CYIL vol. 15 (2024)

CYIL 15 ȍ2024Ȏ

BEYOND BILATERALISM. A THEORY OF STATE RESPONSIBILITY…

Sarah Thin Beyond Bilateralism. A Theory of State Responsibility for Breaches of Non-bilateral Obligations Cheltenham – Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2024, 267 pp. [ Za hranicí bilateralismu. Teorie odpovědnosti státu za porušení nebilaterálních závazků ] One of the recent books published by Edward Elgar deals with a theory of non-bilateral obligations and responsibility for their breaches. It was written by Dr. Sarah Thin, assistant professor of International Law at Radboud University in Nijmegen (the Netherlands). The book of this young author has the merit that focuses, in a systematic way, on an important but largely neglected topic. Indeed, the existence obligations other than bilateral obligations, including those for the protection of collective interests, has been for long recognized not only in theory but also in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and the 2001 Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (ARSIWA). The book reimagines responsibility in international law, establishing the concept of non-bilateral responsibility as an objective legal situation generated by the commission of an internationally wrongful act. It examines the nature, operation, and impact of this new form of responsibility, exploring its deep consequences for the legal system. That said, it means that Sarah Thin situates the analysis of non-bilateral responsibility in a broader context of the legal theory, taking into account the impact of non-bilateral obligations on the changing structures of contemporary international law. In first chapter, she provides an introduction to a theory of state responsibility for breaches of non-bilateral obligations. The author seems to outline the theory in a sharp distinction between the traditional responsibility for breaches of bilateral obligations (presented as an outdated model) and a new form of responsibility. In fact, however, the modern law of state responsibility as codified in ARSIWA includes, at least in rudimental forms, the legal consequences of breaches of both bilateral and non-bilateral obligations. In turn, chapter 2 focuses on non-bilateral obligations and responsibility. Based on the definition of “interests” in international law, it distinguishes between bilateral and “bilateralisable” obligations and non-bilateral (multilateral) obligations, divided into structurally non-bilateral obligations and obligations protecting community interests. Yet the distinction is not absolute. The first category includes so-called interdependent obligations and integral or objective obligations, both of them being contained in multilateral conventions, mostly on human rights and environmental protection. The second one serves protection of certain common interests. Next, in chapter 3, the author deals with the legal regime for non-bilateral responsibility. Even if the title suggests an entirely novel regime of responsibility, the research bears on the codification of rules on State responsibility. Based on the ARSIWA, the author presents the constants and new issues in respect of the origin, content, as well as implementation and enforcement of responsibility. Starting from terminology, she clarifies the concepts of injury, responsibility, wrongfulness, and illegality. Having origin in the internationally wrongful act, the construction of responsibility in modern international law is more objective and

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