Misleading and dangerous: The use of the precautionary principle in foreign policy debates

Medicine, Conflict and Survival

Volumn 26, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 48-67

  Patterson, Alan ^a   McLean, Craig ^a  

^a NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Collective self defence; Environmental issues; One percent doctrine; Pre emptive preventive attacks; Precautionary principle; Wmd

Indexed keywords

CIVIL DEFENSE; ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH; HUMAN; INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION; IRAQ; POLICY; POLITICS; REVIEW; UNITED STATES; WAR; WEAPON;

CIVIL DEFENSE; ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH; HUMANS; INTERNATIONALITY; IRAQ; IRAQ WAR, 2003 -; POLITICS; PUBLIC POLICY; UNITED STATES; WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION;

EID: 77952485481     PISSN: 13623699     EISSN: 17439396     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13623690903553251     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. Meyer D. Bush's Sybil-like foreign policy: what will the next big doctrine be, asks CBS. [Internet] Meyer. CBS News website; 4 December 2003 [cited 2009 June 26]. Available from: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/04/opinion/meyer/main586890.shtml.
2. Coker C. War in an age of risk. Cambridge: Polity; 2009.
3. Suskind R. The one percent doctrine: deep inside America's pursuit of its enemies. New York: Simon and Schuster; 2006.
4. Sunstein CR. Worst-case scenarios. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press; 2007.
5. Feintuck M. Precautionary maybe, but what's the principle? The Precautionary Principle, the Regulation of Risk, and the Public Domain. Journal of Law and Society. 2005;32(3):371-398.
6. Tickner JA, Wright S. The precautionary principle and democratizing expertise: a US perspective. Science and Public Policy. 2003;30(3):213.
7. Gee D, Greenberg M. Asbestos: from 'magic' to malevolent mineral. In: Harremoes P, Gee D, MacGavin M, Stirling A, Keys J, Wynne B, Guz Vaz S, editors. Late lessons from early warnings: The precautionary principle 1896-2000. Copenhagen: European Environment Agency; 2002. p. 50.
8. McLean C, Patterson A. A precautionary approach to foreign policy? A preliminary analysis of Tony Blair's speeches on Iraq. British Journal of Politics and International Relations. 2006;8:351-367.
9. Bothe M. Terrorism and the legality of pre-emptive force. European Journal of International Law. 2003;14(2):229.
10. Stern J, Weiner JB. Precaution against terrorism. Journal of Risk Research. 2006;9(4):393-447.
11. Patterson A, McLean C. The management of risk in foreign and defence policy: the precautionary principle and decisions on war. Medicine, Conflict and Survival. 2008;24(1):42-58.
12. Friedman BH. The terrible ifs. Regulation. 2008; Winter:32-40.
13. BBC TV. Documentary - The power of nightmares. [Broadcast]. 2004 Mar 11.
14. oenig A. Towards a common understanding of the precautionary principle? Foreign Policy Bulletin. 2000;12:125-134.
15. Weiner JB. Whose precaution after all? A comment on the comparison and evolution of risk regulatory systems. Duke Journal of Comparative and International Law. 2003;13(4):207-262.
16. Graham JD. The role of precaution in risk assessment and management: an American's view. [Internet] Office of Management and Budget website; 11-12 January 2003 [cited 2009 Mar 5]. Available from: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg/eu_speech.html.
17. Marks M. The precautionary principle: a conservative way of thinking. [Internet] Republicans for Environmental Protection website; 28 February 2001 [cited 2009 Feb 2]. Available from: http://www.repamerica.org/opinions/speeches/8.html.
18. United Nations Chapter VII: action with respect to threats to peace, breaches of the peace, and acts of aggression. [Internet] Charter of the United Nations; 26 June 1945 [cited 2009 Mar 24]. Available from: http://www.un-documents.net/ch-07.htm.
19. Bock A. Eye on the empire. [Internet] Antiwar.com website; 2002;30(7):9-10 [cited 2009 Jan 29]. Available from: http://www.antiwar.com/bock/b091002.html.
20. Sofaer AD. On the necessity of pre-emption. European Journal of International Law. 2003;14(2):220.
21. Wirtz JJ, Russel JA. US policy on preventive war and pre-emption. The Nonproliferation Review. 2003;10(1):116.
22. Luban DJ. Preventive war. Philosophy and Public Affairs. 2004;32(3):207-248.
23. Reiter D. Preventive attacks against nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons programmes. In: Keller WW, Mitchell GR, editors. Hitting first: preventive force in US security strategy. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press; 2008. p. 29.
24. Reich S. The curious case of Kofi Annan, George W. Bush, and the 'pre-emptive' military force doctrine. In: Keller WW, Mitchell GR, editors. Hitting first: preventive force in US security strategy. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press; 2008. p. 45-69.
