The United Nations and the Law of War: Power and Sensibility in International Law

This article serves as an introduction to the articles that follow, which examine questions of power and sensibility in four discrete ways. They look variously at the moral limits of international law, the extent to which power has been delegated to or asserted by the U.N. Security Council, the successes and failures of efforts at international criminal prosecution, and the challenge of applying the traditional laws of war in the context of a “Global War on Terror.” This introduction outlines the various contributions that follow and sketches out some potential implications.