* Staff Writer, Boston College Third World Law Journal (2002–2003).
1 See Samantha Power, “A Problem from Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide 503 (2002).
2 See id. at XI–XXI.
3 See generally id.
4 Id. at 504 (quoting David Reiff, Slaughterhouse: Bosnia and the Failure of the West 27 (1995)).
5 See id. at 333–34 (proffering an example of the ease and speed with which the Rwandan government launched its genocidal campaign); see also Philip Gourevitch, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Willed with Our Families 84–90 (1998).
6 Matthew Lippman, Genocide: The Crime of the Century. The Jurisprudence of Death at the Dawn of the Millennium, 23 Hous. J. Int’l L. 467, 523–24, 527, 529–31, 535 (2001); Felice D. Gaer, Genocide. Conceptual and Historical Dimensions, 89 Am. J. Int’l L. 855, 856 (1995) (noting that there is an “absence of any effective international mechanism . . . to prevent genocide”); see also Major Joseph A. Keeler, Genocide: Prevention through Nonmilitary Measures, 171 Mil. L. Rev. 135, 137 (2002) (stating that “neither [the Genocide Convention] nor the U.N. has been able to prevent genocide”). See generally Power, supra note 1. Power, through her successive illustrations of all the major genocides of this century, demonstrates that none of the bystander countries or international organizations who witnessed these atrocities faced consequences for failing to take measures to stamp out the escalating violence. Id. For further discussion of the Genocide Convention’s ineffectiveness, see discussion infra Part II.B.
7 Power, supra note 1, at 87–88. Upon arrival, the KR justified their demand that citizens evacuate the capital immediately by claiming that American B-52 bombers were about to “raze the city.” Id. at 88. Over the next few days, more than 2 million people were herded onto the road from Phnom Penh on foot. Id. The KR ensured that the exodus would take place on foot by slashing the tires of cars and bicycles. Id.
8 See id. at 87, 140, 147, 154. Vietnam launched its full-scale invasion of Cambodia on December 25, 1978. Id. at 140.
9 See id. Most Americans greeted the news that Vietnam had invaded Cambodia with distress, hearing only that an enemy of America had invaded another country. Id. at 146. Those who understood what had been transpiring in Cambodia had a different response. For example, Andrew Young, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters:
I almost always think it’s always wrong for a country to transgress the borders of another country, but in the case of Cambodia I’m not terribly upset . . . . It is a country that has killed so many of its own people, I don’t know if any American can have a clear opinion of it . . . . It’s such a terribly ambiguous moral situation.
Id. Interest-based calculations led President Carter to choose between the evils of a genocidal regime or an enemy whose regime was expanding. Id. The U.S. had an obvious interest in deterring Vietnamese and Soviet influence in the region, so President Carter sided with the dislodged KR regime. Id.
10 Id. at 170, 173. Saddam Hussein’s forces destroyed thousands of Iraqi Kurdish villages and close to 100,000 Iraqi Kurds, “nearly all of whom were unarmed and many of whom were women and children.” Id. at 172.
11 See id. at 173.
12 Power, supra note 1, at 249.
13 Id. at 251.
14 Id. at 333–34, 355. The Hutu power majority prepared lists of Tutsi names and addresses, which were broadcast over the national radio, Radio Milles Collines, with instructions that the names of those listed be killed. Id. at 333. Members of the Interhamwe, the Hutu power’s military, would routinely inspect piles of dead bodies to verify that they had killed everyone from the list. Id. President Clinton’s administration, fresh from a humanitarian catastrophe in Somalia, knew that there was much to be risked from intervening in Africa and little to be gained. Id. at 335. Thus, Washington demanded that UN peacekeepers be withdrawn from Rwanda. Id.
15 See Lippman, supra note 6, at 523–24, 527, 529–31, 535; Gaer, supra note 6, at 856; Keeler, supra note 6, at 137.
16 Power, supra note 1, at XVII–XVIII. Power assumes that this must be true because of the sheer number of articles and speeches addressed to Americans that failed to raise a critical mass of furor over the most atrocious of crimes. Id. at 304–05. Power also argues that our failure to prevent genocide has its roots in our leaders’ inability to take courageous moral stances that could have mobilized the necessary public support. Id. at 373.
