The Ethics of Destruction: Norms and Force in International Relations (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)

Many assume that in international politics, and especially in war, "anything goes." Sherman famously declared war "is all hell." The implication behind the maxim is that in war there is no order, only chaos; no mercy, only cruelty; no restraint, only suffering.Ward Thomas finds that this "anything goes" view is demonstrably wrong. It neither reflects how most people talk about the use of force in international relations nor describes the way national leaders actually use military force. Events such as those in Europe during World War II, in the Persian Gulf War, and in Kosovo cannot be understood, he argues, until we realize that state behavior, even during wartime, is shaped by common understandings about what is ethically acceptable and unacceptable.Thomas makes extensive use of two cases―the assassination of foreign leaders and the aerial bombardment of civilians―to trace the relative influence of norms and interests. His insistence on interconnections between ethical principle and material power leads to a revised understanding of the role of normative factors in foreign policy and the ways in which power and interest shape the international system.

Thomas, Ward

Foreign & International Law

Cornell University Press

Many assume that in international politics, and especially in war, "anything goes." Civil War general William Sherman said war "is all hell." The implication behind the maxim is that in war, as in hell, there is no order, only chaos; no mercy, only cruelty; no restraint, only suffering.
Ward Thomas finds that this "anything goes" view is demonstrably wrong. It neither reflects how most people talk about the use of force in international relations nor describes the way national leaders actually use military force. Events such as those in Europe during World War Two, in the Persian Gulf War, and in Kosovo cannot be understood, he argues, until we realize that state behavior, even during wartime, is shaped by common understandings about what is ethically acceptable and unacceptable.
Thomas makes extensive use of two cases―the assassination of foreign leaders and the aerial bombardment of civilians―to trace the relative influence of norms and interests. His insistence on interconnections between ethical principle and material power leads to a revised understanding of the role of normative factors in foreign policy and the ways in which power and interest shape the international system.

González Prada, Manuel, 1844-1918--Political and social views. González Prada, Manuel, 1844-1918 Anarchism. Power (Social sciences) Anarchism. Political and social views. Power (Social sciences).Comparision of essays and poetry.Modernismo.

La anarqua inmanentista de Manuel Gonzalez Prada

Literature & Fiction

Ward, Thomas

History & Criticism

Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers

Recurrence sequences are of great intrinsic interest and have been a central part of number theory for many years. Moreover, these sequences appear almost everywhere in mathematics and computer science. This book surveys the modern theory of linear recurrence sequences and their generalizations. Particular emphasis is placed on the dramatic impact that sophisticated methods from Diophantine analysis and transcendence theory have had on the subject. Related work on bilinear recurrences and an emerging connection between recurrences and graph theory are covered. Applications and links to other areas of mathematics are described, including combinatorics, dynamical systems and cryptography, and computer science. The book is suitable for researchers interested in number theory, combinatorics, and graph theory.

Recurrence Sequences (Mathematical Surveys and Monographs, Vol. 104) (Mathematical Surveys & Monographs)

Science & Math

Graham Everest

Alf van der Poorten

Igor Shparlinski

Mathematics

Amer Mathematical Society

Errata of the Protestant Bible: or the truth of the English translations examined

History

BiblioLife

As Ward Thomas details in The New Dogs of War, militias and paramilitary groups wield greater power than national governments in many countries, while in some war zones private contractors perform missions previously reserved for uniformed troops. Most ominously, terrorist organizations with global reach have come to define the security landscape for even the most powerful nations. Across the first decades of the twenty-first century we have witnessed a dramatic rise in the use of military force by these nonstate actors in ways that have impacted the international system, leading Thomas to undertake this valuable assessment of the state of play at this critical moment. To understand the spread of nonstate violence, Thomas focuses on the crucial role played by an epochal transformation in international norms. Since the eighteenth century, the Westphalian model of sovereignty has reserved the legitimate use of force to states. Thomas argues that normative changes in the decades after World War II produced a "crisis of coherence" for formal and informal rules against nonstate violence. In detailed case studies of nonstate militias, transnational terrorist networks, and private military contractors, Thomas explains how forces contesting state prerogatives exploited this crisis, which in turn reshaped international understandings of who could legitimately use force. By considering for the first time all three purveyors of nonstate violence as aspects of the same phenomenon, The New Dogs of War explains this fundamental shift in the norm that for centuries gave states the monopoly on military force.

The New Dogs of War: Nonstate Actor Violence in International Politics

After Stoicism: Last Words of the Last Roman Philosopher

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Word on Fire Academic

Environmental Regulations and Industrial Competitiveness: Case Studies of Toxic Industries in Southern California (Environment & Policy, 62)

Business & Money

Ong, Paul

Economics

Springer

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Thomas, Ward. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Thomas, Ward