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Synopsis
"That the line between war and peace has been blurred becomes more evident with each incident from Afghanistan to Iraq. But the complexity and depth of legal implications that affect policymakers and military commanders have not been understood. Kennedy's book brilliantly and deftly probes both the uncertainty and the importance of legal rules in the changed civil and military environments."—Antonia Chayes, Visiting Professor of International Politics and Law, Tufts University
"Twenty-first-century warfare jars us with precision, lethality, and reach juxtaposed against terrorists, street fighting, and weapons of mass destruction. The laws of war strain to keep pace and Professor Kennedy brilliantly tells why in this legal tour de force."—Lt. Gen. Arlen D. Jameson, U.S. Air Force (retired), former Deputy Commander, U.S. Strategic Command
"David Kennedy's elegant little essay contains a brilliant analysis of the linguistic fault lines that dominate our approach to diplomatic and military politics, and which utterly obscure the very difficult decisions that ought to be made on quite other grounds and for better reasons than adherence to unhelpful old categories. The book should be of great significance for lawyers, politicians, and military officers. It should become the prism through which the issues arising out of 'humanitarian intervention' are seen and discussed."—Thomas Franck, New York University School of Law
Of War and Law is a very thoughtful and fresh analysis of modern law and modern war. David Kennedy argues that the merger of law, politics, and war is a fact of contemporary society. He believes, and I happen to agree, that the more we accept this reality, the more productively we can begin to understand how law might be useful in achieving the humanitarian purposes for which it was principally designed."—Maj. Gen. Charles J. Dunlap Jr., U.S. Air Force
Ioannis Kalpouzos - Journal of Conflict & Security Law
Kennedy is always an interesting thinker and writer and the themes he deals within this book are fascinating. . . . Kennedy's points should be studied and his effort to disentangle the web of law, war and politics should be wholeheartedly supported and furthered. In this sense, Of War and Law can be viewed as an interesting contribution to a useful and intriguing debate.