Research Catalog

Enemies known and unknown : targeted killings in America's transnational war

Title
Enemies known and unknown : targeted killings in America's transnational war / Jack McDonald.
Author
McDonald, Jack, Ph.D.
Publication
  • London, United Kingdom : Hurst & Company, 2017.
  • ©2017

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Details

Description
ix, 318 pages; 22 cm
Summary
"President Obama was elected on an anti-war platform, yet targeted killings have increased under his command of the 'War on Terror'. The US thinks of itself as upholding the rule of international law and spreading democracy, yet such targeted killings have been widely decried as extra-judicial violations of human rights. This book examines these paradoxes, arguing that they are partially explained by the application of existing legal standards to transnational wars. Critics argue that the kind of war the US claims to be waging transnational armed conflict doesn't actually exist. McDonald analyses the concept of transnational war and the legal interpretations that underpin it, and argues that the Obama administration's adherence to the rule of law produces a status quo of violence that is in some ways more disturbing than the excesses of the Bush administration. America's interpretations of sovereignty and international law shape and constitute war itself, with lethal consequences for the named and anonymous persons that it unilaterally defines as participants. McDonald's analysis helps us understand the social and legal construction of legitimate violence in warfare, and the relationship between legal opinions formed in US government departments and acts of violence half a world away"--Provided by Publisher.
Subject
  • 2009-2017
  • Targeted killing (International law)
  • Targeted killing > United States
  • Diplomatic relations
  • Politics and government
  • Targeted killing
  • United States > Foreign relations > 2009-2017
  • United States > Politics and government > 2009-2017
  • United States
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
Introduction : the Balkan crucible -- The cleanest war -- The lens of law -- In Washington's shadow -- Lawful annihilation? -- Unto others -- Individuated warfare -- Killing through a monitor, darkly -- The body as the battlefield -- Gyges' knife.
ISBN
  • 1849046441
  • 9781849046442
OCLC
  • ocn987984365
  • SCSB-8998426
Owning Institutions
Princeton University Library