The Post-9/11 World and Change in Law, Ethics and Armed Conflict

Abstract

If the post-cold war security environment is associated with the introduction of 'distinctively ethical language' into debates concerning states' international obligations,1 the post-9/11 world is the introduction of a high degree of complexity and uncertainty into those debates. The adoption of the post-9/11 label carries with it an assumption of change, and the balance between military necessity and legal and normative accountability is one area where this change has been rigorously contested. Two of the three books under review here highlight how states have stretched the boundaries of permissible behaviour in armed conflict since 11 September 2001. Bergman-Rosamond and Phythian's collection and Monshipouri's book explore how confrontations tied to the United States' Global War on Terror have exposed multiple fault lines between security and ethical concerns, including debates over state security versus human security, international humanitarian law versus human rights law, and humanitarian intervention versus military invasion. The post-9/11 world questions whether or not international laws and norms can keep up with states' perceptions of a changing security environment, or whether these constraints on state behaviour will become decreasingly effective. Each of the three books under review contributes to one possible answer: the interdependence of laws, ethics and security. To that end, Inal's work provides a theoretical basis for understanding why and how change in the law of war occurs. Inal emphasises the role of normative shocks which alter the political environment and thus invite the possibility of institutional change. The focus of Bergman-Rosamond and Phythian's collection and Monshipouri's book then invites us to ask whether or not September 11th constitutes such a shock, and what sort of changes we can expect as a result. In answer, Bergman-Rosamond and Phythian's collection demonstrates the importance of ethical reasoning in public debates about armed conflict, and Monshipouri's work stresses the need …