John Strawson – författare

This multi-disciplinary collection interrogates the role of human rights in addressing past injustices. The volume draws on legal scholars, political scientists, anthropologists and political philosophers grappling with the weight of the memory of historical injustices arising from conflicts in Europe, the Middle East and Australasia. It examines the role of human rights as legal doctrine, rhetoric and policy as developed by states, international organizations, regional groups and non-governmental bodies. The authors question whether faith in human rights is justified as balm to heal past injustice or whether such faith nourishes both victimhood and self-justification. These issues are explored through three discrete sections: moments of memory and injustice, addressing injustice; and questions of faith. In each of these sections, authors address the manner in which memory of past conflicts and injustice haunt our contemporary understanding of human rights. The volume questions whether the expectation that human rights law can deal with past injustice has undermined the development of an emancipatory politics of human rights for our current world.

Law lies at the roots of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Jews sought a national home by 'Public Law' while Palestinians reject the project as illegal. Britain, the League of Nations and the United Nations all mobilised international law to justify their interventions. After the 1967 war, Israel organised an occupation with excessive legalism that most of the world viewed, in fact, as illegal. Partitioning Palestine focuses on three key moments in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: the League of Nations Mandate, the United Nations partition plan and the Oslo agreements. None of these documents are neutral but, rather, encode a variety of meanings. The book traces the way in which these legal narratives have both shaped national identity and sharpened the conflict. In this pioneering text, John Strawson argues that a committed attachment to the belief in legal justice has hampered the search for a settlement. Law, far from offering conflict resolution, has reinforced the trenches from which Palestinians and Israelis confront one another.

Following the events of September 11, a new legal order is emerging in which the 'terrorist threat' has been used as justification to marginalise human rights. This collection of themed essays offers an emphatic defence to the threats confronting our human rights culture. In analysing the role of the United Nations, the conduct of the Afghan war, domestic anti-terrorist legislation and the new debate about Islamic law, Law after Ground Zero demonstrates the future challenges that law will face within our global society. It also offers accounts of how events have impacted on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Iraq and Afghanistan itself, as well as debates about international law, human rights and women's rights. This unique work will interest those studying or researching in the areas of international law, human rights and humanitarian law, international relations, politics, critical legal studies, Islamic law, culture and socio-legal studies.

This multi-disciplinary collection interrogates the role of human rights in addressing past injustices. The volume draws on legal scholars, political scientists, anthropologists and political philosophers grappling with the weight of the memory of historical injustices arising from conflicts in Europe, the Middle East and Australasia. It examines the role of human rights as legal doctrine, rhetoric and policy as developed by states, international organizations, regional groups and non-governmental bodies. The authors question whether faith in human rights is justified as balm to heal past injustice or whether such faith nourishes both victimhood and self-justification. These issues are explored through three discrete sections: moments of memory and injustice, addressing injustice; and questions of faith. In each of these sections, authors address the manner in which memory of past conflicts and injustice haunt our contemporary understanding of human rights. The volume questions whether the expectation that human rights law can deal with past injustice has undermined the development of an emancipatory politics of human rights for our current world.

The moment Britain fought back.It was in North Africa that the tide turned; that Britain began its long fightback against Nazi dominance.The distinguished military historian Major General John Strawson's vivid, unputdownable book describes how the balance of power in North Africa see-sawed between the Italians, the British and the Germans through the years 1940 to 1943, and how ultimate victory was won by the Allies.In following the nail-biting course of battles during this three-year desert campaign, Strawson brings together the strategic considerations, the changing tactics and the searing impressions of those who did the actual fighting.His exciting narrative is brought to life with numerous eye-witness accounts, from German officers to Gurkhas and British tank crews and Americans.Essential and unforgettable reading for anyone interested in either the Second World War or its epic battle in the desert, this is perfect for fans of Ben Macintyre's SAS: Rogue Heroes.

Was Hitler 'the greatest strategic genius of all time' as Nazi propaganda had it, or just an amateur?Why was the startling success of his campaigns in Poland and France followed by the blundering mistakes in Russia, North Africa and France? Might Germany even have won the war without Hitler's continual and disastrous interference?In this extraordinary history, John Strawson answers these and other questions by showing how Hitler's insatiable preoccupation with war and conquest was translated into reality. While the power of a revitalized German army came from Hitler, Strawson examines the Fuhrer's eccentric use of the most formidable war machine the world had ever seen.This lucid story of fire and incompetence is brought alive by the accounts of those who served Hitler both on his staff and as field commanders. Perfect for readers of Ian Kershaw and Anthony Beevor.

"Who Dares Wins". The world's most legendary special forces unit - and a history of action you will barely believe.This is the extraordinary, secretive story of how the SAS evolved from an unconventional handful of soldiers, operating behind enemy lines in North Africa in 1941, into the world's most disciplined and respected professionals, up to their daring and dangerous exploits in the Iranian Embassy siege and the Falkland Islands.We see them during the latter years of the Second World War, in the numerous post-war security campaigns in the Middle and Far East, and in the difficult circumstances of urban terrorism. Above all, we see how the regiment's founder David Stirling's emphasis on The Man has not changed at all.Here indeed are men who dare to excel - and in General Strawson they have a worthy chronicler of their remarkable activities both in wartime and in the "savage wars of peace". In the first history of the SAS ever published, we see their unique courage on full display - a courage that changed the British Army, and the world.

One of the Second World War's most brutal and dramatic campaigns brought to life in this vivid and epic historyIt could have all been over much quicker. In this gripping account, bestseller John Strawson analyses how the slow, bloody and fiercely fought Italian campaign delayed the end of the Second World War after the tide had turned against Hitler and the Germans. Here was a point of dogged resistance; and also indomitable advance and eventual victory from a huge Allied push up the peninsula.What was the justification for opening up a major new front against Hitler? What were the effects of doing so, the consequences of the important tactical decisions made by politicians and generals, the hostility between Patton and Montgomery, and the larger disagreement between the US and Britain? In answering them Strawson gets to the heart not only of this too-often overlooked struggle, but the entire War.Military history at its finest, full of unforgettable detail and grand strategy, this is perfect for readers of Max Hastings or James Holland.