A Matter of Principle: Humanitarian Arguments for War in Iraq - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520245555 ISBN 13: 9780520245556

Publisher: University of California Press, 2005

Synopsis

Current debate over the motives, ideological justifications, and outcomes of the war with Iraq have been strident and polarizing. A Matter of Principle is the first volume gathering critical voices from around the world to offer an alternative perspective on the prevailing pro-war and anti-war positions. The contribu-tors―political figures, public intellectuals, scholars, church leaders, and activists―represent the most powerful views of liberal internationalism. Offering alternative positions that challenge the status quo of both the left and the right, these essays claim that, in spite of the inconsistent justifications provided by the United States and its allies and the conflict-ridden process of social reconstruction, the war in Iraq has been morally justifiable on the grounds that Saddam Hussein was a brutal tyrant, a flagrant violator of human rights, a force of global instability and terror, and a threat to world peace.

The authors discuss the limitations of the current system of global governance, which tolerates gross violations of human rights and which has failed to prevent genocide in places such as Bosnia and Rwanda. They also underscore the need for reform in international institutions and international law. At the same time, these essays do not necessarily attempt to apologize for the mistakes, errors, and deceptions in the way the Bush administration has handled the war. Disputing the idea that the only true liberal position on the war is to be against it, this volume charts an invaluable third course, a path determined by a strong liberal commitment to human rights, solidarity with the oppressed, and a firm stand against fascism, totalitarianism, and tyranny.

About this title

About the Author

Thomas Cushman is Professor of Sociology at Wellesley and Editor in Chief of The Journal of Human Rights. He is coeditor of George Orwell into the Twentieth Century (2004) and editor of The Time We Knew: Western Reponses to the War in Bosnia (1996).

From the Back Cover

"The scholarship contained in this collection is superior: it includes the leading and most sophisticated advocates of liberal internationalism from the worlds of the academy, politics and the media. The arguments are complex and nuanced, and contribute to a new understanding of the Iraq war."―Richard A. Wilson, Director of the Human Rights Institute, University of Connecticut

"This is a first-rate collection. By bringing together isolated, important, and at times iconoclastic voices on the issue of the invasion of Iraq, A Matter of Principle makes for critical and provocative reading."―Michael Barnett, Stassen Professor of International Relations, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota

From the Inside Flap

"The scholarship contained in this collection is superior: it includes the leading and most sophisticated advocates of liberal internationalism from the worlds of the academy, politics and the media. The arguments are complex and nuanced, and contribute to a new understanding of the Iraq war."—Richard A. Wilson, Director of the Human Rights Institute, University of Connecticut

"This is a first-rate collection. By bringing together isolated, important, and at times iconoclastic voices on the issue of the invasion of Iraq, A Matter of Principle makes for critical and provocative reading."—Michael Barnett, Stassen Professor of International Relations, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota

Edition details

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0520245555
• ISBN 13: 9780520245556
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384
• Editor: Cushman Thomas