Overview
The extent to which humanitarian intervention has become a legitimate practice in post-cold war international society is the subject of this book. It maps the changing legitimacy of humanitarian intervention by comparing the international response to cases of humanitarian intervention in the cold war and post-cold war periods. Crucially, the book examines how far international society has recognised humanitarian intervention as a legitimate exception to the rules of sovereignty and non-intervention and non-use of force. While there are studies of each case of intervention-in East Pakistan, Cambodia, Uganda, Iraq, Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo-there is no single work that examines them comprehensively in a comparative framework. Each chapter tells a story of intervention that weaves together a study of motives, justifications and outcomes. The legitimacy of humanitarian intervention is contested by the 'pluralist' and 'solidarist' wings of the English school, and the book charts the stamp of these conceptions on state practice. Solidarism lacks a full-blown theory of humanitarian intervention and the book supplies one. This theory is employed to assess the humanitarian qualifications of the cases of intervention analysed in the book, and this normative assessment is then compared to the moral practices of states. A key focus is to examine how far humanitarian intervention as a legitimate practice is present in the diplomatic dialogue of states. In exploring how far there has been a change of norm in the society of states in the 1990s, the book defends the broad based constructivist claim that state actions will be constrained if they cannot be legitimated, and that new norms enable new practices but do not determine these. The book concludes by considering how far contemporary practices of humanitarian intervention support a new solidarism, and how far this resolves the traditional conflict between order and justice in international society.
Full Product Details
Author: Nicholas J. Wheeler (Senior Lecturer, Department of International Politics, Senior Lecturer, Department of International Politics, University of Wales, Aberystwyth)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.70cm
, Height: 1.90cm
, Length: 23.20cm
Weight: 0.548kg
ISBN: 9780199253104
ISBN 10: 0199253102
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 16 May 2002
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
The emerging literature on humanitarian intervention has been enriched by this exquisitely written and argued thesis in support of what has historically been a theoretical norm. A balanced assessment. ASIL Newsletter (American Society of International Law) We do not lack for publications on the topic of humanitarian intervention ... Among the best of these publications is Nicholas Wheeler's Saving Strangers ... stimulating, well-considered contributions. www.apsanet.org (The American Political Science Association Online)
