This Directory is divided into five parts. There is background information which consists of an essay by William Hopkinson, former Assistant Under‐Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence and an expert on international relationships and security. He examines the politics of intervention, the development of international law and the growth of non‐state entities. This account is informative and challenging and can be recommended in its own right. This is followed by a chronology of international organisations starting in 1863 with the Red Cross and ending in February 2001 with the Treaty of Nice. There is also a list of world days, years and decades.
The second part is a full description of the organisation and work of the United Nations and of the various UN Bodies, like UNICEF and UNCTAD, and of its specialist agencies like WHO and FAO. The next section covers major non‐UN organisations such as the Asian Development Bank, the European Union and the Organisation for African Unity. For the UN organisations and the non‐UN bodies considerable details are given of treaties agreements, work plans, membership, senior staff and contact details (including Web site), and publications. The fourth section covers other international bodies grouped by subject areas such as science, religion, sports and transport. These have brief details of a range of international governing bodies, campaigning organisations and learned societies. This list is by no means complete; neither the Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops, or the Five‐Yearly World Meeting of Friends (Quakers) are included and similar gaps can be found in other areas. The value of this section is the details of those included and the reminder that there might be international groups interested in areas not included. The last section is a who’s who of international organisations. Again this section is short and can not be expected to be complete but most of the leading people and heads of leading organisations are included. There is an index to organisation at the end, and useful lists of international dialling codes and abbreviations at the beginning.
I recently reviewed The Environment Encyclopedia and Directory 2001 also produced by Europa. The quality of the two books is similarly high and they are equally easy to use. I will repeat my plea for a slightly larger typeface for the introductory essay. With the previous book I had some difficulty in identifying the exact market probably because of the range of information provided. This book starts with a more closely defined topic and is an obvious book for any large reference library whether public, academic or a commercial organisation involved in international trade.
