War Law - Hardcover

Byers, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1553651510 ISBN 13: 9781553651512

Publisher: ATLANTIC BOOKS, 2005

Synopsis

Book by Michael Byers

About this title

About the Author:

Michael Byers is the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He is the author of Custom, Power and the Power of Rules, the editor of The Role of Law in International Politics, and a regular contributor to the London Review of Books.

From Publishers Weekly:

When President Bush insists our military forces have acted in accordance with international law, many other nations disagree. This happens so often that observers may wonder: exactly what laws are they arguing about? To readers willing to put in the work, this dense book provides the answers. According to Byers (The Role of Law in International Politics), laws governing war have existed since the 19th century, but nations freely disregarded them until the adoption of the U.N. Charter in 1945. The charter itself, however, is still subject to interpretation. When Israeli planes bombed an Iraqi nuclear facility in 1981, for example, the U.S. insisted that pre-emptive self-defense was not sanctioned. By 2003, America had changed its mind. Byers devotes three chapters to the complicated issue of self-defense, and another three to the equally contentious issue of humanitarian intervention: i.e., whether it's okay to invade a nation to stop it from committing unspeakable acts, such as genocide, or to bring democracy to its people. A final chapter attacks recent U.S. foreign policy, which, Byers argues, places American interests above international law and returns the world to the pre-1945 era when powerful nations routinely threw their weight around the globe, often with terrible consequences. (Jan.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: ATLANTIC BOOKS
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1553651510
• ISBN 13: 9781553651512
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 214