Lindsay Moir, Reappraising the Resort to Force: International Law, Jus ad Bellum and the War on Terror

The presidential reign of George W. Bush will perhaps forever be primarily associated with the self-proclaimed ‘war on terror’. The political and legal dimensions of the policies and actions of the United States during this era have been exhaustively discussed, especially the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the establishment of the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay. Whilst this debate continues today, the extent of the impact, as opposed to simply the legality, of the war on terror upon the jus ad bellum is only now beginning to become clear. Since this era appears to be over, at least in name, since Barack Obama took control in the White House in January 2009, this would seem like an opportune moment to offer an assessment as to any impact. This opportunity has been seized upon by Lindsay Moir in his Reappraising the Resort to Force.1 The book has its...