Product Description

In this unique and highly readable book, written for the intelligent layperson, one of the world's leading experts in international law uses historical case studies to examine the basis on which war is waged and how the global legal environment shapes current events.

The international rules governing the use of military force are under unprecedented scrutiny following the removal of Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein in wars not sanctioned by the United Nations (UN). Michael Byers' authoritative book addresses five broad issues: u.n. Security Council authorization, self-defence against terrorism, pre-emptive war, humanitarian and pro-democratic intervention, and the protection of civilians and combatants during armed conflict. His conclusion is that the global legal environment matters and its influence is often understated and undervalued. War Law is an informative and stimulating read about these continually divisive, critically important issues.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #264259 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 214 pages

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.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
International law and Canadian studies scholar Byers was writing about the legalities of politics and power well before events in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay pressed the concepts of jus ad bellum and jus in bello into their twenty-first-century permutations. In this book, he explores the development of the law of war in five categories: UN Security Council authorization, self-defense, preemptive war, humanitarian and pro-democratic intervention, and the protection of civilians and combatants during armed conflict. Beginning with the black-letter law pertinent to each category--UN treaties, mostly--Byers then narrates the often-creative, sometimes-flawed arguments nations have mobilized to justify their actions. For readers used to hearing political justifications for military action, such legal nuance may be a refreshingly concrete respite from familiar logic-of-power arguments. Yet this account is nevertheless about politics--in particular, about the politicizing of particular legal positions--and as such remains consistent with Byers'earlier work, which dealt with the challenge to international harmony posed by the contradiction of legal equality and socioeconomic inequality. Succinct, highly readable, and important. Brendan Driscoll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"Byers is one of the strongest writers I have come across recently, presenting very well structured and very clearly written arguments on his subjects." (The Palestine Chronicle 20060109)

"A thoughtful introduction to a complex, often baffling subject." (Kirkus 20051212)

"Byers is...the very model of the modern globetrotting academic." (Maclean's 20060109)

"Beginning with the black-letter law...Byers...narrates the often-creative, sometimes-flawed arguments nations have mobilized to justify their actions." (Booklist 20060109)

"To readers willing to put in the work, this dense book provides the answers." (Publisher's Weekly 20060301)

"A primer for the layperson who wants to deconstruct the new order." (Literary Review of Canada 20060511)

"Clear and informative, his account is particularly valuable at a time when there is a worldwide debate, arising largely from the Iraq situation...about the circumstances in which it is legally appropriate for one country to use force against another or for international intervention on humanitarian grounds." (New York Review of Books )