Recourse to Force: State Action against Threats and Armed Attacks(Series Number 15 Hersch Lauterpacht Memorial Lectures)

The nations that drafted the UN Charter in 1945 clearly were more concerned about peace than about justice. As a result, the Charter prohibits all use of force by states except in the event of an armed attack or when authorised by the Security Council. This arrangement has only very imperfectly withstood the test of time and changing world conditions. In requiring states not to use force in self-defence until after they had become the object of an actual armed attack, the Charter failed to address a growing phenomenon of clandestine subversion and of instantaneous nuclear threats. Fortunately although the Charter is very hard to amend, the drafters did agree that it should be interpreted flexibly by the United Nations' principal political institutions. In this way the norms governing use of force in international affairs have been adapted to meet changing circumstances and new challenges. The book also relates these changes in law and practice to changing public values pertaining to the balance between maintaining peace and promoting justice.

Table of Contents:
Part I. The United Nations' capacity for adapting to radical changes of circumstance ; Part II. Use of force by the United Nations; Part III. The original parameters of self-defence; Part IV. Self-defence against state-sponsored terrorists and infiltrators; Part V. Self-defence against ideological subversion; Part VI. Self-defence against attacks on citizens abroad; Part VII. Anticipatory self-defence; Part VIII. Countermeasures and self-help; Part IX. The 'purely humanitarian' intervention; Part X. What, eat the cabin boy? Uses of force that are illegal but justifiable; Index.

About the Author :
Murray and Ida Becker Professor of Law, New York University School of Law Wolfgang Friedmann Memorial Award 1999

Review :
'If you are interested in the issue of the legitimacy or legality of the use of force, then you should reach for Thomas M. Franck's clear, concise, impartial and beautifully argued Recourse to Force - a superb analysis of what the UN says about the use of force, and why and how interpretation has evolved.' The Guardian Review '... clear, concise, impartial and beautifully argued ... a superb analysis of what the UN charter says about the use of force, and why and how interpretation has evolved.' The Guardian 'Professor Franck's monograph is an interesting description of law and practice, also encompassing the political attitudes of different states, including great powers of superpowers, both during and after the Cold War ... interesting not only for lawyers but also for students of geopolitics and international relations. From the legal point of view, the monograph accumulates large analysis of precedents and in this sense it could offer an interesting source to those who wish to become familiar with a quite original view relating to the law of the use of force.' International and Comparative Law Quarterly '... for anyone interested in these issues, this reading is a 'must'. Nordic Journal of Human Rights 'In a short book review, it is impossible to comment on all of the rich and fascinating ideas included in Franck's newest work, which of course also covers the most recent developments following the terrorist attacks on the New York World Trade Centre and the pentagon on 11 September 2001. In sum, the author again provides the reader with an intellectually challenging study which - like Thomas M. Franck's previous works - most certainly will have a long lasting impact on future discussions on the legality of the use of force. Therefore Recourse to Force is virtually indispensable for scholars as well as practitioners interested in this central field of international law.' German Yearbook of International Law