Of war and law
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Of war and law
Princeton University Press, c2006
Available at / 15 libraries
-
No Libraries matched.
- Remove all filters.
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Modern war is law pursued by other means. Once a bit player in military conflict, law now shapes the institutional, logistical, and physical landscape of war. At the same time, law has become a political and ethical vocabulary for marking legitimate power and justifiable death. As a result, the battlespace is as legally regulated as the rest of modern life. In Of War and Law, David Kennedy examines this important development, retelling the history of modern war and statecraft as a tale of the changing role of law and the dramatic growth of law's power. Not only a restraint and an ethical yardstick, law can also be a weapon--a strategic partner, a force multiplier, and an excuse for terrifying violence. Kennedy focuses on what can go wrong when humanitarian and military planners speak the same legal language--wrong for humanitarianism, and wrong for warfare. He argues that law has beaten ploughshares into swords while encouraging the bureaucratization of strategy and leadership. A culture of rules has eroded the experience of personal decision-making and responsibility among soldiers and statesmen alike.
Kennedy urges those inside and outside the military who wish to reduce the ferocity of battle to understand the new roles--and the limits--of law. Only then will we be able to revitalize our responsibility for war.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix Introduction: War Today 1 Chapter 1: War as a Legal Institution 13 The Political Context for War 13 Professional War 27 Law as the Landscape for War 33 Law and the Legitimacy of Military Operations 39 Chapter 2: The Historical Context: How Did We Get Here? 46 International Law before the Rise of Modern War and Statecraft 47 Law Meets Modern Warfare 56 Changes in Legal Thought: An Opening for Humanitarianism 64 International Institutions and the Rise of a Modern Law of Force 68 Legal Realism and the Transformation of the Law in War 83 Chapter 3: War by Law 99 Battle in the Shadow of Sharp Distinctions and Outsider Ethics: Traces of the Premodern Legal Order 100 Modern Law and Modern War: Problems of Strategy 111 Legal War and the Elusive Experience of Responsibility 141 Epilogue 165 Notes 173 Index 179
by "Nielsen BookData"
