Reviews

"The Costs of War provides a welcome reaffirmation of the importance of the international law as an indispensable tool of the world public order. Through his careful analysis of key events over the past few years – Kosovo, Iraq, the execution of Saddam Hussein – Professor Falk provides a balanced and sober assessment of the place of international law in contemporary international relations. This is important reading for all those involved in international policy and decision-making."

--Christine Chinkin, Professor of International Law, London School of Economics

"This scathing, well-grounded critique of an illegitimate and unsustainable foreign policy shows how the U.S. has ‘destroyed the (global) village in order to save it.’ Defending the hard-won gains of global governance, Falk ably makes the case for international law as a response to neo-conservative imperialist thuggery."

--Alison Brysk, Professor, Department of Politics, University of California Irvine

"In a bold and original analysis, Richard Falk brilliantly captures the changing relationship between law and power. His critical reading of U.S. foreign policy gauges the normative costs of the Iraq War to world order. A masterly account of morality and war!"

--James H. Mittelman, University Professor of International Affairs, American University

"This book is a must read for all those who would like to understand how international law can help produce a more just world order. Its central argument is simple: the impartial exercise of international law is needed to control abuses of state power and to govern foreign policy. Richard Falk brilliantly demystifies how recent practices of geopolitics have overridden and manipulated international law and how many of the crimes of the powerful have been obscured in the process. at the same time, Falk's wise counsel gives voice to and hope for an ethic of responsibility in global affairs in ways that will appeal to diverse forces and movements in the emerging global civil society."

--Stephen Gill, Distinguished Research Professor, Department of Political Science, York University