CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ

SATOW’S DIPLOMATIC PRACTICE

Sir Ivor Roberts (ed.) Satow’s Diplomatic Practice Oxford University Press, 2017, lxii + 802 pp.

[Satowova diplomatická praxe] There are some books everyone working or interested in international relations (and law) should own: Satow’s Diplomatic Practice definitely belongs on this list. Originally written in 1917, the mere fact that it is still in use and revised a century later is sufficient to prove its lasting value. The seventh edition includes a number of new and expanded chapters by proven experts in their respective fields: Along with the chapters by editor Sir Ivor Roberts himself, Elizabeth Wilmshurst has written a new introduction to International Law and chapters on the ICJ as well as the ICC, Hazel Fax on Statehood and Privileges and Immunities, Joanne Foakes and Eileen Denza on the law of diplomacy – to name just a few. The book has already proven its timeliness on numerous occasions. In troubled times like these, it helps to answer some of the pressing questions asked in connection with recent diplomatic incidents: Do Erdogan’s security guards involved in a brawl (many claim that the protesters near the Turkish embassy were attacked) during his March 2017 visit in Washington enjoy immunity (probably not)? Will Julian Assange ever be able to leave the Ecuadorian embassy without being arrested and extradited to the US (probably not), what is the UK’s position on such “diplomatic asylum” (the government called it a “stain on the country’s [Ecuador’s] reputation”)? Could or should Omar al-Bashir be surrendered to the ICC despite his immunity as a Head of State (yes)? How grave was the UK’s decision to expel some 23 Russian diplomats after the Salisbury attack in light of historic parallels (in the book we find reference to the UK’s 1971 decision to request the withdrawal of 105 Soviet officials, many of them diplomats, due to espionage). Bearing these and other questions in mind, Satow’s Diplomatic Practice is an invaluable tool for practitioners, academics, and interested laymen alike: Sir Ivor Roberts has managed to compile a classic treatise of international law and thereby continue the great work by his famous predecessor.

Ralph Janik *

* MMag. Ralph Janik, LL.M. , is a university assistant (prae doc) at the Department of International Law and International Relations, Faculty of Law, University of Vienna. He studied Law and Political Science in Vienna and Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) as well as International Law at the University of Amsterdam.

421