• Introduction


• Part I. Enforcement Theory


• Chapter One Classical Enforcement Theory


• Chapter Two Compliance Theory


• Chapter Three New Classical Enforcement Theory


• Part. II. Enforcement Practice


• Armed Measures


• Chapter Four Unilateral Armed Measures


• Chapter Five Collective Armed Measures


• Countermeasures


• Chapter Six Unilateral Countermeasures


• Chapter Seven Collective Countermeasures


• Judicial Measures


• Chapter Eight International Court Enforcement


• Chapter Nine National Court Enforcement


• Conclusions

Mary Ellen O'Connell holds the Robert and Marion Short Chair in Law at the University of Notre Dame Law School. She has studied, taught, and written about international law for over 25 years. Professor O'Connell received her J.D. from Columbia Law School, an LL.B. with first-class honors from Cambridge University, an MSc. in International Relations from the London School of Economics, and her B.A. in History from Northwestern University. Her previous publications include International Law and the Global War on Terrorism: Lectures for the University of Paris II (2007), International Dispute Resolution, Cases and Materials (2006), and Redefining Sovereignty: The Use of Force After the Cold War (edited with M. Bothe and N. Ronzitti, 2005).
Professor O'Connell has taught at such diverse institutions as the Notre Dame Law School, the US Department of Defense's George C. Marshall Center for Security Studies in Germany, Ohio State University College of Law, the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Italy, the Oxford Institute on International and Comparative Law, Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel, Germany, and the University of Paris II (Paris, France). Her service to international law includes membership in numerous organizations, including the International Law Association as Chair of the Study Committee on Use of Force, the Executive Committee of the International Law Section of the American Association of Law Schools, the American Society of International Law (former member of the Executive Committee), the International Institute for Humanitarian Law (San Remo, Italy), the Lieber Society, and the German Society of International Law.

The Power and Purpose of International Law provides a well-conceived explanation of the role of international law in today's world, and how there are no acceptable arguments to justify the use of torture and secret prisons, or to support the notion of a 'global battlefield.' By analyzing the history of ideas about international law and its actual operation, O'Connell has provided an important and timely work for citizens, students, and scholars.