Defending Humanity, When Force is Justified and Why: an Examination of the Legality...

Defending Humanity, When Force is Justified and Why: an Examination of the Legality of War

DUBLIN, Ireland--(Business Wire)--
Research and Markets
(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/dd7f95/defending_humanity)
has announced the addition of the "Defending Humanity: When Force is
Justified and Why" report to their offering.

In Defending Humanity, internationally acclaimed legal scholar
George P. Fletcher and Jens David Ohlin, a leading expert on
international criminal law, tackle one of the most important and
controversial questions of our time: When is war justified? When a
nation is attacked, few would deny that it has the right to respond
with force. But what about preemptive and preventive wars, or crossing
another states border to stop genocide? Was Israel justified in
initiating the Six Day War, and was NATO's intervention in Kosovo
legal? What about the U.S. invasion of Iraq?

In their provocative new book, Fletcher and Ohlin offer a
groundbreaking theory on the legality of war with clear guidelines for
evaluating these interventions. The authors argue that much of the
confusion on the subject stems from a persistent misunderstanding of
the United Nations Charter. The Charter appears to be very clear on
the use of military force: it is only allowed when authorized by the
Security Council or in self-defense.

Unfortunately, this has led to the problem of justifying force
when the Security Council refuses to act or when self-defense is
thought not to apply--and to the difficult dilemma of declaring such
interventions illegal or ignoring the UN Charter altogether.

Fletcher and Ohlin suggest that the answer lies in going back to
the domestic criminal law concepts upon which the UN Charter was
originally based, in particular, the concept of "legitimate defense,"
which encompasses not only self-defense but defense of others. Lost in
the English-language version of the Charter but a vital part of the
French and other non-English versions, the concept of legitimate
defense will enable political leaders, courts, and scholars to see the
solid basis under international law for states to intervene with
force--not just to protect themselves against an imminent attack but
also to defend other national groups.

Key Topics Covered:

-- Murder among Nations

-- How to Talk about Self-Defense

-- A Theory of Legitimate Defense

-- The Six Elements of Legitimate Defense

-- Excusing International Aggression

-- Humanitarian Intervention

-- Preemptive and Preventive Wars

-- The Collective Dimension of War

For more information visit
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/dd7f95/defending_humanity

Source: Oxford University Press

Research and Markets
Laura Wood, Senior Manager
U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907
Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
press@researchandmarkets.com

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