Recourse to Force State Action against Threats and Armed Attacks [Hardcover]

The book relates changes in law and practice regarding the UN Charter of 1945 to changing public values.The United Nations Charter in 1945 prohibits all use of force by states except in the event of an armed attack or when authorized by the Security Council. Although the Charter is very hard to amend, its drafters agreed that it should be interpreted flexibly by the UN's principal political institutions and the text has undergone extensive interpretation. This book relates these changes in law and practice to changing public values pertaining to the balance between maintaining peace and promoting justice.The United Nations Charter in 1945 prohibits all use of force by states except in the event of an armed attack or when authorized by the Security Council. Although the Charter is very hard to amend, its drafters agreed that it should be interpreted flexibly by the UN's principal political institutions and the text has undergone extensive interpretation. This book relates these changes in law and practice to changing public values pertaining to the balance between maintaining peace and promoting justice.The United Nations Charter in 1945 prohibits all use of force by states except in the event of an armed attack or when authorized by the Security Council. Although the Charter is very hard to amend, its drafters agreed that it should be interpreted flexibly by the UN's principal political institutions and the text has undergone extensive interpretation. This book relates these changes in law and practice to changing public values pertaining to the balance between maintaining peace and promoting justice.Part I. The United Nations' capacity for adapting to radical changes of circumstance ; Part II. Use of force by the United Nations; Part III. The original parameters of self-defence; Part IV. Self-defence against state-sponsored terrorists and infiltrators; Part V. Self-defence against ideological subversion; Part VI. Self-defence against attacks on citizens abroad; ParlB