17 See id. at 508.
18 See id.
19 Id. (quoting the Secretary of Defense, Department of Defense, Secret Discussion Paper: Rwanda 173, 359 (1994), who stated, “Be Careful. Legal at State was worried about this yesterday—Genocide finding could commit [the U.S. government] to actually ‘do something.’”).
20 See infra pages 20–26.
21 Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development 100 (1982); see also Hilary Charlesworth et al., Feminist Approaches to International Law, 85 Am. J. Int’l L. 613, 622 (1991). While Gilligan’s work focuses on developmental differences as an outgrowth of gender, this Book Review is not interested in dividing moral perspectives along gender lines, but in the development of Anglo-American law according to the ethic of justice and how such an ethic fails to address adequately the needs raised by genocide.
22 See Gilligan, supra note 21, at 62–63.
23 See id.
24 See discussion infra Part I.
25 Gilligan herself concedes that both modes, the ethic of justice and the ethic of care, converge when people reach maturity. Gilligan, supra note 21, at 174.
26 See discussion infra Part II.
27 See Gilligan, supra note 21, at 100; Charlesworth et al., supra note 21, at 622.
28 See discussion infra Part III.
29 See Gilligan, supra note 21, at 100; Charlesworth et al., supra note 21, at 622.
30 Gilligan, supra note 21, at 18; Lawrence Kohlberg, The Philosophy of Moral Development: Moral Stages and the Idea of Justice 409–12 (1981). Two other major leading psychologists had also formulated developmental theories: Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson. See generally Jean Piaget, Judgment and Reasoning in the Child (1928); Erik Erikson, Childhood and Society (1964). Erikson theorized that there are eight stages of development, beginning almost immediately, for healthy people, with autonomy. See Erikson, supra, at 42. Piaget’s work focused on the intellectual development of children. See generally Piaget, supra. Gilligan taught psychology at Harvard while working alongside Erik Erikson and Lawrence Kohlberg. See Gilligan, supra, note 21, at xiv.
31 Gilligan, supra note 21, at 18.
32 Id.
33 See id. at xxiii, 22. From one of her interviews, for example, Gilligan finds that her young subject, Amy, sees herself in a different world than the one constructed by Kohlberg. Id. at 30.
34 See id. at 62–63, 100.
35 Id. at 100.
36 See Gilligan, supra note 21.
37 See Kohlberg, supra note 30, at 115. For an in-depth discussion of the reasoning behind differences in gender development, see generally Nancy Chodorow, The Reproduction of Mothering (1978). In her work, Chodorow theorizes that, since women are generally the primary care givers, masculine identity forms without direct masculine role models. Id. Boys, in order to form their own masculine identity, must separate from their mothers and see their mother as a negative role model for what the boy should become. Id. Forming identity for boys, put another way, means becoming that which the mother is not. Id. Thus, maturity for men entails an achievement of separation, while for women, no separation is necessary. Id.; see also Gilligan, supra note 21, at 7–8.
38Kohlberg, supra note 30, at 409.
39 Id.
40 Id. at 410.
41 Id.
42 Id. at 410–11.
43 Kholberg, supra note 30, at 410–11.
44 Id. at 411–12.
45 Id. at 412; Gilligan, supra, note 21, at 32–33.
46 See Kohlberg, supra note 30, at 409; Gilligan, supra note 21, at 46.
47 See Gilligan, supra note 21, at 36–37.
48 Id. at 32–33.
49 See id. at 18.
50 See id. at 138. Some scholars have criticized Gilligan’s research for focusing on too select a group of women—those who had already made the decision to consider seriously having an abortion. See Joan Tronto, A Political Argument for an Ethic of Care 140 (1991); Jenny Simpson, Feminism at a Generational Crossroads, n.1 at http://www.sfu.ca/ ~psimpson/crossroads6.htm.
51 See Gilligan, supra note 21, at 138.
52 See id. at 74.
53 Id.
54 Id.
55 Id.
56 Gilligan, supra, note 21, at 74.
57 Id.
58 Id. at 74, 149. According to Gilligan, once women have incorporated themselves into their web of care, they learn to value their own well-being as much as the well-being of others. See id. By learning to value their own agency, women are better able to negotiate within a context that gives weight to their own needs. See id. This eliminates feelings of selfishness because women recognize that the standard of care they confer on others, avoiding harm, deserves to be extended to the self as well. See id.
