Law's Impunity: Responsibility and the Modern Private Military Company (Studies in International Law)

When faced with those who act with impunity, we seek the protection of law. We rely upon the legal system for justice, from international human rights law that establishes common standards of protection to international criminal law that spearheads efforts to end impunity for the most heinous atrocities. While legal processes are perceived to combat impunity, despite the ready availability of the law, accountability often remains elusive. What if the law itself enables impunity? Law's Impunity asks this question in the context of the modern Private Military Company (PMC), examining the relationship between law and the concepts of responsibility and impunity. The book proposes that ordinary legal processes do not neutralize but rather legalize impunity. This radical idea is applied to the abysmal record of human rights violations perpetrated by the modern PMC and the shocking absence of accountability. The book demonstrates how the law organizes, rather than overcomes, impunity by detailing how the modern PMC exploits ordinary legal processes to systematically exclude itself from legal responsibility. Thus, it offers an alternative to conventional thinking about the law, providing an innovative approach to assess and refine the rigor of legal processes in the ongoing quest to end impunity. It will be of interest to scholars of public international law, as well as criminologists. (Series: Studies in International Law) [Subject: Public International Law, Humanitarian Law, Criminology, Policing, Military Studies]