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Thursday, June 08, 2006

The Emerging Consensus for Preventive War

Yesterday, I returned to the office for the first time since May and found the latest copy of Survival, which is published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. The Summer 2006 edition includes my latest coauthored piece with Peter Dombrowski, "The Emerging Consensus for Preventive War." Here's the abstract:
After 11 September 2001, the George W. Bush administration declared that the United States had adopted a ‘pre-emptive’ military doctrine to address new threats posed by terrorists and ‘rogue states’ armed with nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. However, the so-called ‘Bush Doctrine’ met substantial international opposition when it was proposed – and even more resistance when it was applied to the case of Iraq. Subsequent events in Iraq have not made the idea any more popular. It is somewhat startling, then, that numerous states and international organisations seem now to support the call to revise long-held international understandings about when force might be used. A sizable number agree that the risk of calamitous surprise attacks, especially with nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, might justify preventive strikes or wars against terrorists or their state sponsors. A new international norm may thus be under construction, though states continue to disagree about the agents of decision and action.
I've blogged frequently about this topic, so some of the piece will be familiar to long-time readers of this website.

I don't yet have a pdf, but I'm sure I can send reprints soon, if anyone is interested. Just email me at my university address.

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