War, Torture and Terrorism

This book explores the role of various kinds of rules in the international security order. Four central themes – practice, legitimacy, regulation, and responsibility – reflect different dimensions of a rule-governed political order. The volume does not provide a new set of rules for governing an increasingly chaotic international sys- tem. Instead, it provides reflections upon the way in which rules can and cannot deal with practices of violence. While many assume that “obeying the rules” will bring more peaceful outcomes, the chapters in this volume demonstrate that this may occur in some cases, but more often than not the very nature of a rule-governed order will create tensions and stresses that require a constant attention to underlying political dynamics.