The legal rules governing the use of force between States is one of the most fundamental - and the most controversial aspects of international law. An essential part of this area is the question of when, and to what extent, a State may lawfully use force against another in self-defense. However, the parameters of this inherent right remain obscure, despite the best efforts of scholars and, notably, the International Court of Justice (ICJ). This book examines the burgeoning relationship between the ICJ and the right of self-defense. Since 2003, there have been three major decisions of the ICJ...

While starting with a view of the Judaic/Christian religion, as the cultural background to Western thought, the essay proceeds to examine the nature of reality as perceived by the human mind, and how that mind fits into a current culture developing within a scientific and technological environment. Readers are led along paths of logic to the point where logic seems to cease to function, then left to consider the issues themselves. However, it is claimed to be reasonably well proven that a free society cannot be permanent within a social structure deriving from a pleasure pain philosophy. The...