When the legal constraints on governments resort to war fail, what follows for the soldiers ordered to fight? In this important new book, Ellen Nohle reframes how we ought to think about the stakes associated with governments freedom of military action, sheds light on the different kinds of rules that are implicated by war powers questions, and challenges longstanding presumptions regarding the nexus of human dignity, law, democracy, the military, and war. Emphasizing the public and individual costs of weaknesses in the current frameworks constraining military action, Nohle advances a compelling argument for reforms that would take seriously the agency and dignity of soldiers on matters relating to the resort to force. This is a rigorous, provocative, and humane book. It demands attention. -- Tom Dannenbaum, Tufts University, US This book confronts a profound legal dilemma: As the law exists today, a soldiers legal duty to obey military orders can come into conflict with international and domestic law restrictions on waging war, putting the soldier in an impossible position. No one has addressed this profound dilemma as clearly and effectively as Ellen Nohle does here. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the law governing war. -- Oona Hathaway, Yale Law School, US