25. Rockmore T. On justifying the first blow. In: Keller WW, Mitchell GR, editors. Hitting first: preventive force in US security strategy. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press; 2008. p. 137.
26. Meyer C. DC confidential: the controversial memoirs of Britain's ambassador to the US at the time of 9/11 and the run-up to the Iraq war. London: Phoenix; 2005.
27. National Security Strategy of the United States of America. 2002 Sept. p. 15.
28. Waldron J. Reality check - 'worst-case scenarios' by Cass Sunstein. [Internet] London Review of Books; 10 April 2008 [cited 2009 Mar 25]. Available from: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v30/n07/jeremy-waldron/reality-check.
29. Paulos JA. Who's counting: Cheney's one percent doctrine? [Internet] ABC News website; 2 July 2006 [cited 2008 Nov 18]. Available from: http://abcnews.go.com/print?id1/42120605.
30. Rawnsley A. The greatest moral failure of Tony Blair's premiership. Observer. 2009 February 8;33.
31. Sands P. The green light. [Internet] Global Policy Forum website; May 2008 [cited 2009 Jun 28]. Available from: http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/157/27103.html.
32. Friedman BH. The terrible ifs. Regulation. 2008;Winter:32-40.
33. Bobbitt P. Terror and consent: the wars for the twenty-first century. London: Allen Lane; 2008.
34. Sunstein CR. Laws of fear: beyond the precautionary principle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2005.
35. Whiteside K. Precautionary politics: principle and practice in confronting environmental risk. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press; 2006. p. 48.
36. Godard O. The precautionary principle: between social norms and economic constructs. Paris: Laboratoire D'Econometrie, Ecole Polytechnique; 2005. p. 5.
37. President Bush's speech in full: President Bush's speech, made in Cincinnati late last night, in which he spelt out his case against President Saddam Hussein to the American public [Internet]. The Times; 2002 Oct 8 [cited 2009 Jun 17]. Available from: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article1074525.ece.
38. Inspector: Iraq had no WMD before invasion final report says Saddam had ambitions but no chem or bio arms [Internet]. MSNBC.com website; 2004 Oct 4 [cited 2009 Jun 8]. Available from: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6190720/.
39. Bush transcript: case for action: Transcript of President Bush's speech on Iraq [Internet]. ABC News US website; 7 October 2002 [cited 2009 Jun 27]. Available from: http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id1/491159&page1/41.
40. Risen J. State of the Union: collecting proof; Bush's speech puts new focus on state of intelligence data [Internet]. The New York Times website; 29 January 2003 [cited 2009 Jun 17]. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/29/world/state-union-collecting-proof-bush-s-speech-puts-new-focus-stateintelligence.html.
41. Blix criticises UK's Iraq dossier [Internet]. BBC News website; 18 September 2003 [cited 2009 Jun 22]. Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3118462.stm.
42. Abrams E, Bennett WJ, Bergner J, Bolton JR, Dobriansky P, Fukuyama F, Kagan R, Khalilzad Z, Kristol W, Perle R, Rodman P, et al. Open letter to Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott [Internet]. Project for the New American Century website; 29 May 1998 [cited 2009 Jun 22]. Available from: http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqletter1998.htm.
43. Knowlton B. 48-hour deadline is set; leader's sons must also go: Bush tells Saddam: flee Iraq or face war [Internet]. The New York Times website; 18 March 2003 [cited 2009 Jun 22]. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/18/news/18iht-policy_ed_3__9.html.
44. Mahajan R. 'We think the price is worth it': media uncurious about Iraq policy's effects - there or here. FAIR - Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting website [Internet]; November/December 2007 [cited 2009 Jun 29]. Available from: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page1/41084.
45. Burnham G, Doocy S, Dzeng E, Lafta R. The human cost of the War in Iraq: a mortality study, 2002-2006 [Internet]. Bloomberg School of Public Health, John Hopkins University, Baltimore; and School of Medicine, Al Mustansiriya University, Iraq; 11 October 2006 [cited 2009 Jun 22]. Available from: http://web.mit.edu/CIS/pdf/Human_Cost_of_War.pdf.
46. Iraq Body Count [Internet] Homepage; [cited 2009 Jun 22]. Available from: http://www.iraqbodycount.org/.
47. Rumsfeld D. US Department of Defense - Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense: News Transcript [Internet]; 20 February 2003 [cited 2009 Jun 22]. Available from: http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid1/41938.
48. Hinsliff G, Harris P, Doward J. Memo reveals US plan to provoke Iraq clash. Observer. 2009 June 21;5.