Book Review: International Law and Organization: New Dimensions for the United Nations: The Problems of the Next Decade
| Date | 01 June 1967 |
| Published date | 01 June 1967 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206702200219 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
322
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Yet
if
state
practice
is
observed
(and
surely
academics
are
doing
themselves
a
disservice
to
turn
their
back
on
actual
events
even
though
they
are
searching
for
"normative" rules)
the
observer
quickly
learns
that
the
international
scene
simply
isn't
this
disciplined.
Indeed
this
is
evident
from
the
author's
own
text
where, and
understandably the
citations
supporting
the
revealed
"Principles"
are
predominantly
those
of
other
publicists. Judicial
and
arbitral
decisions
are
of course
in-
cluded.
And
in
this
respect
it
wouldn't
be
fair
to
single out
Mr.
Brownlie
for
his
acquiescence
in
the
all-too-common
practice
of
inter-
national
lawyers
to
succumb
to
the
irresistible temptation
of
expanding
single
decisions
of
ad
hoc
arbitral
tribunals
into universal
principles.
This
book
has
considerable
material
in
it
of
value,
yet its
appearance
on
the
scene so
shortly
following
the
publication
of
D.
P
O'Connell's
magnificent
work
forces
a
perhaps
unfair
comparison
in
which
Brown-
lie
comes
out
second-best.
The
era
in
which
all-encompassing
inter-
national
law
treatises
were
possible
is
perhaps
past
except in
those
instances
when
a
scholar
such
as
O'Connell
is
able
to
produce
a
truly
comprehensive
work.
In
the
present
case
the
author's
warmng
that
the
volume
is
not
intended
to
serve
as
a
text
book
or manual
with
regard
to
all
aspects
of
international
law
is
just
not
in
keeping
with
the
catholic
sound of
the
title.
The
reader
therefore
finds
himself
at
odds
with
the author
from the
outset.
In
summation,
Mr.
Brownlie's
new
book
is
one
which every serious
library
must
possess,
but
one
in
which,
in
this
reviewer's
opinion,
every
serious
scholar
will
be
disappointed.
In
saying this,
a
tribute
is
intended to
the author
for
his
undoubted
industry
and
the
high
standard
which
we
have
come
to
expect of
him.
University
of
Alberta
IVAN
L.
HEAD
NEW
DIMENSIONS
FOR
THE
UNITED
NATIONS:
THE
PROBLEMS
OF
THE
NEXT
DECADE.
Seventeenth
Report
of
the
Commission
to
Study
the
Organization
of
Peace.
Edited
by
Clark
M.
Eichelberger.
1966.
(Dobbs
Ferry-
Oceana.
xi,
225pp.
$6.00)
The
United
Nations
is
in some
respects
a
distinctively
American
institution.
The
Assembly
based
on
the
sovereign
equality
of
member
states,
bears
some
resemblance
to
the
United
States
Senate,
while
the
Security
Council
with its
built-in
powers
of decision
is
reminiscent
of
the
independent
executive.
The
rhetoric
of
the
Charter
is
character-
istically
American
and the note
it
strikes
has
been
sounded
again
and
again
by
United
States
representatives
from
Stettinius
to
Goldberg.
It
may
be
that
"top
nations"
have
always tried
to organize
the
world
in
their
own
image,
but
few
can
have
devoted
so
much
speech-making
to
"the pursuit
of
world
order"
both inside
and
outside
the
U.N.,
as
the
U.S.A.
Add
to
this
that
the
United
States
has
carried
at
least
40
per
cent.
of
the
costs
of
U.N.
activities,
until
very recently
could
almost
always
count
on
majority
support
for
its
views
provided
it
held
them
strongly
enough,
and
has
supplied
many
of
the
key
members
of
the
Secretariat,
and
it
becomes
plain
that
the
fate
of
the
U.N.
is
closely
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