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Pandora's box?: humanitarian intervention and international law

Review products

First Do No Harm: Humanitarian Intervention and the Destruction of Yugoslavia. By GibbsDavid N., Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2009. 327 pp. ISBN 978-0-82651-644-2 £24.95 paperback
International Law and its Others. Edited by OrfordAnne, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 436 pp. ISBN 978-0-52112-446-1 £29.99 paperback
Humanitarian Intervention: Confronting the Contradictions. By NewmanMichael, London: Hurst and Co, 2009. 256 pp. ISBN 978-1-85065-974-7 £15.99 paperback

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2011

Aidan Hehir
Aidan Hehir*
Affiliation:
Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Westminster
*
[email protected]
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Extract

The three books reviewed here all address the question of the efficacy of international law and advance concerns about its future trajectory, albeit in contrasting ways. As has been well documented, the role of international law – specifically in the regulation of the use of force – has undergone significant scrutiny in the post-Cold War era. To a much greater extent than during the Cold War, contemporary conflicts and crises are invariably discussed with reference to international law, and the legality of a particular use of force has become a significant factor in assessing its legitimacy; one need only think of the importance placed on the legality of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. This increase in prominence suggests that international law has become more important, and unsurprisingly those used to the discipline's previous role as exotic curio have welcomed this sudden promotion (Robertson, 2000).

Type
Review essays
Information
International Journal of Law in Context , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , March 2011 , pp. 87 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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References

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