World Politics and International Law (Duke Press Policy Studies) [Paperback]

Francis Anthony Boyle (Author)

Book Description

Series: Duke Press Policy Studies | Publication Date: April 23, 1985

This work tries to bridge the gap between international lawyers and those political scientists who write about international politics. In the first part, the author discusses the influence of Professor Morgenthau's realist school on the current thinking of political scientists and the abandonment of this school by its originator in the last years of his life. The author concludes that the best way to test the validity of different approaches is to discuss various international crises in the light of contrasting theories and to analyze each situation from both the legal and political points of view. In particular, he tries to ascertain to what extent vital national interests could be accommodated within an international legal framework, or could require a distortion of international rules in order to achieve national objectives.

In the second part, the author dissects the Entebbe raid, where Israeli forces rescued a group of hostages being detained by hijackers at a Ugandan airport. His analysis shows the deficiencies of the international system in dealing with such a complex issue, where several contradictory principles of international law could be applied and were defended by various protagonists.

The third part starts with a parallel problem--the Iranian hostages crisis, where a group of U.S. officials found themselves in an unprecedented situation of being captured by a band of students. A critical analysis of the handling of this problem by the Carter Administration is followed by vignettes of other crises faced by the Administration and by its successor, the Reagan Administration. This part is less analytical and more prescriptive. The author is no long satisfied with pointing out what went wrong; instead, he departs from the usual hands-off policy of political scientists and tries to indicate how much better each situation could have been handled if the decision makers had been paying more attention to international law and international organizations. The theme is slowly developed that in the long run national interest is better served not by practicing power politics and relying on the use of threat of force but by strengthening those international institutions that can provide a neutral environment for first slowing down a crisis and then finding an equitable solution acceptable to most of the parties in conflict.

The value of this book lies primarily in giving the reader a real insight into several important issues of today that are familiar to most people only from newspaper headlines and television news. While not everybody can agree with all his criticisms of the mistakes of various governments, there is an honest attempt by the author to present issues impartially and to let the blame fall where it may. Being both an international lawyer and a political scientist, the author has had the advantage of combining the methodology of these two social sciences into a rich tapestry with some startling shades and tones.

Product Details

• Paperback: 378 pages
• Publisher: Duke University Press Books (April 23, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822306557
• ISBN-13: 978-0822306559
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,107,042 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seminal Analysis and Critique of American Machiavellianism, May 9, 2002

By 

Michael E. Piston (Mercer Island, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: World Politics and International Law (Duke Press Policy Studies) (Paperback)

This extremely important book should be required reading for anyone who is interested in understanding U.S. Foreign Policy in general and the flawed foundations of the War Against Terrorism in particular. Boyle delves all the way to the philosophical and legal origins of U.S. Foreign Policy to illuminate the glaring flaws which have been recognized by so many but analyzed by so few.

Boyle demonstrates how respect for international law and the development of a global international legal framework for the peaceful resolution of disputes between nations represented the fundamental thinking behind U.S. Foreign Policy from its emergence as an international power after the Spanish American War until World War II . He then describes how, and just as importantly why, the U.S. intentionally forsook those principles when it self consciously adopted a foreign policy based solely upon the considerations of power politics following World War II, in substantial part because of the widely held belief that it was the U.S.'s naïve adherence to international law prior to the war which was to blame for that catastrophe. Boyle illustrates in particular the importance of Hans Morgenthau, whose seminal writings on U.S. Foreign Policy which played a decisive role in influencing policymakers much as George Kennan's "Mr. X" cable on containment had a critical influence on U.S. policy towards the Soviet Union. Ironically, Morgenthau, just like Kennan, lived to repudiate his words, arguing in 1978 that U.S. disregard of international law as a guiding force in it's foreign policy would lead almost inevitably to nuclear war.

Boyle goes on to contrast the efforts of legalists, such as Cyrus Vance with Machiavellians such as Zbignew Brezinski and demonstrates how the latter's policies were both futile, and potentially disastrous in resolving the Iranian hostage crisis while Vance's strategy led to its peaceful resolution, despite his resignation in protest of President Carter's ill conceived and ill fated hostage rescue attempts.

Along the way, Boyle offers many fascinating insights into the back stories of important foreign policy developments such as the significant role which international legal considerations played in the Israeli decision to invade Uganda to liberate hostages at Entebbe and the not implausible self defense argument which Iran had for the seizure of U.S. hostages to stave off an expected American backed counter-coup in 1979. Finally, and rather sadly, Boyle offers a vivid real world example of how the influence of U.S. multinationals can override even the most compelling humanitarian concerns in U.S. Foreign Policy when he describes how the Carter Administration's desire to protect the interests of U.S. Banks in being repaid the, in some instances, transparently fraudulent loans they had made to the Shah's government caused it to delay the release of U.S. hostages.

Altogether, Boyle provides a reasoned grounds for a thorough-going attack on U.S. Foreign Policy which gains more strength with each passing day. The fundamental error of U.S. foreign policy as Boyle so aptly illustrates is it's abandonment of any commitment to an international law regime in the world and to the principles of international law in it's own foreign policy in favor of a purely Machiavellian use of power politics which, although occasionally reaping short term advantage, ultimately has the effect of undermining the stability of the world as a whole and therefore the peace and security of all peoples of the world. Unfortunately, the Second Bush Administration appears intent upon surpassing all of its predecessors in its brutal application of Machiavellianism in its global War against Terrorism. Those who are disturbed by this strategy can find powerful tools to analyze and attack it in this ground breaking work.