Volume 53, Number 8 · May 11, 2006
The Outlaw World
By Brian Urquhart
Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules from FDR's Atlantic Charter to George W. Bush's Illegal War
by Philippe Sands
Viking, 324 pp., $25.95
Lawless World: The Whistle-Blowing Account of How Our Leaders Are Taking the Law into Their Own Hands
by Philippe Sands
Penguin, updated edition, 404 pp., £8.99 (paper; to be published in the US in September)
War Law: Understanding International Law and Armed Conflict
by Michael Byers
Grove, 214 pp., $24.00
Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq
by Stephen Kinzer
Times Books, 384 pp., $26.00
'A rule-based international society' may seem a lackluster phrase, but it describes, for those who wish organized life on this planet to survive in a decent form, the most important of all the long-term international objectives mankind can have. That international law has already been formulated to deal with a wide range of human activities is one of the great, if often unappreciated, achievements of the years since World War II. Yet the obstacles to its being effective are enormous. We all know that international law is often challenged by the caprices and diverging interests of national politics and that it still lacks the authority of national law. With a few important exceptions, international law remains unenforceable; when it collides with the sovereign interests or the ambitions of states, it is often ignored or rejected. It is still far from being the respected foundation of a reliable international system.
Review, 4220 words
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