Crimes Against Humanity: A Normative Account
| Author | Pablo Kalmanovitz |
| Date | 01 November 2006 |
| Published date | 01 November 2006 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002234330604300617 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
complex nature of the events that unfolded in
Rwanda in 1994. How do these men explain how
they transitioned from ordinary activities such as
farming or shopping in the local market to par-
ticipating in genocide? How and why did women
and children come to be considered enemies?
They are often asked pointed questions that get
to the heart of the issue: ‘I don’t understand....
If a soldier killed someone hundreds of kilome-
ters away, I would not go out and kill my
neighbor’s child’ (pp. 90–91). The surprising
variation in responses simultaneously compli-
cated and deepened my understanding about
what happened in Rwanda in 1994. Anyone con-
cerned with the substantive issues of violence,
war, or genocide will certainly benefit from
reading this book, slowly, and then again. All
social scientists concerned with implementing
rigorous methodological standards in their own
research should emulate the standards of trans-
parency, data replicability, and honesty set forth
in this book. Straus’s experience and expertise in
the region and subject matter combined with
honed interviewing skills and a flawless research
design contribute to the making of a classic. A
concise introductory chapter provides sufficient
background information needed in order to make
sense of the interviews. Black and white photo-
graphs of both victims and perpetrators by Robert
Lyons complement this hard-bound edition.
Taken together, the carefully constructed portraits
and interviews tell a remarkably human story.
Jennifer Ziemke
May, Larry, 2005. Crimes Against Humanity:
A Normative Account. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. 310 pp. ISBN 0521600510.
After the establishment of the ICTY (Inter-
national Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia) in 1993, international criminal law
saw an unprecedented expansion with the
creation of the ICTR (International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda), the mixed tribunals of
Sierra Leone and East Timor, and the ICC (Inter-
national Criminal Court). A large amount of
scholarship has been produced in tandem with
this expansion, mainly by international legal
scholars and political scientists. May’s book is
located in a relatively unexplored area of inter-
national criminal law scholarship, at the cross-
roads of legal theory and moral and political
philosophy. Its two core aims are to justify this
still fragile international institution and to help
elucidate some of its most perplexing conceptual
puzzles. May argues that the distinctive feature of
international crimes is their ‘group-based’ nature
– harm is directed at persons indistinctly, only on
the basis of group membership, and originates
from states or ‘state-like’ actors. This reconstruc-
tion applies best to international crimes linked to
ethnicity, particularly genocide; there are few
arguments directed at crimes less amenable to the
group-based model, for example torture or war
crimes generally (although May promises a sequel
focusing on the latter). The book may not be
what those interested in actual legal practice quite
need, because it often diverges from the authori-
tative self-understanding of international lawyers;
this is the case, for instance, of its discussion of
jus cogens and customary law. On the other hand,
for those seeking a deep moral critique of current
international criminal law, the book may be
insufficiently critical, for it understandably takes
as given a good portion of what it builds founda-
tions for. For those equally interested in both law
and morals, the book provides many useful, clear,
and lucid arguments and is probably unique of its
kind so far.
Pablo Kalmanovitz
Meernik, James David, 2004. The Political
Use of Military Force in US Foreign Policy. Hamp-
shire: Ashgate. 269 pp. ISBN 0754642887.
This book examines an interesting and currently
relevant research question: the use of military
force for political purposes by the United States.
The author examines the history of US foreign
policy to identify trends in the use of force as
political means. Meernik evaluates four theoreti-
cal frameworks – realism, economic self-interest,
liberal idealism and domestic political interests –
to identify the processes that influence the choice
of instruments for achieving policy goals. Each
one of the frameworks includes arguments and
hypotheses suggested by the existing literature.
Meernik assesses and compares the four frame-
works employing both historical examples and
statistical analysis. The book does not offer a new
theoretical perspective. Nevertheless, it offers a
comprehensive analysis of US foreign policy that
elucidates current policies and debates within the
US establishment. Thus, Meernik’s book signifi-
cantly adds to the understanding of US foreign
policy and what drives the use of force. The
BOOK NOTES 755
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