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In The Costs of War, Richard Falk brings together some of his recent essays, published and unpublished, examining the impact that the Iraq War has had and will have on international law, human rights, and democracy.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