Aggression and Crimes Against Peace

Larry May is professor of philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis and Research Professor of Social Justice, Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, Charles Sturt and Australian National Universityies. He is the author of numerous books, including The Morality of War; Crimes Against Humanity, which won an honorable mention from the American Society of International Law and best book award from the North American Society for Social Philosophy; and War Crimes and Just War, which won the Frank Chapman Sharp prize for the best book on the philosophy of war from the American Philosophical Association.

• Part I. Pacifism and Just Wars: 1. Introduction: between the horrors and the necessity of war; 2. Grotius and contingent pacifism; 3. International solidarity and the duty to aid; Part II. Rethinking the Normative Ad Bellum Principles: 4. The principle of priority of first strike; 5. The principle of just cause; 6. The principle of proportionality; Part III. The Precedent of Nuremberg: 7. Custom and the Nuremberg precedent; 8. Prosecuting military and political leaders; 9. Prosecuting civilians for complicity; Part IV. Conceptualizing the Crime of Aggression: 10. Defining state aggression; 11. Act and circumstances in the crime of aggression; 12. Individual mens rea and collective liability; Part V. Hard Cases and Concluding Thoughts: 13. Humanitarian interventions; 14. Terrorist aggression; 15. Defending international criminal trials for aggression.

"Philosopher Larry May delivers a ground-breaking reassessment of what the Nuremberg Tribunal had identified as the 'supreme international crime.' Building upon his paradigm-shifting work on crimes against humanity and war crimes, May now reorients the debate regarding the scope and merits of criminalizing aggressive war. Especially noteworthy is his contention that aggression should be defined as a first wrong that violates human rights. May combines reason with creativity - and sophistication with accessibility - to offer a tour-de-force with interdisciplinary appeal to a wide audience."-Mark Drumbl, Washington & Lee University School of Law