Striking First: Preemption and Prevention in International Conflict »

Michael W. Doyle is the Harold Brown Professor of International Affairs, Law, and Political Science at Columbia University and served as assistant secretary-general and special adviser to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. His books include "Making War and Building Peace"(Princeton) and "Ways of War and Peace".

"A big subject is starkly caught in Michael Doyle's bright headlights. The remedies he proposes are among the most sensible on offer. Cleverly, the author engages in dialogue with other leading thinkers, putting his ideas to a coherent test. This book journeys into the heart of unilateralism and emerges with a plausible theory."--Thomas M. Franck, New York University School of Law

"The arguments about whether or when to strike first are passionate, dangerous, and critically necessary. Michael Doyle brings to these arguments a calm voice, vast knowledge, practical experience, and political wisdom. His book is indispensable."--Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study

"Michael Doyle is one of the most lucid analysts of international relations writing today. In Striking First he provides the best account that has yet been developed of the conditions under which preemptive action against threats to American national security can be justified, and of the form such action must take if it is to garner legitimacy at home and abroad. As the commentaries from other major figures included with the text indicate, not everyone will agree with Doyle's view. But they also make it clear that Doyle's is the case to answer. At a time when preemptive action is easily dismissed because of its abuse by the Bush administration in Iraq, this is a major achievement."--Ian Shapiro, author of Containment

"Anyone who wants to understand the issues involved in the authorization of preventive war should read Striking First. Michael Doyle argues convincingly that although authorization by the United Nations Security Council is highly desirable, standards are also needed for determining when to act without its approval. The debate between Professor Doyle and Dean Harold H. Koh strikingly illuminates the differences between an essentially political and a legalist approach to this question."--Robert O. Keohane, Princeton University

"This is a serious attempt to grapple with a very important problem. Doyle has thought deeply about one of the most central problems in foreign policy today."--Marc Trachtenberg, author of The Craft of International History

"Superb and important. The writing is clear and forceful, the tone evenhanded and judicious, the scholarship excellent. The topic could not be more important in the wake of the Iraq invasion and the possibility of a preventive self-defense attack on Iran."--David Luban, author of Legal Ethics and Human Dignity

Lawrence D. Freedman - Foreign Affairs

The arguments presented are lucid, earnest, and thoughtful. Accepting that preemption might be necessary, Doyle builds on the traditional criteria to stress the importance of the lethality and likelihood of the threat and the legitimacy and legality of the response.

Acknowledgments   Michael W. Doyle     vii
Introduction   Stephen Macedo     xi
Striking First   Michael W. Doyle
International Law and Current Standards     7
Standards     43
Comment   Harold Hongju Koh     99
Comment   Richard Tuck     119
Comment   Jeff McMahan     129
Response to Commentators   Michael W. Doyle     149
Contributors     161
Index     165