Ebook: Preemption: a knife that cuts both ways

When and how should democratic societies respond to potentially dangerous conduct before the conduct takes place? The latest book from this prolific defense lawyer and legal scholar examines preemptive war, preventative detention, and restrictions on dangerous speech, and claims that in the absence of general legal principles (or even a healthy debate) about preemptive action, society's current trend away from deterrence and toward prevention (as accelerated by the war on terrorism) threatens longstanding notions of individual liberty and state sovereignty. Attempting to articulate the rudiments of a jurisprudence of prevention and preemption, [the author] considers the risk calculus applied by Israel in its various preventative wars and digs into his own previous research into the problematic mathematics of prediction. Although the subject matter dovetails nicely with [his] recent work on torture and terrorism, this account conspicuously avoids those works' polemics and admits that constructing a jurisprudence for a democracy is a daunting task not well served by narrow political stances. Yet perennially provocative [he] sneaks in a punch or two, speculating aloud about the possibility of preemptive action against Iran's nuclear program and arguing that preemptive war in Iraq may have hindered preemptive action against that nation.-http://www.booksinprint.com.;A brief history of preemption, prevention, and prediction in the context of individual crime -- Preemptive military action : from surgical strike to all-out war -- Preemption and nonpreemption in the Arab-Israeli conflict : its relevance to U.S. policy -- Preventive measures against terrorism -- Bush Doctrine on preemption, the U.S. attack against Iraq -- Would preemptive action against the Iranian nuclear program be justified? -- Toward a jurisprudence of prevention and preemption.