Banning the Bomb

4

The Dissent of Judge Weeramantry*

This chapter primarily seeks to address itself to an exploration of the political and moral underpinnings of a particular strand of response offered by the Sri Lankan Judge, Christopher Gregory Weeramantry, during the course of his participation in the advisory procedure. The task of discerning the political and cultural repertoire that the judge unwields in advancing his case for the comprehensive illegality of nuclear threat or use assumes a special relevance. Weeramantry's philosophical conspectus is not restricted merely to questions of collective violence but rather derives from a much wider engagement with issues of planetary survival and a broad-based religious and social ethic constituting an invaluable ...