This is a new edition of the author's "classic" book, long since out of print. Published originally in 1972 it rapidly established itself as the leading work dealing with mysteries of the US constitutional system as it affects US foreign relations. The new edition has been reconceived, reorganized and completely updated, but in essence it remains a succinct and highly readable account of a subject which is important not only in the US, but throughout the world.

This text explores the principal issues and developments, both in international human rights and in rights in the United States, and then compares the concepts and conditions of rights in various parts of the world. It pays particular attention to the role of US foreign policy.

In 1989, the people of the United States celebrated the bicentennial of their country's Constitution. At the same time Americans observed the continuing miasma of the Iran-Contra affair. Although we celebrated the longevity of the Constitution, the Iran-Contra affair can be seen as a result of the problems brought about by the fact that the framers of the Constitution envisioned a republic very much different from the United States today. Over the centuries each branch of the Federal government has aggrandized its consitutional powers, breeding constitutional controversy, instability, and...

This volume derives from a series of lectures delivered as the general course' at the Hague Academy of International law in July 1989. Like those lectures, this volume does not pretend to provide a complete treatise covering all international law. Rather, it offers a particular perspective on the principal subjects of traditional international law, elaborates new developments, and dares reexamine assumptions and premises. The book is built on three themes. The first addresses law as politics, and international law as the law of a political system, now comprised of more than 180 separate,...