59 Id. at 17, 35. While replicating Kohlberg’s study, Gilligan encountered young girls who refused to answer the question posed by Kohlberg’s moral dilemma in an anticipated manner. Id. at 31. Children were asked whether a man named Heinz should steal a drug he cannot afford to buy in order to save his wife’s life. Id. at 25. Instead of reading the question as an interrogation, many young girls heard the question as a dialogue. Id. at 31. Rather than wondering whether Heinz should act in the current situation, young girls pondered over the best way to act in his situation. Id. One girl suggested reasoning with the druggist so as to avoid fracturing human relationships. Id.
60 Id.
61 Gilligan, supra note 21, at 8, 17.
62 Id.
63 Id. at 17, 51.
64 See id. at 50–51; see Kohlberg, supra note 30, at 409–410.
65 Gilligan, supra note 21, at 160.
66 Id.
67 See id. at 17.
68 See Richard S. Markovits, On the Relevance of Economic Efficiency Conclusions, 29 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 1, 9 (2001); Esther Vicente, Feminist Legal Theories: My Own View from a Window in the Caribbean, 66 Rev. Jur. U.P.R. 211, 218–19 (1997); Robin West, Jurisprudence and Gender, U. Chi. L. Rev. 1, 2–4, 58–59 (1988).
69 See U.N. Charter art. 2, para. 4 (“All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”); Charlesworth et al., supra note 21, at 622; Richard A. Falk, The United States and the Doctrine of Nonintervention in the Internal Affairs of Independent States, 5 How. L.J. 163, 164 (1959); Judy A. Gallant, Humanitarian Intervention and Security Council Resolution 688: A Reprisal in Light of Changing World Order, 7 Am. U. J. Int’l L. & Pol’y 881, 883 (1992); Solomon Gomes, The OAU, State Sovereignty, and Regional Security, in Africa in the New International Order: Rethinking State Sovereignty and Regional Security 40 (Edmond J. Keller & Donald Rothchild eds., 1996); Dino Kritsiotis, Reappraising Policy Objections to Humanitarian Intervention, 19 Mich. J. Int’l L. 1005, 1008–10 (1998).
70 See U.N. Charter art. 2, para. 4; Kritsiotis, supra note 69, at 1008–10; Gallant, supra note 69, at 883; Gomes, supra note 69, at 40; Falk, supra note 69, at 163, 164; Charlesworth et al., supra note 21, at 622.
71 See Gilligan, supra note 21, at 100; Charlesworth et al., supra note 21, at 622.
72 Carrie Menkel-Meadow, What’s Gender Got to Do with It?: The Politics and Morality of an Ethic of Care 22 N.Y.U. Rev. L. & Soc. Change 265, 290 (1996); see also West, supra note 6859, at 8–9, 68; Charlesworth et al., supra note 21, at 622.
73 See Menkel-Meadow, supra note 72, at 290; West, supra note 68, at 8–9, 68; Charlesworth et al., supra, note 21, at 622
74 See Markovits, supra, note 68, at 417–18.
75 See id.; U.N. Charter art. 2, para. 4; Charlesworth et al., supra note 21, at 622; Falk, supra note 69, at 164; Gallant, supra note 69, at 883; Gomes, supra note 69, at 40; Krisiotis, supra note 69, at 1008–10.
76 See International Law Norms, Actors, Process: A Problem-Oriented Approach 334 (Jeffrey L. Dunoff et al. eds., 2002) (stating that, despite the rise in global economic activity, respect for the sovereignty of States remains a guiding principle in international law); see also, e.g., Schooner Exch. v. McFaddon, 11 U.S. 116, 136 (1812) (holding that an armed vessel belonging to Napoleon and found within the territory of American waters could not be claimed by a citizen while at the same time asserting that “[t]he jurisdiction of the nation within its own territory is necessarily exclusive and absolute. It is susceptible of no limitation not imposed by itself.”).
77 See, e.g., Convention Concerning the Duties and Rights of States in the Event of Civil Strife, Feb. 20, 1928, art. 1, 134 L.N.T.S. 25, 51; Montevideo Convention on Rights and Duties of States, Dec. 26, 1933, art. 8, 165 L.N.T.S. 19, 25; Charter of the Organization of African Unity, May 25, 1963, art. 4, 2 I.L.M. 766, 768; Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, Aug. 1, 1975, 14 I.L.M. 1105, 1292; Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe: Charter of Paris for New Europe and Supplementary Document to Give Effect to Certain Provisions of the Charter, Nov. 21, 1990, 30 I.L.M. 1, 190.
