On July 17, 2018, starting an unjust war became a prosecutable international crime alongside genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Instead of collective state responsibility, our leaders are now personally subject to indictment for crimes of aggression, from invasions and preemptions to drone strikes and cyberattacks. The Crime of Aggression is Noah Weisbord鈥檚 riveting insider鈥檚 account of the high-stakes legal fight to enact this historic legislation and hold politicians accountable for the wars they start.
Weisbord, a key drafter of the law for the International Criminal Court, takes readers behind the scenes of one of the most consequential legal dramas in modern international diplomacy. Drawing on in-depth interviews and his own invaluable insights, he sheds critical light on the motivations of the prosecutors, diplomats, and military strategists who championed the fledgling prohibition on unjust war鈥攁nd those who tried to sink it. He untangles the complex history behind the measure, tracing how the crime of aggression was born at the Nuremberg trials only to fall dormant during the Cold War, and he draws lessons from such pivotal events as the collapse of the League of Nations, the rise of the United Nations, September 11, and the war on terror.
The power to try leaders for unjust war holds untold promise for the international order, but also great risk. In this incisive and vitally important book, Weisbord explains how judges in such cases can balance the imperatives of justice and peace, and how the fair prosecution of aggression can humanize modern statecraft.
"Noah Weisbord has written as masterful an account of the century of legal toil dedicated to corralling the human urge to wage war as has yet found two covers . . . . Weisbord鈥檚 work is that rarest of writings on legal matters: a kind of Decameron, a thoughtfully interconnected set of what might well be abstruse concepts, but told as a series of parables, aper莽us, and case studies."鈥擝rendan Howley, Literary Review of Canada
"[This] insightful book . . . offers a valuable and provocative thesis . . . . The time is ripe to align with thinkers such as Weisbord, who advance a bold step forward for the restoration of relative peace rather than descend in a hopeless spiral of endless, grievous aggression against fellow human beings."鈥擲helley Walia, Frontline
"A remarkable insider鈥檚 account of the historical efforts to criminalize wars of aggression."鈥擯ayam Akhavan, Global Justice Journal
"Weisbord鈥檚 prophetic voice . . . should be heard and attended to by any human rights organization aiming at genuine pertinency in the 2020s and beyond."鈥擝rian Philips, Journal of Human Rights Practice
"Richly textured, eminently readable. . . . Masterful. . . . Riveting. . . . Overall, the book鈥檚 engaging style and readability make it an ideal companion to a broad variety of courses in international law and international relations. It should also, in my view, be on the recommended reading list for governmental and intergovernmental lawyers, including military lawyers, who must address legal issues related to the use of force and international criminal law. The book provides an especially useful starting point for those lawyers as they begin to wrestle with the complex applications of the crime of aggression in actual practice."鈥擫aura Dickinson, The American Journal of International Law
鈥淲eisbord provides a remarkably accessible account of the effort to impose individual criminal liability for the waging of wars of aggression. This rich, multilayered book is a welcome addition to the scholarship on the crime of aggression and the history of international law more broadly.鈥濃�擯ayam Akhavan, author of In Search of a Better World: A Human Rights Odyssey
鈥淎 highly informative, beautifully written, compelling account of what the activation of the International Criminal Court鈥檚 jurisdiction over the crime of aggression means in a world of evolving technologies and new paradigms of war making. Weisbord鈥檚 vivid contextualization of critical issues based on detailed real-life case studies is both riveting and insightful.鈥濃�擠onald M. Ferencz, Middlesex University School of Law and University of Oxford
"With the rules-based global order under siege, The Crime of Aggression is a timely and valuable reminder of the powerful potential of international law. Weisbord's realistic but optimistic grasp of world politics offers a better way to deal with the worst of the worst, even as he argues for us all to fashion strong institutions for a more just world."鈥擥uy Lawson, New York Times bestselling author of War Dogs
鈥淗ow much suffering must we endure before learning that law is better than war? Giving an insider鈥檚 account of the long struggle to make aggression a crime, Noah Weisbord traces politicized negotiations across decades even as nations acquired nuclear bombs and pushed aggression into cyberspace, biological weapons, and drones. Today, groups smaller than states can wreak devastating violence around the world, but Weisbord holds out hope that law can reframe politics and aggression.鈥濃�擬artha Minow, Harvard Law School
鈥淎 book of singular importance, intelligence, and insight, on a subject of enduring significance.鈥濃�擯hilippe Sands, author of East West Street: On the Origins of 鈥淕enocide鈥� and 鈥淐rimes against Humanity鈥�
"Noah Weisbord brings us an essential eyewitness account of the drama surrounding the crafting of the law against crimes of aggression. Drawing on his own experiences as a participant in those historic proceedings, he describes how advocates of the rule of law struggled to universalize the Nuremberg principle of holding political leaders鈥攏ot nations and citizens鈥攁ccountable for unjust wars."鈥擧arold Crooks, award-winning screenwriter of Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space
"A delight to read. This remarkable book provides a breathtaking account of the fight for the rule of law in international affairs. Noah Weisbord is an idealistic realist, a sharp legal mind with an acute sense of history."鈥擯eter Leuprecht, author of Reason, Justice, and Dignity: A Journey to Some Unexplored Sources of Human Rights
鈥淭his engrossing book puts a human face on the crime of aggression.鈥濃�擠avid Scheffer, author of All the Missing Souls: A Personal History of the War Crimes Tribunals
