JASTA and a third world war

The introduction of JASTA (the ‘Justice against sponsors of terrorism’ Act) sets the world on a worrying path, argues Professor Dr Kamil Idris, ex Director General of the UN’s World Intellectual Property Agency, in this essential book.  It is almost a century since the end of the First World War and more than seventy years since the end of the second one. The first ushered in challenges to the liberal political consensus, and the second saw the defeat of fascism. However, there are chilling parallels between those times, and the current political mood. The reappearance of nationalism and the fragmentation of the global empires of the time find echoes in today’s surge towards independence and rejection of international institutions and political elites. The JASTA Act, with its direct challenge to sovereignty, could result in a similar rebirth of defensive nationalism and has therefore the potential to recreate the conditions that ushered in those two world wars. Setting out to learn lessons from history as far back as Roman times and the perils of nationalism, this first book published on JASTA is a vital and urgent read.