CONTEMPORARY SCHOLASTIC MATERIALS
ON UNITED NATIONS SANCTIONS PUBLISHED AT AN IMPORTANT TIME FOR INTERNATIONAL LAW

An appreciation by Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers
and Reviews Editor, “The Barrister”

This new title from Edward Elgar Publishing has arrived at just the right time for international lawyers with the role of the United Nations high on the global political and legal agenda.

As editor, Larissa van den Herik, says “the 1990s have been labelled the “Sanctions Decade”. This is because they witnessed “an unprecedented intensification of the use of collective non-military enforcement measures, and, in particular, sanctions by the post-Cold War re-activated Security Council”, she says.

This book is part of the research handbooks series for international law. The twenty-five contributors review “the current practice of UN sanctions in international law, their inter-relationship with other regimes and substantive areas of law, as well as issues arising from their implementation and application at the domestic level”.

As the publishers have commented, in “the twenty-five years following the conclusion of the Cold War witnessed an unprecedented intensification of the usage of United Nations sanctions”. This research handbook maps out how UN sanctions “multiplied and diversified during this period”. It also “analyses the substantive and procedural transformations to UN sanctions regimes, through the lens of international law”.

The 25 experts describe the various types of UN sanctions regimes, most notably counter-terrorism regimes, counter-proliferation regimes and conflict-resolution regimes. They review developments across the regimes, including increased references to international legal standards in the procedure and design of sanctions and interplays with what they call “other processes and informal arrangements”.

What we found of great value were the major chapters covering the synergies (their words) between UN sanctions and unilateral measures. The book explores the contrasting legal frameworks which govern and shape such regimes. \it offers the reader a “holistic study of UN sanctions” and explains cross-cutting issues and the common challenges thus providing an “outlook on the future of UN sanctions in a twenty-first century setting”.

We welcome the description of the book as “comprehensive and engaging”. It will appeal to undergraduates and academics across the field of human rights law and international law.

Additionally, it is highly relevant to those involved in the wider area of international relations as an “essential companion”. Rightly described as a “forward-thinking approach”, the title and the series will also benefit legal practitioners at the United Nations as well as arrange of international organisations and law firms involved in international law.

The publication date is stated is at 28th July 2017.