The Development of Outer Space: Sovereignty and Property Rights in International Space Law (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780313378232)

This account of the evolution of outer space law examines key issues that fuel the debates over sovereignty and property rights designed to govern the future colonization and use of heavenly bodies other than our own.

In the United States, lobbies for the commercial development of space have become increasingly antagonistic toward the international legal regime of outer space, condemning the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and the unratified 1979 Moon Agreement as anti-business. The Development of Outer Space: Sovereignty and Property Rights in International Space Law argues that the res communis principle enshrined in the Outer Space Treaty was misrepresented here, with essential help from corporate lobbyists whose real object was the defeat of the Law of the Sea Convention. Thomas Gangale builds the legal case for reviving the moribund Moon Agreement as a prelude to negotiating a second Moon treaty to establish a regulatory regime for the exploitation of extraterrestrial resources.

The author's account of the inception and evolution of outer space law to date is deeply informed by his appreciation of such terrestrial considerations as the nation-state system, the contending economic theories of capitalism and communism, and the post-colonial struggle between the developed space-faring nations and the developing earthbound nations.

Author: Thomas Gangale
ISBN-10: 0313378231
ISBN-13: 9780313378232
Publisher: Praeger
Language: English
Published: 06/01/2009
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.45lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.40w x 1.50d

Review Citation(s):
Chronicle of Higher Education 09/04/2009 pg. 17
Choice 04/01/2010
Reference and Research Bk News 11/01/2009 pg. 196