War and Law Since 1945

Geoffrey Best traces the recent history of efforts to limit the violence and ugliness of war. He shows how the Second World War provided the impetus for reconstruction of international law, and charts its relationship with war since then, critically surveying the whole range of contemporary armed conflicts from civil to high-tech international wars. This book offers an original and thought-provoking approach to contemporary history, law, politics and ethics, and is essential reading for anyone concerned with war.



`... ambitious, highly significant and courageous ... an important text.' Dermot Keogh, Irish Times



`magnificent exposition,' London Review of Books



`Dr Best has made an important contribution.' James J. Busuttil, International Relations