Commitment and Compliance

The American Journal of International Law, July 2001 Commitment and Compliance is an impressive collection of studies ... surely the most significant contribution so far to the literature on the soft-law phenomenon and the associated problem of compliance with nonbinding instruments. Expertly edited by Dinah Shelton, this substantial work draws upon no less than twenty-seven authors and co-authors ... [the] result is a work unusually rich in conceptual insight and empirical range: cross-disciplinary, multisectoral, and transgenerational ... the ASIL is to be congratulated for bringing together such a stellar panel of scholars for this significant venture.

Dinah Shelton is professor of international law at the University of Notre Dame Law School. She is director of the doctoral program at the University's Center for Civil and Human Rights and a Fellow of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.

Introduction: Law, Non-Law and the Problem of Soft Law; PART I. THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM; 1. Normative Development in the International Legal System; 2. Compliance Theories; Choosing to Comply; Beyond Compliance: Helping Nations Cooperate; 3. Challenges to the International Legal System; Economic Interdependence, Globalization and Sovereignty; The Role of Soft Law in the Global Order; 4. Commentary and Conclusions: Compliance with Soft Law; PART II. PERSPECTIVES ON COMPLIANCE WITH NON-BINDING NORMS; 5. The Environment and Natural Resources; The General Assembly Ban on Driftnet Fishing; Pesticides and Chemicals: The Requirement of Prior Informed Consent; Antarctica: Recommended Measures as Nonbinding Norms; Selected Agreements under the Framework of the Convention on Migratory Species; Commentary and Conclusions; 6. Trade and Finance; Money Laundering; Soft Law in a Hybrid Organization: The International Organization for Standardization; The World Bank Operational Standards; Environmental Norms in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum; Commentary and Conclusions; 7. Human Rights; A Hard Look at Soft Law: The Case of the OSCE; International Labor Organization Recommendations and Similar Instruments; Inter-American Human Rights Law, Soft and Hard: What Difference?; Human Rights Codes for Transnational Corporations: The McBride and Sullivan Principles; Commentary and Conclusions; 8. Multilateral Arms Control; Soft Law of the Weapons Control Supplier Groups; Protection of Nuclear Materials; Land Mines; Commentary and Conclusions; 9. Conclusions