78 See Robin West, Love, Rage and Legal Theory, 1 Yale J.L. & Feminism 101, 106 (1989); Gilligan, supra note 21, at 100; Menkel-Meadow, supra note 72, at 290.
79 See Gilligan, supra note 21, at 100; Menkel-Meadow, supra note 72, at 290; West, supra note 78, at 106. The ethic of justice makes sense for most disputes because the person who was wronged is charged with protecting her own rights and may do so by bringing her claims to court. See Markovits, supra note 68, at 417–18.
80 See Gaer, supra note 6, at 856; Keeler, supra note 6, at 137; Lippman, supra note 6, at 523–24, 527, 529–31, 535.
81 See Gaer, supra note 6, at 856; Keeler, supra note 6, at 137; Lippman, supra note 6, at 523–24, 527, 529–31, 535.
82 See Lippman, supra note 6, at 523–24, 527, 529–31, 535; Lee A. Steven, Note, Genocide and the Duty to Extradite or Prosecute: Why the United States Is in Breach of Its International Obligations, 39 Va. J. Int’l L. 425, 429 (1999).
83 See Falk, supra note 69, at 167; Lippman, supra note 6, at 523–24, 527, 529–31, 535; Steven, supra note 82, at 429.
84 See Gourevitch, supra note 5, at 85–88; Steven, supra note 82, at 429; Falk, supra note 69, at 167.
85 See Power, supra note 1, at 304; Lippman, supra note 6, at 523–24, 527, 529–31, 535; Menkel-Meadow, supra note 72, at 290.
86 See Power, supra note 1, at 304; Lippman, supra note 6, at 523–24, 527, 529–31, 535; Menkel-Meadow, supra note 72, at 290; see, e.g., Colin L. Powell, My American Journey 576 (1995).
87 See Gilligan, supra note 21, at 17; Menkel-Meadow, supra note 72, at 290.
88 Raphael Lemkin coined the term “genocide” and was the sole lobbyist for the international ratification of the Genocide Convention. Power, supra note 1, at 29, 61–63.
89 See id. at 42, 54.
90 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, approved Dec. 9, 1948, 78 U.N.T.S. 277 [hereinafter Genocide Convention]. The Genocide Convention was drafted shortly after World War II, in the wake of the atrocities of the Holocaust. See id. The first group of signatories signed in 1949. Id. The United States implemented the Genocide Convention in 1987. See Genocide Convention Implementation Act of 1987, Pub. L. No. 100–606, 102 Stat. 3045 (1988).
The Convention reads in pertinent part:
Article I. The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish. Article II. In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. Article III. The following acts shall be punishable: (a) Genocide; (b) Conspiracy to commit genocide; (c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide; (d) Attempt to commit genocide; (e) Complicity in genocide . . . . Article VIII. Any Contracting Party may call upon the competent organs of the United Nations to take such action under the Charter of the United Nations as they consider appropriate for the prevention and suppression of acts of genocide or any other acts enumerated in article III.
Id. (emphasis added).
91 Leo Kuper, The Prevention of Genocide 173 (1985); Keeler, supra note 6, at 173.
92 Keeler, supra note 6, at 427.
93 See Keeler, supra note 6, at 137; Lippman, supra note 6, at 523–24, 527, 529–31, 535; Steven, supra note 82, at 427.
94 Steven, supra note 82, at 429; see also Lippman, supra note 6, at 523–24, 527, 529–31, 535.
95 See generally Genocide Convention, supra note 90.
96 See id.
97 Power, supra note 1, at 261–62; Casper W. Weinberger, Excerpts from the Address of Weinberger, N.Y. Times, Nov. 29, 1984, at A5.
98 Power, supra note 1, at 262; Powell, supra note 86, at 149; Weinberger, supra note 97, at A5.
99 Power, supra note 1, at 262; Powell, supra note 86, at 149.
100 See Gilligan, supra note 21, at 36–37 (explaining a fundamental concept of the ethic of justice—prioritizing the needs of the self—by analyzing statements made by young Jake); see also Michael Ignatieff, The Needs of Strangers 29 (1985) (discussing the needs of strangers whose needs remain unmet due in large part to the current legal, governmental structure, which neglects the needs of outsiders).
