CYIL vol. 14 (2023)

CYIL 14 (2023) THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL AND INTERNATIONAL LAW – HERSCH LAUTERPACHT… Michael Wood, Eran Sthoeger (eds.) The UN Security Council and International Law (Hersch Lauterpacht Memorial Lectures) [Rada bezpečnosti OSN a mezinárodní právo (Přednášky k památce Hersch Lauterpachta)] The imperative role of the United Nations Security Council in matters of international peace and security cannot be understated. While situations such as the one ongoing in Ukraine serve as momentous points in time showcasing the Council’s fragility; the Council’s impact on international law and international relations at large remains undisputed. Increasing criticism of the Council’s deficiencies often depart from expectations on what the Council ought to do (from a policy perspective), rather than what it can do (legally). Such criticism is equally placed with an overemphasis particularly in academia on ‘mystifying’ the Council and its powers. Wood and Sthoeger justly depart their assessment of the Council by underlying this fact (albeit often justified scrutiny). On this basis, they however progress into practical issues the Council is faced with under international law, among others, the nature of the Council and the bindingness of its decisions, the powers and limitations of the Council under the UN Charter and international law, measures it authorises, both military and non-military, and the Council’s contribution to the development of international law. In addition to the introduction and conclusion, the book’s examination is undertaken across nine substantive chapters, each examining a selected aspect of the Council. The book represents an updated and expanded version of the Hersch Lauterpacht Memorial Lectures by the same name, first given by Sir Wood at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge between 7 and 9 November 2006. As a product of its well established authors, the book takes a faithfully legal and practical approach. After all, both the Lauterpacht lectures and subsequent book are grounded in part by the experience of its authors. Wood, was a member of the UN International Law Commission between 2008 and 2022, was principal Legal Adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom between 1999 and 2006. He also spent three years at the United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations in New York. Sthoeger, on the other hand, was a research analyst with the well-respected Security Council Report . In addition to both authors having previously published, extensively so, on matters of international law and the Security Council, they have represented numerous States in a number of international courts and tribunals (International Court of Justice, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, European Court of Human Rights, Court of Justice of the European Union). It is no wonder that the book’s examination across its various chapters lays down the Council’s foundational elements all the while maintaining a practical lens. Chief to its contribution is its ability to examine existing issues while also addressing novel challenges relating to the Council. For example, in their examination of the long held and equally debated topic of Council authorisation of the use of force, Wood and Sthoeger re-examine the validity of implicit and retroactive authorisation in light of recent developments. One such situation concerns the adoption of Resolution 2249 (2015), suggested as blurring the Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022, 230 pp., Online ISBN:9781108692373

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