On The Law Of Nations by Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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Synopsis

Foreign Policy. "In the annals of forgetfulness there is nothing quite to compare with the fading from the American mind of the idea of the law of nations."

Grenada. "We might have benefited from a weekend's pause in which we could have considered our interests rather than merely giving in to our impulses."

The mining of Nicaraguan harbors. "A practice of deception mutated into a policy of deceit."

Iran-Contra. "The idea of international law had faded. But just as important, in the 1980s it had come to be associated with weaknesses in foreign policy. Real men did not cite Grotius."

As the era of totalitarianism recedes, the time is at hand to ask by what rules we expect to conduct ourselves, Senator Moynihan writes in this pellucid, and often ironic, examination of international law. Our founding fathers had a firm grasp on the importance and centrality of such law; later presidents affirmed it and tried to establish international institutions based on such high principles; but we lost our way in the fog of the cold war.

Moynihan's exploration of American attitudes toward international law--those of presidents, senators, congressmen, public officials, and the public at large--reveals the abiding reverence for a law of nations and the attempts for almost two hundred years to make international law the centerpiece of foreign and strategic policy. Only in the last decade did a shift in values at the highest levels of government change the goals and conduct of the United States.

Displaying a firm grasp of history, informed by senatorial insights and investigative data, elegantly written, this book is a triumph of scholarship, interpretation, andinsight.

Annotation

Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan expounds on the demise of international law and the consequences of this loss. Displaying a firm grasp of history, informed by senatorial insights and investigative data, elegantly written, this book is a triumph of scholarship, interpretation, and insight.

Library Journal

Adherence to international law as a tenet of official American policy has declined, says Senator Moynihan (D-N.Y.); this affects foreign policy and undermines our leadership in the family of nations. In the seven essays in this volume, Moynihan traces U.S. attitudes toward international law from the American Revolution to the current administration, and he makes a powerful argument for a return to the conventions of international behavior set out by Woodrow Wilson and the United Nations. Moynihan is at his best in ``Normless Normalcy,'' delivering the one-two punch of the informed scholar and the experienced statesperson as he writes about America's overseas ``adventures'' under Reagan when Moynihan co-chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee. Whether one agrees or disagrees with Moynihan's views, they are worth considering. For political science and law collections.--Nedda C. Allbray, Brooklyn, New York

Biography

Daniel Patrick Moynihan was the author of numerous books, including On the Law of Nations, and coeditor (with Nathan Glazer) of Ethnicity, both from Harvard.