Legal Advisers And Foreign Affairs

Report and background papers of a conference on legal advisers and forieng affairs, sponsered by the American Society of International Law, held at Princeton N. J., Sept. 1964."

In The Role of Legal Advisers in International Law prominent international legal professionals provide a range of original insights on the position of legal advisers and their vital contribution to the development, interpretation and application of international law.

All ten of the living former U.S. State Department legal advisers from the Carter administration to that of George W. Bush examine the role international law played during the major crises on their watch.

Shaping Foreign Policy in Times of Crisis grew out of a series of meetings that the authors convened with all ten of the living former U.S. State Department legal advisers (from the Carter administration to that of George W. Bush). Based on their insider accounts of the role that international law actually played during the major crises on their watch, the book explores whether international law is real law or just a form of politics that policymakers are free to ignore whenever they perceive it to be in their interest to do so. Written in a style that will appeal to the casual reader and serious scholar alike, the book includes a foreword by the Obama administration's State Department legal adviser, Harold Koh; background on the theoretical underpinnings of the compliance debate; an in-depth case study of the treatment of detainees in the war on terror; and a comprehensive glossary of the terms, names, places, and events that are discussed in the book.

The aims of this book are to discover how significant academic work in international relations has become for practitioners involved in policy formulation and implementation, and to examine the impact of the policy community on academic work and academic values. On the academic side, theoretical, historical and political economy perspectives are presented. On the practitioner side, there are contributions from diplomats, lawyers and parliamentarians. The principal question at issue is whether, if there is a natural partnership between the modern academic and foreign policy makers, there needs to be preserved a respectful distance between the two worlds.

The world has changed radically since 1989, when the General Assembly declared the period from 1990 to 1999 as the United Nations Decade of International Law. During that time, the international community claimed some major achievements as reflected by the adoption of conventions and treaties. This publication presents a collection of essays from legal advisers of States and international organizations, all of whom are among those committed to promoting respect for international law. Their contribution provides a practical perspective on international law, viewed from the standpoint of those involved in its formation, application and administration.

An authoritative assessment of the new laws of war and a sensible and sophisticated roadmap for the future of liberty in the Age of Terror America is losing a crucial front in the ongoing war on terror. It is losing not to Al Qaeda, but to its own failure to construct a set of laws that will protect the American people during this global conflict. As debate continues to rage over the legality and ethics of war, Benjamin Wittes enters the fray with a sober-minded exploration of law in wartime that is definitive, accessible, and nonpartisan. Outlining how this country came to its current impasse over human rights and counterterrorism, Law and the Long War paves the way toward fairer, more accountable rules for a conflict without end.

Backrooms and Beyond draws on interviews with ministers, senior public servants, and political advisers to offer the first detailed Canadian treatment of how that influence is gained and exercised in the policy making process.