This work presents an in-depth analysis of the most complex of the many ocean boundary delimitation problems confronting neighboring states in the Pacific region. In each case the various factors influencing the parties to the dispute are examined in detail & alternative diplomatic options are compared. Special emphasis is given to the problems of Southeast Asia, East Asia, & the Northeast Pacific, but regional developments in the Southwest Pacific & the Central & Southeast Pacific are also discussed. The authors, who are prominent specialists in the field of ocean policy studies place their factor-and-option analysis of these difficult disputes within a multidisciplinary, 'functionalist' framework, & offer some original proposals for innovative ocean diplomacy that now seem realistic in light of recent improvements in the international political arena.

Greece was one of the initial 119 delegations to sign the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea at the final meeting of the Conference for that purpose in December of 1982. When the Convention came into force in November 1994, only two countries opposed it. Turkey was one of them. Turkey has no plans to ratify the Convention in the near future. Greece & the Law of the Sea reviews the main developments in the Greek-Turkish dispute relating to the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea & analyzes all other aspects of the Greek maritime interests in the light of the Convention. The contributors have closely followed the creation of the new international law of the sea & discuss in their papers how this affects a great maritime nation, such as Greece, in a variety of ways. The work is published under the auspices of the recently established Aegean Institute of the Law of the Sea & Maritime Law, an independent scientific research center affiliated with the University of the Aegean, located in Rhodes. It constitutes one of the few books to cover Greek affairs in the English language. As such, it will greatly assist non-Greek speaking scholars interested in following & studying Greek affairs.

Recent maritime disputes, environmental disasters, and piracy have raised the profile of the law of the sea. This Oxford Handbook brings together high-level analysis of all of its key aspects, examining the role of particular regions in the development of the law of the sea, management of the oceans' resources, and critical contemporary debates.

These commentaries are based almost entirely on the formal and informal documentation of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III, 1973-1982), coupled, where necessary, with the personal knowledge of editors, contributors, or reviewers, many of whom were principal negotiators or UN personnel who participated in the Conference.