Law and Practice of the United Nations: Documents and Commentary combines primary materials with expert commentary demonstrating the interaction between law and practice in the UN organization, as well as the possibilities and limitations of multilateral institutions in general. Each chapter begins with a short introductory essay describing how the documents that ensue illustrate a set of legal, institutional, and political issues relevant to the practice of diplomacy and the development of public international law through the United Nations. Each chapter also includes questions to guide discussion of the primary materials, and a brief bibliography to facilitate further research on the subject.

This second edition addresses the most challenging issues confronting the United Nations and the global community today, from terrorism to climate change, from poverty to nuclear proliferation. New features include hypothetical fact scenarios to test the understanding of concepts in each chapter. This edition contains expanded author commentary, while maintaining the focus on primary materials. Such materials enable a realistic presentation of the work of international diplomacy: the negotiation, interpretation and application of such texts are an important part of what actually takes place at the United Nations and other international organizations.

This work is ideal for courses on the United Nations or International Organizations, taught in both law and international relations programs.

Simon Chesterman is Dean and Professor at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law. He is also Editor of the Asian Journal of International Law and Secretary-General of the Asian Society of International Law.

Ian Johnstone is Professor of International Law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. He is on the editorial board of Global Governance and International Organizations Law Review.

David M. Malone is Rector of the UN University (UNU) in Tokyo and Under-Secretary-General of the UN. He has served as a Canadian ambassador to the UN and as Canada's high commissioner to India, and from 2004 to 2006 oversaw multilateral and economic diplomacy within Canada's Foreign Affairs Department.