Raimond Gaita

Gerry J. Simpson

Is there such a thing as an 'international law' of which to be afraid? Can international law be seen as a coherent set of norms? Or is it, rather, something experienced radically differently by different individuals and groups in different parts of the world? And what do the different sets of international law seek to change or justify today? Noted authorities in this field respond to Raimond Gaita's invitation to explore ways in which international law constitutes a certain way of talking and being; one that might have both ameliorative and malign effects. The result is an extended and rich conversation about international law's aspirations and limitations, its nuances and rigidities, achievements and failures, relevance and irrelevance. Academics and students in law, International Studies, philosophy, as well as the educated general reader, will find this book fascinating. (Series: Philosophy) [Subject: Legal Philosophy, International Law]

Who's Afraid of International Law?

Part I: General Problems: Selectivity and Incoherence: Georg Schwarzenberger (1950), The problem of an international criminal law; Steven R. Ratner (1998), The schizophrenias of international criminal law; Robert Cryer (2001), The boundaries of liability in international criminal law, or Selectivity by Stealth. Why Prosecute and Where?: Mark J. Osiel (2002), Why prosecute? critics of mass atrocity; Payam Akhavan (2001), Beyond impunity: can international criminal justice prevent future atrocities?; Jose Alvarez (1999), Crimes of states/crimes of hate: lessons from Rwanda; Rosalind Dixon (2002), Rape as a crime in international humanitarian law: where to from here?. Who to Prosecute?: George P. Fletcher (2002), The Storrs lectures: Liberals and romantics at war: the problem of collective guilt; Sanford Levinson (1973), Responsibility for crimes of war. What Sort of Project?: Gerry J. Simpson (1997), Didactic and dissident histories in war crimes trials.

War Crimes Law

From events at Nuremberg and Tokyo after World War II, to the recent trials of Slobodan Milošević and Saddam Hussein, war crimes trials are an increasingly pervasive feature of the aftermath of conflict. In his new book, Law, War and Crime, Gerry Simpson explores the meaning and effect of such trials, and places them in their broader political and cultural contexts. The book traces the development of the war crimes field from its origins in the outlawing of piracy to its contemporary manifestation in the establishment of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Simpson argues that the field of war crimes is constituted by a number of tensions between, for example, politics and law, local justice and cosmopolitan reckoning, collective guilt and individual responsibility, and between the instinct that war, at worst, is an error and the conviction that war is a crime. Written in the wake of an extraordinary period in the life of the law, the book asks a number of critical questions. What does it mean to talk about war in the language of the criminal law? What are the consequences of seeking to criminalise the conduct of one's enemies? How did this relatively new phenomenon of putting on trial perpetrators of mass atrocity and defeated enemies come into existence? This book seeks to answer these important questions whilst shedding new light on the complex relationship between law, war and crime.

War Crimes, Trials and the Reinvention of International Law

Law, War and Crime

From events at Nuremberg and Tokyo after World War II, to the trials of Slobodan Molosevic and Saddam Hussein, war crimes trials are an increasingly pervasive feature of the aftermath of conflict. This book examines the meaning of such trials and their cultural and political effects.

Simpson argues that the field of war crimes is constituted by a number of tensions between, for example, politics and law, local justice and cosmopolitan reckoning, collective guilt and individual responsibility, and between the instinct that war, at worst, is an error and the conviction that war is a crime.

Gerry J. Simpson

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