101 Weinberger, supra note 97, at A5.
102 See Power, supra note 1, at 262; Powell, supra note 86, at 149; Weinberger, supra note 97, at A5.
103 See Gilligan, supra note 21, at 99, 104–05.
104 See generally Power, supra note 1. Throughout her book, Power lists possible actions that the United States could have undertaken to alleviate the threat of genocide or to stop genocides once they had begun. Id; see also Gilligan, supra note 21, at 17, 51, 100; West, supra note 78, at 106.
105 See Gilligan, supra note 21, at 99, 104–05.
106 See id.
107 See id., at 63; Menkel-Meadow, supra note 72, at 290.
108 See Power, supra note 1, at XVII; Gilligan, supra note 21, at 29.
109 See Power, supra note 1, at XVII; Gilligan, supra note 21, at 147; Ignatieff, supra note 100, at 141.
110 Power, supra note 1, at XVII.
111 See Gilligan, supra note 21, at 62–63; West, supra note 78, at 106; Moorhead Wright, An Ethic of Responsibility, in The Community of States 165 (James Mayall ed., 1982).
112 See Gilligan, supra note 21, at 100; West, supra note 78, at 106–107; Menkel-Meadow, supra note 72, at 293; West, supra note 68, at 69; Marilyn Friedman, Feminism and Modern Friendship: Dislocating the Community, 99 Ethics 275, 277–81.
113 See Gilligan, supra note 21, at 65, 100, 149.
114 See id., at 50–51; Ignatieff, supra note 100, at 28–30, 141.
115 See Gilligan, supra note 21, at 50–51; Ignatieff, supra note 100, at 28–30, 141.
116 Power, supra note 1, at 447.
117 Id. at 447–48.
118 Id. at 447.
119 Id.
120 Id.
121 Power, supra note 1, at 447.
122 Id.
123 Id.
124 Id. at 448.
125 Id.
126 See Power, supra note 1, at 448.
127 See id.
128 See id. at 386. President Clinton visited Rwanda in 1998 and said the following to Rwandans who were gathered at the airport to hear him:
We in the United States and the world community did not do as much as we could have and should have done to try to limit what occurred. It may seem strange to you here, but all over the world there were people like me sitting in offices, day after day, who did not fully appreciate the depth and speed with which you were being engulfed by unimaginable terror.
Id.
129 See id.
130 See id. at XVII–XVIII.
131 See Power, supra note 1, at XVII–XVIII.
132 See id. at 173, 359.
133 See id. at 508–10.
134 James Walcott, What if They Gave a War and Nobody Cared?, Vanity Fair, Mar. 2003, at 160.
135 See Power, supra note 1, at 366.
136 See id.
137 See Gilligan, supra note 21, at 31.
138 Jean Paul Sartre, Selections: Basic Writings 213 (Stephen Priest ed., 2001).
139 See id.
140 See Power, supra note 1, at 86; Gilligan, supra note 21, at 29; Ignatieff, supra note 100, at 43; West, supra note 78, at 106–07.
141 See Power, supra note 1, at 86; Gilligan, supra note 21, at 29; Ignatieff, supra note 100, at 43; West, supra note 78, at 106–07.
142 See Power, supra note 1, at 86.
143 See id.; Gilligan, supra note 21, at 29; Ignatieff, supra note 100, at 43; West, supra note 78, at 106–07.
144 See Power, supra note 1, at 86; Gilligan, supra note 21, at 29; Ignatieff, supra note 100, at 43; West, supra note 78, at 106–07.
145 Power, supra note 1, at 86.
146 See id.
147 See id., at XVII; Gilligan, supra note 21, at 29; Ignatieff, supra note 100, at 43; West, supra note 78, at 106–07.
148 See Power, supra note 1, at 86; Gilligan, supra note 21, at 29; Ignatieff, supra note 100, at 43; West, supra note 78, at 106–07.
149 See Power, supra note 1, at XVII; Gilligan, supra note 21, at 29; Ignatieff, supra note 100, at 43; West, supra note 78, at 106–07.
150 See Power, supra note 1, at XVII; Gilligan, supra note 21, at 29; Ignatieff, supra note 100, at 43; West, supra note 78, at 106–07.