Andrea Carcano, The Transformation of Occupied Territory in International Law

Abstract

In The Transformation of Occupied Territory in International Law, Andrea Carcano conducts a thoughtful analysis of the controversial issue of transformative military occupation through the case study of Iraq, occupied by the coalition forces led by the United States, between 2003 and 2005. This case study offers an opportunity to reflect upon Iraq’s current situation, which has been impacted upon by this attempted transformation. This book also provides a comparison between the occupation in Iraq with the case studies of Germany and Japan in the aftermath of the Second World War. Starting with a historical analysis of both the normative paradigm of occupation and of its transformative deviation, Carcano stresses ‘the extraordinary uniqueness’1 of these two prominent and successful examples of transformative occupation in history. The juxtaposition of Iraq with Germany and Japan, resumed and furthered at the end of the book, shows how taking a one-size-fits-all approach is not only short-sighted but unlikely to bring about the desired results.