The Costs of War - International Law, the UN, and World Order After Iraq

In The Costs of War, Richard Falk brings together some of his recent essays, published and unpublished, examining the impact that the Iraq War has had and will have on international law, human rights, and democracy.

A new introduction provides an overview as well as a sense of the current context and reflects on the internal prospects for Iraq and on the logic of an early US military and political withdrawal.

Having been revised and updated to take account of the march of events, the essays are organized into the following sections:

Part 1 addresses the effects of the American invasion and occupation of Iraq on the current dimensions of world order

Part 2 provides a normative inquiry into the larger intentions and consequences of the Iraq War

Part 3 considers the more fundamental implications of the Iraq War, especially on our understanding of war as an instrument for the solution of conflict.

Falk demonstrates the dysfunctionality of war in relation to either anti-terrorism or the pursuit of a global security system based on military dominance; the historical potential of a realistic Gandhiism as a positive alternative in the setting of global policy in the twenty-first century.

The Costs of War will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, media studies, and politics and international relations in general.


Contents

Introduction Part 1: Counter-Terrorism, Grand Strategy, and World Order 1. International Law: Power, Justice, and Stability 2. The Surprising Revival of the Just War Framework 3. Reviving Punitive Peace: The Sanctions Regime (1991-2003) 4. Toward Regional War 5. What Future for the UN Charter System of War Prevention? Reflections on the Iraq War Part 2: Toward Critique 6. Engaging Normative Consciousness 7. Demystifying Iraq 8. Democratizing the Middle East 9. Executing Saddam Hussein Part 3: An Ethos of Accountability and Responsibility 10. Legality and Legitimacy 11. Humanitarian Intervention? 12. The Criminal Accountability of Leaders 13. World Tribunal on Iraq: Truth, Law, and Justice
Author Bio
Richard Falk is the Albert. G. Milbank Professor of International Law and Practice, Emeritus at Princeton. Since 2002 he has been the Visiting Distinguished Professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara teaching in the Global Studies Program. His most recent books are Predatory Globalization: A Critique (1999); Human Rights Horizons: The Pursuit of Justice in a Globalizing World Order (Routledge, 2000); and The Declining World: Americas Imperial Geopolitics (2004). He serves on various editorial boards including The Nation and The American Journal of International Law. He was a member of the Independent International Commission on Kosovo (1999-2001) and the Human Rights Inquiry Commission for Palestine of the UN Human Rights Commission (2002). He is co-editor of Routledges Global Horizons book series.