Eve of destruction : the coming age of preventive war / Thomas M. Nichols.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nichols, Thomas M., 1960-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Preemptive attack (Military science).

International relations.

Security, International.

United States--Foreign relations--2001-2009.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (192 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In an age of new threats to international security, the old rules of war are rapidly being discarded. The great powers are moving toward norms less restrictive of intervention, preemption, and preventive war. This evolution is taking place not only in the United States but also in many of the world's most powerful nations, including Russia, France, and Japan, among others. As centuries of tradition and law are overturned, will preventive warfare push the world into chaos? Eve of Destruction is a provocative contribution to a growing international debate over the acceptance of preventive military action. In the first work to identify the trends that have led to a coming age of preventive war, Thomas M. Nichols uses historical analysis as well as interviews with military officials from around the world to trace the anticipatory use of force from the early 1990s-when the international community responded to a string of humanitarian crises in Somalia, Bosnia, and Kosovo-to today's current and potential actions against rogue states and terrorists. He makes a case for a bold reform of U.S. foreign policy, and of the United Nations Security Council itself, in order to avert outright anarchy.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

1. A New Age of Prevention

2. Humanitarian Intervention, Sovereignty, and Prevention

3. The End of Deterrence?

4. International Perspectives on Preemption and Prevention

5. After Iraq

6. Governing the New Age of Prevention

Afterword Now What?

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [149]-168) and index.

ISBN:

9780812202946

0812202945

OCLC:

859161735