Enemies of Mankind ― Vattel's Theory of Collective Security

Swiss international legal theorist Emer de Vattel (1715-1767) is widely understood as a proponent of the formalist argument that war between sovereign entities is a legal right for both sides regardless of the justice of the cause, a foundational idea of modern just war theory. In this work, Rech (U. of Helsinki, Finland) explores the ways in which Vattel also moved beyond this formulation in his concept of an "enemy of mankind." This idea referred to combatants that abused the right to war or carried out unrestricted warfare, in which case he thought they should be repressed as common enemies by an international coalition for the sake of collective security and to preserve the laws of war. Rech explore this concept as articulated in Vattel's Droit des gens (1758) and as it developed in early modern international legal thought and considers its implications for the history of international law. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Walter Rech, PhD (2012), University of Melbourne, is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki. He has published articles in the history of philosophy and international law, including ‘Rightless Enemies: Schmitt and Lauterpacht on Political Piracy’ (2012 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 32/2, 235-63).