In this Book

  • Meeting the Enemy: American Exceptionalism and International Law
  • Book
  • Natsu Taylor Saito
  • 2010
  • Published by: NYU Press
summary

Since its founding, the United States has defined itself as the supreme protector of freedom throughout the world, pointing to its Constitution as the model of law to ensure democracy at home and to protect human rights internationally. Although the United States has consistently emphasized the importance of the international legal system, it has simultaneously distanced itself from many established principles of international law and the institutions that implement them. In fact, the American government has attempted to unilaterally reshape certain doctrines of international law while disregarding others, such as provisions of the Geneva Conventions and the prohibition on torture.
America’s selective self-exemption, Natsu Taylor Saito argues, undermines not only specific legal institutions and norms, but leads to a decreased effectiveness of the global rule of law. Meeting the Enemy is a pointed look at why the United States’ frequent—if selective—disregard of international law and institutions is met with such high levels of approval, or at least complacency, by the American public.

Table of Contents

restricted access Download Full Book
  1. Front Matter
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Contents
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. ix-x
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Introduction: “A Distinctly American Internationalism”
  2. pp. 1-8
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 1. Saving Civilization: The War on Terror
  2. pp. 9-34
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 2. Civilizing the Other: Colonial Origins of International Law
  2. pp. 35-53
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 3. “A City on a Hill”: America as Exception
  2. pp. 54-75
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 4. Establishing the Republic: First Principles and American Identity
  2. pp. 76-105
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 5. A Manifest Destiny: Colonizing the Continent
  2. pp. 106-132
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 6. American Imperial Expansion
  2. pp. 133-160
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 7. Making the World Safe for Democracy
  2. pp. 161-194
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 8. The New World Order and American Hegemony
  2. pp. 195-228
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 9. Confronting American Exceptionalism
  2. pp. 229-252
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Notes
  2. pp. 253-312
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Works Cited
  2. pp. 313-356
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. List of Cases
  2. pp. 357-358
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Index
  2. pp. 359-373
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. About the Author
  2. p. 374
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
Back To Top

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Without cookies your experience may not be seamless.