The Legal Power to Launch War: Who Decides?

ISBN-13: 9781138292086 / Angielski / Twarda / 2018 / 328 str.

Michael Head; Kristian Boehringer

Opis

The issue of who has the power in a democracy to declare war or authorise military action has become a major and critical political and legal issue internationally. Public, parliamentary and constitutional debates have erupted since the turn of the century in Western countries, particularly after the declaration and adoption by many governments of the 'war on terrorism', the United States-led intervention into Iraq in 2003 and, ten years later the United Kingdom House of Commons government motions to authorise military action in Syria. The ongoing wars in the Middle East and the mounting tensions between the US and its allies and both Russia and China mean that the fundamental issues at stake will loom even larger in the years ahead. This book comparatively examines the extraordinary executive and prerogative powers to declare war or launch military action, as well as any applicable constitutional conventions, legislation and legal doctrines. The book focuses primarily on the US, UK and Australia, with some references to Canada and New Zealand. The book explores key legal and constitutional questions including:

• Who currently has the power/authority to declare war?

• Who currently has the power to launch military action without formally declaring war?

• How, if at all, can those powers be controlled, legally or politically?

• What are the domestic legal consequences of going to war?

The work probes the far-reaching domestic legal consequences of going to war, in terms of the extensive powers assumed by governments, the impact on the civil and political rights of their populations and the implications for democracy. It also reviews various proposals which have been advanced for scrutinising, limiting, transferring or holding to account the power to commence armed conflict, as well as the reasons for the general failure of these propositions to win support within the political establishment.

Spis treści

Preface;  Introduction: What is at stake?;  1: War and democracy;  2: Vietnam, Iraq and the ‘war on terror’: Deception, war propaganda and legislative approval;  3: Increasingly unrestrained war powers in the United States: from Truman to Trump;  4: Britain’s royal war prerogative reasserted and reinforced;  5: From Whitehall to the White House: The war power in Australia—from legal subordination to political subservience;  6: The failure of reform proposals: An Australian case study;  7: War and dissent: sweeping domestic powers;  8: Contemporary preparations for wartime measures;  9: Martial law, official lawlessness and judicial complicity;  10: Can international law stop wars of aggression?;  11: Would referenda provide any alternative?;  12: Conclusions;  Index