Description
This book examines how the United Nations Security Council, in exercising its power to impose binding non-forcible measures ('sanctions') under Article 41 of the UN Charter, may violate international law, in the sense of limits on its power imposed by the UN Charter itself and by general international law, including human rights guarantees. Such acts may engage the international responsibility of the United Nations, the organization of which the Security Council is an organ. It then proceeds to assess how and by whom the engagement of this responsibility can be determined. Most importantly, the book discusses how and by whom the responsibility of the UN for unlawful Security Council sanctions can be implemented. In other words, how the UN can be held to account for Security Council excesses. The central thesis of this work is that States can respond to unlawful sanctions imposed by the Security Council, in a decentralized manner, by disobeying the Security Council's command. In international law, this disobedience can be justified as constituting a countermeasure to the Security Council's unlawful act. Recent practice of States, both in the form of executive acts and court decisions, demonstrates an increasing tendency to disobey sanctions that are perceived as unlawful. After discussing other possible qualifications of disobedience under international law, the book concludes that this practice can (and should) be qualified as a countermeasure.
Winner of the 2009-2010 Hellenic Society of International Law and International Relations' Georges Tenekides Prize
About the Author
Antonios Tzanakopoulos is Lecturer in Public International Law at University College London. Prior to that, he taught at the Universities of Oxford and Glasgow. He studied law in Athens, New York and Oxford. Antonios is a qualified lawyer with the Athens Bar in Greece, Associate Editor for the Oxford Reports on International Law in Domestic Courts, and collaborateur scientifique of the Hellenic Institute for International and Foreign Law.
Reviews
Tzanakopoulos presents a very detailed book where the treatment of one important legal question flows easily into the next without any distracting redundancy. He makes a convincing argument for the idea of employing disobedience as a countermeasure against Security Council resolutions and thus adds one beautiful stone on the way to complete the mosaic of the debate on the exercise of its powers by the Security Council and states options of reaction to it. * Dr. Clemens A. Feinaugle, Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law *
This work is an effective contribution to the discussion of a current issue which continues to make people talk and write. * Anne-Catherine Fortas, Revue Generale de Droit International Public *
...thorough and rigorous analysis of the cases and practice... This is an important and valuable analysis of a relatively new but fast growing problem... The argument is often dense and challenging... the sharp increase in challenges to the legitimacy of Security Council actions will before long justify an expanded second edition * Professor Eileen Denza, Common Market Law Review *
While the book is well written and structured, the sheer density of argument, the wealth of research, and the depth of thought make it a very rewarding yet equally challenging read. * Thomas Lieflander, Leiden Journal of International Law *
Antonios Tzanakopoulos's argument is supported by numerous references, both classical and contemporary, which make up a wide panorama of the current state of research. . . Always, the position set out by the author enriches the debate over the question of the legality of the control of the Council, at a moment when it is multiplying the sanctions which are targeted and when it's role as "World legislator" is criticised. * Annuaire francais de droit international *
This monograph is one of the first to systematically address an increasingly important problem, namely the reaction to excesses of power, or unlawful acts, of the Security Council...By its subject, and the way it goes about addressing it, this book is solidly devoted to these increasingly pressing questions. The author demonstrates several qualities: expertise...; a distinctive subtlety and a capacity to sustain a powerful argument; a remarkable knowledge of general international law which underlies and visibly strengthens the argument; a concentration on the essential questions only [and] a palpable mastery of the subject ... . In sum, Dr Tzanakopoulos offers us an image of a next generation of international lawyers of which we can be proud. * Robert Kolb, Professeur de droit international public a l'Universite de Geneve, Journal du Droit International *
[T]he work is highly creative and reveals remarkable intellectual discipline and technical accomplishment. It constitutes a valuable contribution to the debate about the nature of the Security Council's powers and exposes once again the limits of the international legal order in constraining the exercise of public power by international organisations. * Erika de Wet, Professor of International Constitutional Law, University of Amsterdam and Co-Director of the Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa, University of Pretoria *
I am happy to recommend Disobeying the Security Council. It is a substantial achievement. It repays careful reading and will without a doubt spark debate. It has certainly sharpened my view on the subjects of which it treats. * Matthew Happold, Professor of Public International Law at the University of Luxembourg *
Antonios Tzanakopoulos has written a powerful book in Disobeying the Security Council. It is a rich - at times very rich - piece of scholarship... * Marko Milanovic, Edinburgh Law Review *
...the book is a thoughtful study of topical and important issues surrounding the responsibility of the UN and international organizations in general...Scholars and practitioners in international law and relations will benefit handsomely from reading this book. * Sienho Yee, Wuhan University Institute of International Law, Chinese Journal of International Law *
[The author] has a rigorous and logical way of formatting legal arguments in the debate. This work is certainly a necessary item on the shelf of every specialist dealing with issues of international responsibility. * PANSTWO i PRAWO (State and Law) *
Irrespective of the interest it sparks of its own accord, Antonio Tzanakopoulos' book undeniably comes at the right moment. * Frederic Dopagne, Netherlands International Law Review *
It is nothing less than a tour de force through the law of responsibility of international organisations, carried out with great intellectual rigour. * Thomas Lieflander, Leiden Journal of International Law *
Book Information
ISBN 9780199600762
Author Antonios Tzanakopoulos
Format Hardback
Page Count 276
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 552g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 163mm * 32mm
Winner of the 2009-2010 Hellenic Society of International Law and International Relations' Georges Tenekides Prize
About the Author
Antonios Tzanakopoulos is Lecturer in Public International Law at University College London. Prior to that, he taught at the Universities of Oxford and Glasgow. He studied law in Athens, New York and Oxford. Antonios is a qualified lawyer with the Athens Bar in Greece, Associate Editor for the Oxford Reports on International Law in Domestic Courts, and collaborateur scientifique of the Hellenic Institute for International and Foreign Law.
