International Institutional Law

Henry G. Schermers, Ph.D. (1957) Leiden University, has been Professor of the Law of International Organizations at the Universities of Amsterdam and Leiden. He published the first edition of International Institutional Law in 1972. Henry Schermers passed away in 2006.Niels M. Blokker, Ph.D (1989) Leiden University, is Professor of International Institutional Law at Leiden University and was previously Deputy Legal Adviser at the Foreign Ministry of The Netherlands. He is co-founder and co-editor in chief of International Organizations Law Review (published by Martinus Nijhoff/Brill Publishers).

This sixth, revised edition of International Institutional Law covers the most recent developments in the field. Although public international organizations such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the African Union, ASEAN, the European Union, Mercosur, NATO and OPEC have broadly divergent objectives, powers, fields of activity and numbers of member states, they also share a wide variety of institutional characteristics. Rather than being a handbook for specific organizations, the book offers a comparative analysis of the institutional law of international organizations. It includes chapters on the rules and practices concerning membership, institutional structure, decision-making, financing, legal order, supervision and sanctions, legal status and external relations. The book's theoretical framework and extensive use of case-studies is designed to appeal to both academics and practitioners.

This book offers a comparative analysis of the institutional law of public international organizations, covering issues such as membership, institutional structure, decisions and decision-making, legal status, privileges and immunities. It has been designed to appeal to both academics and practitioners