre III. Application des traités
Chapitre IV. Fin des normes conventionnelles
Titre II. Formation non conventionnelle
Chapitre I. Modes de formation spontanés
Chapitre II. Modes de formation volontaires
Chapitre III. Moyens de détermination des règles de droit
Deuxième partie
Titre I. L'Etat
Chapitre I. Définition de l'Etat selon le droit international
Chapitre II. Compétences de l'Etat
Chapitre III. Formation et transformation de l'Etat
Titre II. Les organisations internationales et les autres sujets de droit international
Chapitre I. Les organisation internationales (théorie générale)
Chapitre II. Les personnes privées
Troisième partie
Les Rapports internationaux
Titre I. Cadre juridique des relations internationales
Sous-titre I. Mécanismes généraux des relations internationales
Chapitre I. Relations diplomatiques et consulaires
Chapitre II. Responsabilité internationale
Sous-titre II. Règlement pacifique des différends internationaux
Chapitre I. Règlement non juridictionnel
Chapitre II. Règlement juridictionnel
Sous-titre III. Recours à la contrainte dans les relations internationales
Chapitre I. Limitation du recours à la contrainte dans  les rapports internationaux
Chapitre II. Maintien de la paix et de la sécurité internationales
Titre II. Droit des Relations économiques internationales
Chapitre I. Caractères généraux du droit international de l'économie
Chapitre II. Relations monétaires et financières
Chapitre III. Circulation internationale des biens et des services
Titre III. Régime international des espaces
Chapitre I. La mer
Chapitre II. Canaux et fleuves internationaux
Chapitre III. Air et espace extra-atmosphérique


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