Reviews
Tzanakopoulos presents a very detailed book where the treatment of one important legal question flows easily into the next without any distracting redundancy. He makes a convincing argument for the idea of employing disobedience as a countermeasure against Security Council resolutions and thus adds one beautiful stone on the way to complete the mosaic of the debate on the exercise of its powers by the Security Council and states options of reaction to it. * Dr. Clemens A. Feinaugle, Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law *
This work is an effective contribution to the discussion of a current issue which continues to make people talk and write. * Anne-Catherine Fortas, Revue Generale de Droit International Public *
...thorough and rigorous analysis of the cases and practice... This is an important and valuable analysis of a relatively new but fast growing problem... The argument is often dense and challenging... the sharp increase in challenges to the legitimacy of Security Council actions will before long justify an expanded second edition * Professor Eileen Denza, Common Market Law Review *
While the book is well written and structured, the sheer density of argument, the wealth of research, and the depth of thought make it a very rewarding yet equally challenging read. * Thomas Lieflander, Leiden Journal of International Law *
Antonios Tzanakopoulos's argument is supported by numerous references, both classical and contemporary, which make up a wide panorama of the current state of research. . . Always, the position set out by the author enriches the debate over the question of the legality of the control of the Council, at a moment when it is multiplying the sanctions which are targeted and when it's role as "World legislator" is criticised. * Annuaire francais de droit international *
This monograph is one of the first to systematically address an increasingly important problem, namely the reaction to excesses of power, or unlawful acts, of the Security Council...By its subject, and the way it goes about addressing it, this book is solidly devoted to these increasingly pressing questions. The author demonstrates several qualities: expertise...; a distinctive subtlety and a capacity to sustain a powerful argument; a remarkable knowledge of general international law which underlies and visibly strengthens the argument; a concentration on the essential questions only [and] a palpable mastery of the subject ... . In sum, Dr Tzanakopoulos offers us an image of a next generation of international lawyers of which we can be proud. * Robert Kolb, Professeur de droit international public a l'Universite de Geneve, Journal du Droit International *
[T]he work is highly creative and reveals remarkable intellectual discipline and technical accomplishment. It constitutes a valuable contribution to the debate about the nature of the Security Council's powers and exposes once again the limits of the international legal order in constraining the exercise of public power by international organisations. * Erika de Wet, Professor of International Constitutional Law, University of Amsterdam and Co-Director of the Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa, University of Pretoria *
I am happy to recommend Disobeying the Security Council. It is a substantial achievement. It repays careful reading and will without a doubt spark debate. It has certainly sharpened my view on the subjects of which it treats. * Matthew Happold, Professor of Public International Law at the University of Luxembourg *
Antonios Tzanakopoulos has written a powerful book in Disobeying the Security Council. It is a rich - at times very rich - piece of scholarship... * Marko Milanovic, Edinburgh Law Review *
...the book is a thoughtful study of topical and important issues surrounding the responsibility of the UN and international organizations in general...Scholars and practitioners in international law and relations will benefit handsomely from reading this book. * Sienho Yee, Wuhan University Institute of International Law, Chinese Journal of International Law *
[The author] has a rigorous and logical way of formatting legal arguments in the debate. This work is certainly a necessary item on the shelf of every specialist dealing with issues of international responsibility. * PANSTWO i PRAWO (State and Law) *
Irrespective of the interest it sparks of its own accord, Antonio Tzanakopoulos' book undeniably comes at the right moment. * Frederic Dopagne, Netherlands International Law Review *
It is nothing less than a tour de force through the law of responsibility of international organisations, carried out with great intellectual rigour. * Thomas Lieflander, Leiden Journal of International Law *
Book Information
ISBN 9780199600762
Author Antonios Tzanakopoulos
Format Hardback
Page Count 276
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 552g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 163mm * 32mm
