Shaping Foreign Policy in Times of Crisis
The Role of International Law and the
State Department Legal Advisor
by Michael P. Scharf and Paul R. Williams
Published by Cambridge
University Press
Shaping Foreign Policy in
Times of Crisis grew out of a series of meetings that
the authors convened with all ten of the living former U.S.
State Department legal advisers (from the Carter
administration to that of George W. Bush). Based on their
insider accounts of the role that international law actually
played during the major crises on their watch, the book
explores whether international law is real law or just a form
of politics that policymakers are free to ignore whenever they
perceive it to be in their interest to do so.
Written in a style that will
appeal to the casual reader and serious scholar alike, the
book includes a foreword by the Obama administration’s State
Department legal adviser, Harold Koh; background on the
theoretical underpinnings of the compliance debate; an
in-depth case study of the treatment of detainees in the war
on terror; and a comprehensive glossary of the terms, names,
places, and events that are discussed in the book.
Reviews
for Shaping Foreign Policy in Times of Crisis
“This book offers a valuable and
timely contribution to the ongoing and by necessity,
open-ended discourse on the influence of international law and
Legal Advisers, on the formulation and implementation of
foreign policy and diplomacy.... It offers food for thought
for practitioners of international law, whether in government
service or employed by civil society, and it will also be
equally valuable to the academic community in obtaining an
understanding of international law at the cutting-edge of
inter-state relations.”
—Reviewed in Global Law Books, November 2011, by
Andre Stemmet, Senior State Law Adviser (International Law).
South African Department of International Relations and
Cooperation
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read full review
"As Journal readers know, recent
years have generated intense and sometimes angry debate, both
in the academy and in the upper reaches of government, whether
international law is truly law, to be observed in hazardous
times or ignored at some significant cost. Shaping Foreign
Policy in Times of Crisis: The Role of International Law and
the State Department Legal Adviser adds a rich store of
empirical evidence to the debate."
—American Journal of International Law |
read full review
"The book primarily consists of first-person, oral histories
of ten different Legal Advisers spanning the presidencies of
Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush (as well as an introduction
from Barack Obama’s current Legal Adviser, Harold Koh). More
broadly, the book aims to explain the nature and role of
international law through the lens of the State Department and
its lawyers during times of crisis. These are moments when one
might naturally think that the law simply steps aside and lets
politics — including “policy by other means” — take over. This
book stands as a refutation of that view."
—Jennifer Daskel, former Assistant Attorney General for
National Security at the Department of Justice |
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"Shaping Foreign Policy in Times of Crisis draws attention not
only to how international law shapes U.S. foreign policy but
to how international law serves as a valuable framework in
which to understand the important role the Office of the Legal
Adviser will play in creatively developing and implementing
new legal regimes for confronting evolving threats".
—Berkely Journal of International Law |
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"The book under review is to be
commended because of the excellent insight it provides into
the role played in practice by international law in one of the
most powerful states of the world and in the moral and
professional attitude of those who are in a unique position to
advise their government on international law."
—Netherlands International Law Review, 2012 |
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“This is a pioneering book
written and published at a critical time in the history of
international law. Hopefully it will influence the direction
that the role of international law will take in the coming
years, that is, whether international law will blossom into a
full flower and be recognized as a real hope for humanity in
its quest for peace and security, or whether it will be
consigned to the backwaters of relations between nations,
rarely consulted and rarely followed. For that reason, this
book is to be recommended equally to government officials, to
judges, to students of international law, and to the general
public for the light that it throws on a little known and
vitally important agency within the United States Department
of State.”
—James G. Apple, Editor in Chief of International
Judicial Monitor and President of the International
Judicial Academy |
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“The State Department Legal
adviser heads the most important office in the world for the
practice of public international law. This book describes, in
their own words, how ten Legal Advisers confronted the salient
issues of their tenure. It is a remarkably revealing account
of international law in action.”
—Stephen M. Schwebel, former Judge and President,
International Court of Justice
“The State Department legal adviser is the custodian of
America’s legal relationship with the world, the
self-described moral conscience of U.S. foreign policy. In
this unique and fascinating book, past legal advisers make a
compelling case that a great many debacles of the past 30
years — from the mining of Corinto Harbor to the torture of
terror suspects — could have been averted if Presidents
sought the legal adviser’s counsel before acting.”
—Roy Gutman, Pulitzer Prize winner and Foreign Editor of
McClatchy newspapers
"The absorbing insider accounts
of the ten former State Department Legal Advisers contained in
this book cover most of the critical foreign policy issues
that have confronted the United States during the past three
decades. It’s a fascinating page turner and an extraordinary
testimonial to the importance of international law."
—Richard Goldstone, former Chief Prosecutor of the
International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and
Rwanda, and Justice of the South African Constitutional Court
"This book — partly reassuring, partly disquieting — is a
highly interesting and frank recollection of the Legal
Advisers’ experiences. It clearly proves the point that
multilateral solutions within a rules-based international
system is the only way ahead and that it is the leading powers
that must set an example by working within the law and abiding
by it."
—Hans Corell, former Legal Adviser of the Swedish Ministry
for Foreign Affairs and former Legal Counsel of the United
Nations
"This riveting volume deserves a wide readership. It is a
wonderful collection of insights, shedding light into the
vital and influential role of State Department Legal Adviser,
a position that can make or break international perceptions of
the United States."
—Philippe Sands, QC, University College London,
best-selling author of Torture Team
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