The “War on Terror” and the Framework of International Law

Extract

The “War on Terror” and the Framework of International Law, Helen Duffy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. li, 488.

The war on terror poses increasingly intractable challenges for the international legal order. Some commentators query whether the international reaction to 9/11 might have relaxed or transformed well-established legal principles, particularly in the fields of recourse to force and state responsibility. Other scholars opine that international law is adequately suited to address the relatively new and polymorphous threats of terrorism. Regardless of one's stance on the question, it is clear that the current war on terror has generated considerable academic writing, both inside and outside of law, and propelled various legal issues, such as the application of international human rights, international humanitarian law and international criminal law, to the forefront of scholarly inquiry.