Book Review: Missing: Persons and Politics
| DOI | 10.1177/0964663912466499b |
| Author | Simon Robins |
| Published date | 01 March 2013 |
| Date | 01 March 2013 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
in which she argues that despite the language of responsibility and care in the duty
inquiry, ‘the Donoghue instantiation of the neighbour principle is not relational in a
contextual sense, but seeks to be definitive of rights and duties arising between par-
ties conceived of essentially as strangers’ (p. 22). This has led to highly individua-
listic rhetoric in the modern law of negligence, which restricts the duty of care.
Steele’s analysis forces us to recognise the limitations of negligence law and pro-
vides an important cautionary tale for those – myself included – who remain of the
view that there is potential in negligence for a shift away from abstract rights
towards a more contextual approach.
In sum, this is a diverse and original as well as uniformly well-written collection. The
international scope – with contributions from the United Kingdom, Australia, and
Canada – is to be welcomed (although, like most collections, the geography remains lim-
ited). However, this also requires some caution on the part of the reader, given that tort
law has evolved in some quite divergent directions across the common law world, mak-
ing comparisons sometimes tricky. In addition, the collection embraces both moments of
optimism and pessimism concerning the extent to which tort law is capable of reform.
Finally, the authors demonstrate awareness that tort may well not be the arena in which
the issues raised can best be solved, and the inadequacies (as well as the potential) of tort
law remain firmly in view throughout.
CARL F STYCHIN
City University London, UK
Reference
Sheldon S (1998) Rethinking the Bolam Test. In: Sheldon S and Thomson M (eds) Feminist
Perspectives on Health Care Law. London, UK: Cavendish, pp 15–32.
JENNY EDKINS, Missing: Persons and Politics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2011. pp. 280,
ISBN 9780801450297, £18.50 (hbk).
The issueof missing persons as a humanitarian challengehas received little academicatten-
tion, with the dominant analytical lens being that of disappearance: a violation of interna-
tional human rights law that is the subject of a convention dedicated to its prevention.
Disappearance,however,is a narrative restrictedto those personsactively made to disappear
by a stateand imposes a legalisticnarrative on thephenomenon; as a result,both responses to
and discussionsof the issue are dominated by a rhetoric of‘truth and justice’ in which the
judicial is pre-eminent, rather than the broader needs of the families left behind. Most of
those missing arenot disappeared, they are separatedfrom families by war, displacement,
forcedrecruitment or migrationor are killed in conflict by non-stateactors. Rights discourse
and the judicialemphasis also serves to depoliticise the issue andabstract it from the envi-
ronment that led to the persons going missing; politics ultimately determines how and
whetherthe missing are discussedand the issuesare addressed. Thisbook then is a refreshing
Book reviews 139
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