■ Thakur, Ramesh & Peter Malcontent, eds, 2004. From Sovereign Impunity to International Accountability. New York: United Nations University Press. viii + 295 pp. ISBN 9280811002
| DOI | 10.1177/00223433070440020719 |
| Author | Ismene Gizelis |
| Published date | 01 March 2007 |
| Date | 01 March 2007 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
up the possibility of a different interpretation of
the Kargil crisis than the official Pakistani story:
namely that this (conventional) crisis might have
been instigated because Pakistan had acquired
nuclear weapons and, therefore, counted on a
weak Indian response from fear of dangerous esca-
lation. This example highlights the dubious secu-
rity stemming from acquiring nuclear weapons.
The book should be read by all who are interested
in nuclear security in the South Asian region.
Christin M. Ormhaug
䊏Richmond, Oliver & Henry Carey, eds,
2005. Subcontracting Peace: The Challenges of
NGO Peacebuilding. Aldershot: Ashgate. xxii +
267 pp. ISBN 0754640582.
This edited volume collects 22 chapters in four sec-
tions starting with a thematic introduction and fol-
lowed by the role of NGOs in peacemaking,
peacebuilding and the development of global
norms. The thematic essays display an awareness of
the considerable criticism that NGOs have received
in recent years and try to present a balanced view.
The remaining chapters contain case studies
(including studies on Colombia, Guatemala,
Somalia, Rwanda, private military companies, and
campaigning on child soldiers). However, the self-
critical attitude in the thematic essays is not
reflected in most of the case studies. They read more
like ‘how to’ guides detailing which strategies have
worked (or not), rather than questioning whether
the NGO activity in question might not be wholly
beneficial. A case in point is Kelleher and Taulbee’s
treatment of the Norwegian cooperation between
NGOs and the state in peacemaking. It provides an
adequate account but fails to mention any of the
controversies and criticisms that have been levelled
at this relationship. The only serious exception is
Monshipouri, who examines the role of CARE in
Iraq and concludes that its dependence upon
USAID funding risked it being, in the words of one
US official, an arm of the US government. There is,
therefore, a mismatch between the self-critical the-
matic chapters and the case studies which too often
advocate unequivocally that NGOs contribute pos-
itively to peace work. This reviewer has spent many
years working with NGOs and is fully aware of their
utility and drawbacks. NGOs have become power-
ful and well-financed actors; however, too many of
the contributors are unwilling to wash their dirty
linen in public. This indicates a lack of maturity in
the sector and its scholars.
Nicholas Marsh
䊏Stevenson, David, 2004. Cataclysm: The First
World War as Political Tragedy. New York: Basic.
xl + 564 pp. ISBN 0465081843.
In contrast to all other wars, the two World Wars
stand out in terms of the number of warring parties
and the scale of battle casualties. The Great War,
later known as the First World War, is particularly
infamous for the astounding death tolls of the
Battles of the Somme, Gallipoli, and Loos, as well
as the Second and Third Battles of Ypres. Indeed,
battle-related deaths for WWI number 9,450,000
(p. 442) – an unfathomable figure. How did so
many countries become involved in a war of such
destructiveness? The First World War is often por-
trayed as an inevitable and unintentional conflict,
stemming from the structural limitations of inflex-
ible alliance patterns in a multilateral system over
which politicians had little control. Stevenson
offers a quite different explanation, revealing that
political leaders such as Lloyd George, Clemenceau,
Bethmann-Hollweg, and others willingly accepted
the risk of escalation and the appalling losses. Even
when it became clear that there would be no clear
winners and the chances of a short war were long
passed, political leaders remained committed to the
war effort. And yet young men continued to enlist,
and the general publics of all belligerents remained
largely supportive of the war effort (except of
course in Russia, which experienced two revol-
utions), as governments were able to maintain a
sense of emergency. Indeed, the war widened. The
war spread into the Near and Middle East and
between the colonies of the European great powers.
More countries joined the conflict to fight in
Europe where the war started and where most lives
were lost. Stevenson eloquently explains why the
war escalated and later efforts to negotiate peace
failed.
Scott Gates
䊏Thakur, Ramesh & Peter Malcontent, eds,
2004. From Sovereign Impunity to International
Accountability. New York: United Nations
University Press. viii + 295 pp. ISBN 9280811002.
Thakur and Malcontent put together a compre-
hensive volume on the global enforcement of
human rights and the legal framework that has
evolved both regionally and globally. The book is
divided into three parts. The first one focuses on
the historical background of criminal accountabil-
ity at the international level. The second section
focuses on the role and structure of tribunals and
BOOK NOTES 253
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