International Law Today : New Challenges and the Need for Reform?
th Rüdiger Wolfrum celebrated his 65 birthday on 13 December 2006. On this special occasion, current and former members of the large circle of his PhD and post-doctorate students (Doktoranden und Habilit- den) organized a symposium on the subject of “International Law - day: New Challenges and the Need for Reform?” to honour him and his academic work as a teacher and researcher.the subjects covered by the speakers and commentators reflect the wide variety of issues he worked on in his long and impressive academic career. They extend from a cri- cal evaluation of the new responsibility to protect and the role of the UN Security Council in post-conflict management, thoughts on the proliferation of international tribunals with regard to the unity or fragmentation of international law, marine genetic resources in the deep sea and environmental protection in Antarctica to human rights issues relating to intellectual property rights and the protection of minorities.
Legitimacy in International Law
In recent years the question of the legitimacy of international law has been discussed quite intensively. Such questions are, for example, whether international law lacks legitimacy in general; whether international law or a part of it has yielded to the facts of power; whether adherence to international legal commitments should be subordinated to self-defined national interests; whether international law or particular rules of it – such as the prohibition of the use of armed force – have lost their ability to induce compliance (compliance pull); and what is the relevance of non-enforcement or failure to obey for the legitimacy of that particular international norm? This book contains fresh perspectives on these questions, offered at an international and interdisciplinary conference hosted by the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Law and International Law.

