'The book is written in a straightforward and slightly provocative style - one may refer to it as 'Dutch directness'. This makes the book a great pleasure to read. The many rhetorical and unanswered questions raised throughout the book provoke the reader to reflect critically on the materials and doctrine provided therein. Klabbers dishes up the usual materials, and he does sketch the doctrines, like all other textbooks, but then he leaves it up to the reader to draw the conclusions … By distancing itself from today's immediate challenges, the book shows the reader that international law does more than simply chase after such events, always arriving too late to make a difference.' Otto Spijkers, Professor of International Law at the China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies (CIBOS), Wuhan University, China