Synopses & Reviews
"
Toward a Just World is an insightful and thoughtful history. The first half of the twentieth century and the heroic efforts of those who sought international justice during that time will be much better understood and appreciated thanks to this fascinating book."—Robert F. Drinan, Georgetown University
A century ago, there was no such thing as international justice, and until recently, the idea of permanent international courts and formal war crimes tribunals would have been almost unthinkable. Yet now we depend on institutions such as these to air and punish crimes against humanity, as we have seen in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the appearance of Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic before the Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
Toward a Just World tells the remarkable story of the long struggle to craft the concept of international justice that we have today. Dorothy V. Jones focuses on the first half of the twentieth century, the pivotal years in which justice took on expanded meaning in conjunction with ideas like world peace, human rights, and international law. Fashioning both political and legal history into a compelling narrative, Jones recovers little-known events from undeserved obscurity and helps us see with new eyes the pivotal ones that we think we know. Jones also covers many of the milestones in the history of diplomacy, from the Treaty of Versailles and the creation of the League of Nations to the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal and the making of the United Nations.
As newspapers continue to fill their front pages with stories about how to administer justice to al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, Toward a Just World will serve as a timely reminder of how the twentieth century achieved one of its most enduring triumphs: giving justice an international meaning.
Review
2003 Jervis and Schroeder Best Book Award, American Political Science Association, International History and Politics Section
Review
“In a tour de force, Dorothy V. Jones exhumes from musty annals . . . totally forgotten figures in the quest for international justice. . . . Jones, in her finely wrought narrative, describes the people and events that shaped that campaign.”
Review
“In this narrative, Dorothy V. Jones has identified critical intellectual and political lineage to todays struggles over sovereignty, law, and human rights.”
Review
“Dorothy V. Jones has produced a lucid, thought-provoking book that is strongly recommended to those interested in contemporary international relations, conflict resolution, and the adjudication of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Her focus on the early twentieth century fills a gap in the historiography of international law.”
Synopsis
“Paris’s ability to convey the human dimension of international criminal justice is what makes this book special.”—The Globe and Mail
“In The Sun Climbs Slow Erna Paris describes, movingly and convincingly, the dawn of a new age of international law. There could be no better guide to the emerging world in which no guilty person, however powerful, can escape responsibility for acts of barbarism. Obligatory reading for the forward-looking.”—John Polanyi, Nobel Laureate
In this groundbreaking investigation, Erna Paris explores the history of global justice, the politics behind America’s opposition to the creation of a permanent international criminal court, and the implications for the world at large.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is the first permanent tribunal of its kind. The mandate of the ICC is to challenge criminal impunity on the part of national leaders and to promote accountability in world affairs at the highest level. Independent and transnational, its indictments cannot be vetoed in the Security Council.
On March 11, 2003, when the new court was inaugurated in a moving ceremony, attended by over half of the countries in the world, one country was conspicuously missing from the celebrations. The government of the United States had made it clear that the International Criminal Court was not consistent with American goals and values.
Erna Paris is the winner of ten national and international writing awards, including the Canada-U.S. White Award for journalism, a gold medal from the National Magazine Awards Foundation, and four Media Club of Canada awards for feature writing and radio documentary. She is the author of six acclaimed books of literary nonfiction.
Synopsis
In this groundbreaking investigation, Erna Paris explores the history of global justice, the politics behind America's opposition to the creation of a permanent international criminal court, and the implications for the world at large.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is the first permanent tribunal of its kind. The mandate of the ICC is to challenge criminal impunity on the part of national leaders and to promote accountability in world affairs at the highest level. Independent and transnational, its indictments cannot be vetoed in the Security Council.
On March 11, 2003, when the new court was inaugurated in a moving ceremony, attended by over half of the countries in the world, one country was conspicuously missing from the celebrations. The government of the United States had made it clear that the International Criminal Court was not consistent with American goals and values.
Synopsis
The improbable, yet true, story of the only court in the world that holds war criminals accountable for their actions, the International Criminal Court.
About the Author
Dorothy V. Jones is a scholar-in-residence at the Newberry Library and has been an associate in the history department at Northwestern University. Among her books are Splendid Encounters: The Thought and Conduct of Diplomacy, License for Empire: Colonialism by Treaty in Early America, and Code of Peace: Ethics and Security in the World of the Warlord States, which was the winner of the Lionel Gelber Award.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Prologue
Part One: Conditions of Struggle
1. The Bright Chain of Reason
2. The Faithful Company
3. A Contest of Concepts
4. Invisible Barriers
Part Two: Weapons of Peace
5. Virtues, Old and New
6. The Transforming Years
7. The Fruits of Defiance
8. An Era Unknown
Part Three: Questions of Law
9. A Limited Reach
10. Symbolic Interventions
11. Morality in Thrall
12. The Puzzle of Evil
13. A Conservative Compass
14. Sovereignty's Hard Shell
Part Four: The Long Road Home
15. A Grotian Moment
16. A Home for the Heart
Notes
A Bibliographic Note on Theories of Justice
Index