Description: International Law and New Wars examines how international law fails to address the contemporary experience of what are known as 'new wars' - instances of armed conflict and violence in places such as Syria, Ukraine, Libya, Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. International law, largely constructed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, rests to a great extent on the outmoded concept of war drawn from European experience - inter-state clashes involving battles between regular and identifiable armed forces. The book shows how different approaches are associated with different interpretations of international law, and, in some cases, this has dangerously weakened the legal restraints on war established after 1945. It puts forward a practical case for what it defines as second generation human security and the implications this carries for international law.
Brief description: Christine Chinkin is Emerita Professor of International Law and Director of the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and William Cook overseas faculty member of the University of Michigan Law School. She is a leading expert on international law and human rights law, especially the international human rights of women.
Review Quotes: 'Chinkin and Kaldor understand deeply and explain clearly the legal issues and distortions involved in justifications for international interventions into 'new wars' and their aftermath. Their human security lens provides new creative focus to a burgeoning literature.' Antonia Chayes, Tufts University, Massachusetts