Overview

In many ways, the United States' post-9/11 engagement with legal rules is puzzling. Officials in both the Bush and Obama administrations authorized numerous contentious counterterrorism policies that sparked global outrage, yet they have repeatedly insisted that their actions were lawful and legitimate. In Plausible Legality, Rebecca Sanders examines how the US government interpreted, reinterpreted, and manipulated legal norms and what these justificatory practices imply about the capacity of law to constrain state violence. Through case studies on the use of torture, detention, targeted killing, and surveillance, Sanders provides a detailed analysis of how policymakers use law to achieve their political objectives and situates these patterns within a broader theoretical understanding of how law operates in contemporary politics. She argues that legal culture--defined as collectively shared understandings of legal legitimacy and appropriate forms of legal practice in particular contexts--plays a significant role in shaping state practice. In the global war on terror, a national security culture of legal rationalization encouraged authorities to seek legal cover-to construct the plausible legality of human rights violations-in order to ensure impunity for wrongdoing.Looking forward, law remains vulnerable to evasion and revision. As Sanders shows, despite the efforts of human rights advocates to encourage deeper compliance, the normalization of post-9/11 policy has created space for future administrations to further erode legal norms.

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9780190870553

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Reviews

In Plausible Legality, Rebecca Sanders offers a meticulous analysis of how governments have sought to legitimize infringements of international human rights and humanitarian law since 9/11. She makes a compelling argument that legal cultures are central to these effots, and have stubborn and lasting effects. Sanders' work is essential reading for scholars working in international relations and international human rights law, since it raises important and pressing questions on the on-going struggle to defend human rights and shield them from the excesses of state power. * Ruth Blakeley, Professor of Politics and International Relations, University of Sheffield * This is a powerful and provocative book on international law and politics. Sanders shows the power of international law as it is put to use in practice by American government officials to justify killing and torture. She sees legal justification as evidence of a pervasive legal culture that values international commitments. Sanders' great contribution is to show that law's permissive constraint can enable state violence just as easily as it can limit it. This book charts a path through global politics and law that should be followed by a great many scholars and students. * Ian Hurd, Associate Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University * Sanders has written a fresh and illuminating analysis of U.S. policies in the 'war on terror' that have at times been at odds with international human rights or humanitarian law. She argues that those policies have been shaped by both perceived security imperatives and limits established by national and international law. Sanders assesses three major policy areas-torture, due process, and domestic surveillance-and brings them within a unified analytical framework. Anyone interested in U.S. policy in the post-9/11 era, or in the nexus of law and policy, should pay attention. * Wayne Sandholtz, John A. McCone Chair in International Relations, University of Southern California *

Plausible Legality is well written, accessible and engaging. It is also wide-ranging in terms of the academic and theoretical literature it draws on to inform its argument... Sanders's argument in Plausible legality is novel and thought-provoking. It should stimulate conversations in classrooms and in the fields of human rights, international relations and American politics about the role of law and lawyers in the construction-and perhaps, one day, dismantling-of the imperial presidency -- Amanda Hollis-Brusky, Pomona College, USA, International Affairs Sanders has written a fresh and illuminating analysis of U.S. policies in the 'war on terror' that have at times been at odds with international human rights or humanitarian law. She argues that those policies have been shaped by both perceived security imperatives and limits established by national and international law. Sanders assesses three major policy areas-torture, due process, and domestic surveillance-and brings them within a unified analytical framework. Anyone interested in U.S. policy in the post-9/11 era, or in the nexus of law and policy, should pay attention. --Wayne Sandholtz, John A. McCone Chair in International Relations, University of Southern California This is a powerful and provocative book on international law and politics. Sanders shows the power of international law as it is put to use in practice by American government officials to justify killing and torture. She sees legal justification as evidence of a pervasive legal culture that values international commitments. Sanders' great contribution is to show that law's permissive constraint can enable state violence just as easily as it can limit it. This book charts a path through global politics and law that should be followed by a great many scholars and students. --Ian Hurd, Associate Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University In Plausible Legality, Rebecca Sanders offers a meticulous analysis of how governments have sought to legitimize infringements of international human rights and humanitarian law since 9/11. She makes a compelling argument that legal cultures are central to these efforts, and have stubborn and lasting effects. Sanders' work is essential reading for scholars working in international relations and international human rights law, since it raises important and pressing questions on the on-going struggle to defend human rights and shield them from the excesses of state power. --Ruth Blakeley, Professor of Politics and International Relations, University of Sheffield

Sanders has written a fresh and illuminating analysis of U.S. policies in the 'war on terror' that have at times been at odds with international human rights or humanitarian law. She argues that those policies have been shaped by both perceived security imperatives and limits established by national and international law. Sanders assesses three major policy areas-torture, due process, and domestic surveillance-and brings them within a unified analytical framework. Anyone interested in U.S. policy in the post-9/11 era, or in the nexus of law and policy, should pay attention. --Wayne Sandholtz, John A. McCone Chair in International Relations, University of Southern California This is a powerful and provocative book on international law and politics. Sanders shows the power of international law as it is put to use in practice by American government officials to justify killing and torture. She sees legal justification as evidence of a pervasive legal culture that values international commitments. Sanders' great contribution is to show that law's permissive constraint can enable state violence just as easily as it can limit it. This book charts a path through global politics and law that should be followed by a great many scholars and students. --Ian Hurd, Associate Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University In Plausible Legality, Rebecca Sanders offers a meticulous analysis of how governments have sought to legitimize infringements of international human rights and humanitarian law since 9/11. She makes a compelling argument that legal cultures are central to these efforts, and have stubborn and lasting effects. Sanders' work is essential reading for scholars working in international relations and international human rights law, since it raises important and pressing questions on the on-going struggle to defend human rights and shield them from the excesses of state power. --Ruth Blakeley, Professor of Politics and International Relations, University of Sheffield

Author Information

Rebecca Sanders is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Cincinnati, where she teaches and researches at the intersection of international law, international security, and international human rights.

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