Never Again?

Reviews / Votes

Peter Ronayne has provided us with a mirror. With unflinching candor, in the harsh light of reality, he has measured our behavior against our stated goals. While he does not like all that he sees, he does not succumb to despair. Skillfully avoiding the shoals of self-righteous moralism and self-defeating cynicism, this study is itself a moral act-a genuine inquiry into who we are and who we want to be. -- Joel H. Rosenthal, president, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs This is a well-written, measured, and reflective survey of how far the United States' actions have fallen short of its rhetoric and potential, and the standards it applies to other states. This book very usefully illustrates both the negative and positiveconnections between US domestic and foreign policy issues. Despite the startling failures he documents, Ronayne also shows that important progress has been made, however slowly. His book is a sobering account of some of the human disasters of the lastcentury, but thankfully not despairing of the next... -- Ben Kiernan, director, Genocide Studies Program, Yale University In Never Again?, Peter Ronayne has, with feeling, insight, and extensive research, laid bare one of the tragic contradictions in modern U.S. foreign policy: the conflict between Americans' professed abhorrence of genocide and their resistance to action in the face of reality. Beginning with the 40 year delay in the U.S. ratification of the Genocide Convention, Ronayne demonstrates how politics, fear of involvement, and rationalization impeded immediate, forceful, and possibly effective intervention in the cases of Cambodia, Bosnia, and Rwanda. His book should be read by everyone who wants to understand these recent tragedies and share in Ronayne's indictment of the failure of a nation, rhetorically committed to human rights, to act to prevent some of the most brutal violations of those rights. -- David D. Newsom,, former Ambassador and Undersecretary of State Peter Ronayne offers a sophisticated, balanced view of U.S. foreign policy in relation to genocide. Because it is so emotionally charged, genocide is often approached in ideological terms. Ronayne's great virtue in this book is that his observations are equally free of indifference and cant. He can, in other words, be trusted. Those who care about the ambiguities of U.S. diplomacy will find this policy-oriented study invaluable. -- William F. Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International, USA Ronayne provides a solid introduction to both the Genocide Convention and the difficulties inherent in the relationship between international criminal law and US foreign policy. He presents the issues clearly and accessibly and gives an objective portrayal of the multifaceted domestic and foreign concerns facing the US since the Second World War. * International Affairs * Prevention of genocide has become an accepted goal of U.S. foreign policy. This book is the first serious effort to understand how that norm evolved into a treaty. * Foreign Affairs * This is a well-written, measured, and reflective survey of how far the United States' actions have fallen short of its rhetoric and potential, and the standards it applies to other states. This book very usefully illustrates both the negative and positive connections between US domestic and foreign policy issues. Despite the startling failures he documents, Ronayne also
shows that important progress has been made, however slowly. His book is a sobering account of some of the human disasters of the last century, but thankfully not despairing of the next. -- Ben Kiernan, director, Genocide Studies Program, Yale University ...a valuable work. * Perspectives on Politics *