This study was accepted as a dissertation by the Faculty of Law at Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg in the summer semester of 1996. I would like to express my gratitude first and foremost to my esteemed doctoral supervisor, Prof. Dr. Helmut Steinberger, former judge of the Federal Constitutional Court. His constant willingness to engage in discussions on one hand, and the freedom he granted me in selecting and working on the topic on the other, have made it clear to me what academic freedom means. I owe my thanks to Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Wolfrum for the prompt preparation of the second review. I am also grateful to the aforementioned individuals as well as to Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jochen Abr. Frowein for including this work in the series of 'Contributions' of the Max Planck Institute for Foreign Public Law and International Law. Additionally, I would like to thank the staff at the Heidelberg Max Planck Institute, especially those in the library. Special mention should be made of Ms. Angelika Schmidt and Ms. Verena Soltau, who helped bring this work into its present form. The work was developed within the framework of the graduate program led by Prof. Dr. Peter Hommelhoff at the Faculty of Law at the University of Heidelberg. I especially thank him as the spokesperson, as well as the other directors for the support I received from them. On behalf of all my fellow colleagues, I would like to thank Bernhard Maluch. I owe him my experience of true friendship since our days together in Tübingen, Geneva, and Heidelberg. Dr. Konstantinos Gogos, LL.M., Thessaloniki/Heidelberg has critically reviewed the manuscript, for which I am grateful.