Includes bibliographical references and index.

The nature and function of international law -- Sources of international law: provenance and problems -- Participants in the international legal system -- Allocating competence: jurisdiction -- Exceptions to jurisdictional competence: immunities from suit and enforcement -- Responding to individual needs: human rights -- Self-determination -- Natural resources and international norms -- Accountability and liability: the law of state responsibility -- The United Nations -- Dispute settlement and the International Court of Justice -- The role of national courts in the international legal process -- Oiling the wheels of international law: equity and proportionality -- The individual use of force in international law -- The use of force by the United Nations.

"In this, the revised text of her widely acclaimed lectures from the Hague Academy General Course in International Law, one of the leading international lawyers of her generation offers a personal view of international law. She demonstrates that there is an essential and unavoidable choice to be made between the perception of international law as a system of neutral rules, and international law as a system of decision-making directed towards the attainment of certain declared values. She goes on to show how international law can be used to address difficult and unresolved problems, such as the allocation and exploitation of natural resources; the protection and definition of human rights; and the allocation of jurisdictional competence." "Broad-ranging and thought-provoking, the book will be of value to all those seeking a better understanding of the interlocking concepts which go to make up international Law today."--Jacket.