Research Catalog

Title

Recourse to force : state action against threats and armed attacks / Thomas M. Franck.

Author

Franck, Thomas M.

Publication

Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xii, 205 p.; 24 cm.

Summary

"The UN Charter in 1945 prohibits all use of force by states except in the event of an armed attack or when authorized by the Security Council. This arrangement has only very imperfectly withstood the test of time. It did not anticipate the Cold War which incapacitated the Security Council through the permananent members' frequent recourse to the veto. The Charter failed to address a growing phenomenon of clandestine subversion and of nuclear threats, nor did it make allowance for the rise in public support for human rights. Fortunately, although the Charter is very hard to amend, the drafters did agree that it should be interpreted flexibly by the UN's principal political institutions. In nearly sixty years, the text has undergone extensive interpretation through this practice. This book relates these changes in law and practice to changing public values pertaining to the balance between maintaining peace and promoting justice."

Series Statement

Hersch Lauterpacht memorial lectures

Uniform Title

Hersch Lauterpacht memorial lectures

Subject

• United Nations > Armed Forces
• Aggression (International law)
• Self-defense (International law)
• Intervention (International law)

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

The UN's capacity for adapting to radical changes of circumstance -- Use of force by the United Nations -- The original parameters of self-defence -- Self-defence against state-sponsored terrorists and infiltrators -- Self-defence against ideological subversion -- Self-defence against attacks on citizens abroad -- Anticipatory self-defence -- Countermeasures and self-help -- The 'purely humanitarian' intervention -- What, eat the cabin boy? Uses of force that are illegal but justifiable.

ISBN

0521820138 (hc.)

LCCN

^^2002067079

OCLC

• 49531331
• SCSB-10366417

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library