Overview

Aerial bombardment remains important to military strategy, but the norms governing bombing and the harm it imposes on civilians have evolved. The past century has seen everything from deliberate attacks against rebellious villagers by Italian and British colonial forces in the Middle East to scrupulous efforts to avoid ""collateral damage"" in the counterinsurgency and antiterrorist wars of today. The American Way of Bombing brings together prominent military historians, practitioners, civilian and military legal experts, political scientists, philosophers, and anthropologists to explore the evolution of ethical and legal norms governing air warfare. Focusing primarily on the United States-as the world's preeminent military power and the one most frequently engaged in air warfare, its practice has influenced normative change in this domain, and will continue to do so-the authors address such topics as firebombing of cities during World War II; the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the deployment of airpower in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya; and the use of unmanned drones for surveillance and attacks on suspected terrorists in Pakistan, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, and elsewhere. Contributors: Tami Davis Biddle, U.S. Army War College; Sahr Conway-Lanz, Yale University Library; Neta C. Crawford, Boston University; Janina Dill, University of Oxford; Charles J. Dunlap Jr., Duke University; Matthew Evangelista, Cornell University; Charles Garraway, University of Essex; Hugh Gusterson, George Mason University; Richard W. Miller, Cornell University; Mary Ellen O'Connell, University of Notre Dame; Margarita H. Petrova, Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals; Klem Ryan, United Nations, South Sudan; Henry Shue, University of Oxford

Full Product Details

Author:   Matthew Evangelista ,  Henry Shue
Publisher:   Cornell University Press
Imprint:   Cornell University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 1.90cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9780801479342

ISBN 10:   0801479347
Pages:   328
Publication Date:   21 August 2014
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
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Table of Contents

"Introduction: The American Way of Bombing by Matthew Evangelista Part I. Historical and Theoretical Perspectives 1. Strategic Bombardment: Expectation, Theory, and Practice in the Early Twentieth Century by Tami Davis Biddle 2. Bombing Civilians after World War II: The Persistence of Norms against Targeting Civilians in the Korean War by Sahr Conway-Lanz 3. Targeting Civilians and U.S. Strategic Bombing Norms: Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose? by Neta C. Crawford 4. The Law Applies, But Which Law?: A Consumer Guide to the Laws of War by Charles Garraway Part II. Interpreting, Criticizing, and Creating Legal Restrictions 5. Clever or Clueless?: Observations about Bombing Norm Debates by Charles J. Dunlap Jr. 6. The American Way of Bombing and International Law: Two Logics of Warfare in Tension by Janina Dill 7. Force Protection, Military Advantage, and ""Constant Care"" for Civilians: The 1991 Bombing of Iraq by Henry Shue 8. Civilian Deaths and American Power: Three Lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan by Richard W. Miller Part III. Constructing New Norms 9. Proportionality and Restraint on the Use of Force: The Role of Nongovernmental Organizations by Margarita H. Petrova 10. Toward an Anthropology of Drones: Remaking Space, Time, and Valor in Combat by Hugh Gusterson 11. What's Wrong with Drones?: The Battlefield in International Humanitarian Law by Klem Ryan 12. Banning Autonomous Killing: The Legal and Ethical Requirement That Humans Make Near-Time Lethal Decisions by Mary Ellen O'Connell Notes List of Contributors Index"

Reviews

"""The American Way of Bombing: Changing Ethical and Legal Norms, From Flying Fortresses to Drones, edited by Matthew Evangelista and Henry Shue, brings together an array of historians, practitioners, and legal experts from both the military and civilian worlds. Overall, the volume is balanced and the authors engage with logic and consistency. This collection is a vital resource for military professionals, policymakers, and scholars alike. Unfortunately, the challenges of norm-setting in aerial warfare chronicled here are far from over and likely to become even more contentious in light of ongoing military and counterterrorist operations across the globe and in the face of rapid technological change.""-Mark J. Conversino, H-Diplo (August 2015) ""The book is well written. The author provides abundant research notes, cites appropriate legal frameworks, and indicates where the United States stands with respect to each of them... I highly recommend this book for military officers. It provides discussion of the appropriate legal and moral issues, and it makes the reader consider the second- and third-order effects created by some of our unique weapon systems and how those effects will likely impact our ability to employ such weapons in the future.""-Lt. Col. George Hodge (U.S. Army, retired), Military Review (July-August 2015) ""One of the virtues ofThe American Way of Bombingis to remind us of thenon-linear way in which airpower has evolved, and of the frequent disconnectbetween stated intentions and actual practice.""-Bruno Tertrais, Survival (Feb-Mar 2016) ""The American Way of Bombing offers an insightful account of the manner in which prevailing attitudes toward, and willingness to inflict civilian casualties during, aerial bombing campaigns have evolved over the past century, from dissemblance and intentional disregard, toward an ever more scrupulous constraint of practice in accord with the prescriptive norms of international law. Both defenders and critics of America's past and present use of aerial power in war-fighting will be richly informed by these magnificent essays.""-George R. Lucas Jr., Distinguished Chair of Ethics, U.S. Naval Academy (retired) and Professor of Ethics & Public Policy, Naval Postgraduate School ""This ambitious volume explores the evolution of tactics, tools, and, most important, attitudes toward aerial bombardment and its effects over the last century from the perspective of the country that has done most to shape these developments-the United States. The result is an impressive multidisciplinary collection that makes a genuinely useful contribution to debates about understanding, creating, and changing norms in warfare.""-David Whetham, King's College London, editor of Ethics, Law, and Military Operations ""The American Way of Bombing is a compelling book that brings together an extraordinary group of scholars to explore the past, present and future of American airpower. It offers a remarkable variety of insightful perspectives on the ongoing evolution of the ethics and legality of American air warfare. It should be read by scholars and policymakers alike.""-Benjamin Valentino, Dartmouth College, author of Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the 20th Century"

The American Way of Bombing offers an insightful account of the manner in which prevailing attitudes toward, and willingness to inflict civilian casualties during, aerial bombing campaigns have evolved over the past century, from dissemblance and intentional disregard, toward an ever more scrupulous constraint of practice in accord with the prescriptive norms of international law. Both defenders and critics of America's past and present use of aerial power in war-fighting will be richly informed by these magnificent essays. -George R. Lucas Jr., Distinguished Chair of Ethics, U.S. Naval Academy (retired) and Professor of Ethics & Public Policy, Naval Postgraduate School This ambitious volume explores the evolution of tactics, tools, and, most important, attitudes toward aerial bombardment and its effects over the last century from the perspective of the country that has done most to shape these developments-the United States. The result is an impressive multidisciplinary collection that makes a genuinely useful contribution to debates about understanding, creating, and changing norms in warfare. -David Whetham, King's College London, editor of Ethics, Law, and Military Operations The American Way of Bombing is a compelling book that brings together an extraordinary group of scholars to explore the past, present and future of American airpower. It offers a remarkable variety of insightful perspectives on the ongoing evolution of the ethics and legality of American air warfare. It should be read by scholars and policymakers alike. -Benjamin Valentino, Dartmouth College, author of Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the 20th Century

Author Information

Matthew Evangelista is President White Professor of History and Political Science at Cornell University. He is the author of several books, including Unarmed Forces, also from Cornell, and Gender, Nationalism, and War. Henry Shue is Senior Research Fellow, Centre for International Studies, Department of Politics and International Relations and Emeritus Research Fellow, Merton College, at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Climate Justice: Vulnerability and Protection and Basic Rights: Subsistence, Affluence, and U.S. Foreign Policy.

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