Aggression And Crimes Against Peace (philosophical And Legal Aspectrs Of War And Conflict)
by Larry May /
2008 / English / PDF
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In this volume, the third in his trilogy on the philosophical and
legal aspects of war and conflict, Larry May locates a normative
grounding for the crime of aggression-the only one of the three
crimes charged at Nuremberg that is not currently being
prosecuted-that is similar to that for crimes against humanity and
war crimes. He considers cases from the Nuremberg trials,
philosophical debates in the Just War tradition, and more recent
debates about the International Criminal Court, as well as the hard
cases of humanitarian intervention and terrorist aggression. May
argues that crimes of aggression, sometimes called crimes against
peace, deserve international prosecution when one State undermines
the ability of another State to protect human rights. His thesis
refutes the traditional understanding of aggression, which often
has been interpreted as a crossing of borders by one sovereign
state into another sovereign state. At Nuremberg, crimes against
humanity charges were only pursued if the defendant also engaged in
the crime of aggression. May argues for a reversal of this
position, contending that aggression charges should be pursued only
if the defendant's acts involve serious human rights violations.
In this volume, the third in his trilogy on the philosophical and
legal aspects of war and conflict, Larry May locates a normative
grounding for the crime of aggression-the only one of the three
crimes charged at Nuremberg that is not currently being
prosecuted-that is similar to that for crimes against humanity and
war crimes. He considers cases from the Nuremberg trials,
philosophical debates in the Just War tradition, and more recent
debates about the International Criminal Court, as well as the hard
cases of humanitarian intervention and terrorist aggression. May
argues that crimes of aggression, sometimes called crimes against
peace, deserve international prosecution when one State undermines
the ability of another State to protect human rights. His thesis
refutes the traditional understanding of aggression, which often
has been interpreted as a crossing of borders by one sovereign
state into another sovereign state. At Nuremberg, crimes against
humanity charges were only pursued if the defendant also engaged in
the crime of aggression. May argues for a reversal of this
position, contending that aggression charges should be pursued only
if the defendant's acts involve serious human rights violations.