Public commitment to international law: Canadian and British media perspectives on the use of force

British and Canadian Perspectives on International Law

Volumn , Issue , 2006, Pages 13-28

  Toope, Stephen J ^a,b  

^a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation   (Canada)

^b UN Working Group on Disappearances   (Switzerland)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84882634028     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004153813.i-407     Document Type: Chapter

References (36)

1. For technical reasons having to do with database organization and availability, the timeframe was not exactly parallel for each of the UK and Canadian newspapers, so the statistics are not fully commensurable. However, the periods under review were parallel enough to make comparisons reasonable and useful. It is highly unlikely that the statistics would be off by more than 5 or so references over the entire period under review.
2. K. W. Abbott, R. O. Keohane et al., "The Concept of Legalization" (2000) 54 Int'l Org. 401.
3. M. Finnemore & S. J. Toope, "Alternatives to 'Legalization': Richer Views of Law and Politics" (2001) 55 Int'l Org. 743; and J. Brunnée, "Review: Legalization and World Politics. Edited by Judith L. Goldstein, Miles Kahler, Robert O. Keohane, and Anne-Marie Slaughter. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001" (2003) 1/1 Perspectives in Politics (American Political Science Association) 231.
4. J. Brunnée & S. J. Toope, "The Changing Nile Basin Regime: Does Law Matter?" (2002) 43 Harvard Int'l L. J. 105 [hereinafter "Nile Basin"]; and S. R. Ratner, "Does International Law Matter in Preventing Ethnic Conflict?" (2000) 32 NYU J. Int'l L. & Pol. 591.
5. M. Finnemore & K. Sikkink, "International Norm Dynamics and Political Change" (1998) 52 Int'l Org. 887 at 895; and M. Keck & K. Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders (1998), passim.
6. Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, July 17, 1998, U.N. Doc. A/CONF. 183/9 (1998), reprinted in (1998) 37 I.L.M. 999. I do not mean to argue that the Court itself is a success, only that norm entrepreneurs played a determinative role in its creation. For a relatively negative assessment of the Court's future,
7. S. R. Ratner, "The International Criminal Court and the Limits of Global Judicialization" (2003) 38 Texas J. Int'l L. 445.
8. Convention On The Prohibition Of The Use, Stockpiling, Production And Transfer Of Anti-Personnel Mines And On Their Destruction, 36 ILM 1507 (1997), entered into force 1 March 1999.
9. George W. Bush, Address to the UN General Assembly, 12 September 2002, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/09/20020912-1.html ("All the world now faces a test, and the United Nations a difficult and defining moment. Are Security Council resolutions to be honored and enforced, or cast aside without consequence? Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?").
10. J. Simpson, "The difference between them and us" The Globe and Mail (19 March 2003) A23.
11. R. Mickleburgh, "War's critics happy to see fall of Hussein" The Globe and Mail (10 April 2003) A7 (quoting Prime Minister Goran Persson).
12. R. Pelletier, "L'empire américain, l'Europe et l'Irak" La Presse (9 February 2003) A8.
13. J.-R. Sansfaçon, "Une guerre précipité" Le Devoir (20 March 2003) A8. The only exception was an article by a retired international law professor from the University of Ottawa.
14. D. Pharand, "Le droit international et l'emploi de la force contre l'Irak" Le Devoir (18 March 2003) A8.
15. C. Owen, "America is justified in striking first" The National Post (11 March 2003) A18; G. Weigel, "Declaring war would be the moral option" The National Post (20 November 2002) A18; and S Alberts & A. Dawson, "Former UN head calls war breach of Charter" The National Post (21 March 2003) A13.
16. It should be noted, however, that Morgan's contributions to the National Post have not been directly on the Iraq War, though the analysis is often relevant to that context. See, e.g., E. Morgan, "A war of words and the law" The National Post (7 October 2003) A16.
17. A. Grice, "PM and the Case for War: A controversy that still damages Blair" The Independent (9 March 2005) 8 ("Lord Goldsmith has also been criticised for relying on an expert opinion from Christopher Greenwood QC, professor of international law at the London School of Economics. Critics say he was among a minority in his field to endorse the invasion.")
18. P. Sands, Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules (London: Penguin/Allen Lane, 2005).
19. O. Bowcott, "Legality of Iraq War: Adviser sticks to his guns" The Guardian (1 March 2005) 4; and P. Waugh, "UN Spying row: US told Britain to get new legal opinion on Iraq war, book claims" The Independent (1 March 2004) 8.
20. U. Bernitz, N. Espejo-Yaksic, A Hurwitz et al., Letter to the Editor [War would be illegal], The Guardian (7 March 2003); M. White & P. Wintour, "No case for Iraq attack say lawyers" The Guardian (7 March 2003) 1.
21. J. Sallott, "Legal experts say attack on Iraq is illegal" The Globe and Mail (20 March 2003) A10; E. Oziewicz, "Is Iraq war justified by international agreements?" The Globe and Mail (25 March 2003) A11.
22. O. Bowcott, "Iraq: the legal challenge" The Guardian (2 March 2004) 3.
23. J. Rozenberg, "Why the sword is mightier than the law" The Telegraph (13 March 2003) 24 [hereinafter "Why the sword"]; J. Rozenberg, "The perils of perfidy in wartime" (3 April 2003) 17. with Rozenberg's conclusions
24. J. Rozenberg, "How one word made the Iraq war legal" The Telegraph (20 March 2003) 18.
25. P. Allott & A. Dashwood, Letter to the Editor [Conflict over legality of launching an attack against Iraq], The Times (19 March 2003) 23; C. Greenwood, "Britain's war on Saddam had the law on its side" The Times (22 October 2003) 22; V. Lowe, Letter to the Editor [Legal queries over actions on Iraq], The Times (23 September 2002) 19.
26. D. Pannick, "Why the judges should have their say on Iraq" The Times (11 March 2003) 4; D. Pannick, "Why we must fight with one hand tied behind our backs" The Times (8 April 2003) 4; D. Pannick, "Goldsmith's advice on legality of war must be published" The Times (4 November 2003) 4; R. Singh, "Why war is illegal" The Times (14 March 2003) 18.
27. G. Monbiot, "One rule for them" The Guardian (25 March 2003) 21.
28. C. Kennedy, "The Prime Minister led us into an illegal war" The Independent (14 October 2004) 39.
29. F. Gibb, "Breach of international law feared if war starts" The Times (14 March 2003) 18 ("Opinion among international lawyers is split. There are two main schools of thought: those who think the existing UN resolutions give ample legal authority for military action, and those who think a second specific UN resolution is required." She then went on to quote only Christopher Greenwood and Ruth Wedgwood, two of the rare international lawyers who argued the legality of the invasion).
30. A. Kaletsky, "War could mean the end of the economic world" The Times (18 March 2004) 27.
31. J. Daley, "UN lets tinpot dictators rule the world" The Telegraph (12 March 2003) 26.
32. A. Coyne, "12 arguments against war, rebutted" The National Post (7 March 2003) A15.
33. "A legal fiction" (leading article) The Sunday Telegraph (29 February 2004) 24.
34. D. Rudd, "The Fog of (Phoney) War", Commentary, The Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies, http://www.ciss.ca/Comment_PhoneyWar.htm.
35. Prospect [Magazine] 100 (July 2004). A subsequent Prospect poll to identify the
36. leading public intellectuals in the world - even more open to debate - produced the same result: no international lawyers. See Prospect [Magazine] 101 (August 2005).