Suchergebnisse

"This book explains why there is a pronounced disjuncture between R2P's habitual invocation and its actual influence, and why it will not make the transformative progress its proponents claim. Rather than disputing that R2P is a norm, or declaring that norms are insignificant, Hehir engages with post-positivist constructivist accounts on the role of norms to demonstrate first, that the efficacy of a norm is not directly related to the extent to which it is proliferated or invoked, and second, that in the post-institutionalization phase, norms undergo both contestation and (potentially regressive) reinterpretation. This volume analyses the evolution of R2P, and demonstrates that it has been steadily circumscribed and co-opted, so that today it has no power to meaningfully influence the behaviour of states"--Back cover

Cover -- Contents -- Introduction: Humanitarian Intervention in Contemporary International Relations -- The contemporary debate -- The end of history -- The rise of the 'international community' -- Globalization and the communication revolution -- Using this book -- PART I: CONCEPTS AND CONCEPTIONS -- 1 What is 'Humanitarian Intervention'? -- 'Humanitarian intervention', 'humanitarian action' and 'military action' -- Features of humanitarian intervention -- Conclusion -- 2 The Just War Tradition and Natural Law -- The central tenets -- The evolution of the Just War tradition -- Contemporary relevance -- Conclusion -- 3 The Sovereign State -- The evolution of the sovereign state -- Organized hypocrisy? -- Challenging the sovereign state in the contemporary era -- Conclusion -- 4 Theoretical Perspectives -- Realism -- Marxism/critical theory -- Liberalism -- The English School -- Cosmopolitanism -- Post-structuralism -- Conclusion -- PART II: CONTROVERSIES -- 5 International Law and Human Rights -- The evolution of international law -- State responsibility -- The legal status of humanitarian intervention -- 'Illegal but legitimate'? -- The need for legal reform -- Conclusion -- 6 The Responsibility to Protect -- The origins of the responsibility to protect -- International reception and evolution -- Challenging the responsibility to protect -- Conclusion -- 7 Who Decides? Authority and Legitimacy -- Legitimacy, authority, power and rights -- The UN Security Council -- Alternative authorities -- Conclusion -- 8 Motives and Means -- Motives -- Means -- Conclusion -- PART III: CASES -- 9 Humanitarian Intervention in History -- Humanitarian intervention: trends and changes -- The state and the evolution of humanitarian intervention -- Humanitarian intervention in historical context -- Conclusion: assessing the record -- 10 Rwanda.

The notion of a responsibility to protect (R2P) has come to dominate debates about humanitarian intervention. This important new book provides a systematic assessment of its evolution and gives a careful critique of its limits in mapping out alternative avenues for the prevention of - and responses to - humanitarian crises.

This book examines international engagement with Kosovo since NATO's intervention in 1999, and looks at the three distinct phases of Kosovo's development; intervention, statebuilding and independence. Kosovo remains a case study of central importance in international relations, illustrative of key political trends in the post-Cold War era. During each phase, international policy towards Kosovo has challenged prevailing international norms and pushed the boundaries of conventional wisdom. In each of the three phases 'Kosovo' has been cited as constituting a precedent, and this book explores the impact and the often troubling consequences and implications of these precedents. This book explicitly engages with this debate, which transcends Kosovo itself, and provides a critical analysis of the catalysts and consequences of contemporary international engagement with this seminal case study. Each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of the international engagement with Kosovo and situates events there in an international context, highlighting the extent to which international policy towards Kosovo has challenged existing norms and practices.? Kosovo has been cited in certain texts as a positive template to be emulated, but the contributors to this book also identify the often controversial and contentious nature of these new norms. This book will be of much interest to students of humanitarian intervention and statebuilding, war and conflict studies, security studies and IR in general.

When should the international community intervene to prevent suffering within sovereign states? This book argues that since Kosovo, the normative thesis has failed to influence international politics, as evidenced by events in Iraq and Darfur. This critique rejects realism and offers a new perspective on this important issue

'Imperial overstretch' and the role played by related ideational issues derived from particular liberal tenets and the United States' belief in its 'manifest destiny' to lead the world have been regularly cited as explanations for why the United States' ambitious project to transform the world in the post–Cold War era failed. In this article, I argue that these analyses have overlooked a crucial causal factor that also impelled the United States to undertake its ultimately doomed project: hope. I demonstrate that analyses of hope's influence have found that while hope can exert a positive influence, it can also – if irrational – induce self-destructive behaviour. During the period of unipolarity, the United States repeatedly advanced teleological visions of a bright future for humanity routinely infused with the language of hope. I demonstrate that hope was, however, more than just a discursive device; it was itself a catalyst for the United States' actions. I argue that a confluence of factors at the end of the Cold War aligned to impel the rapid emergence of a particular variant of hope – defined as 'wilful hope' – which inspired the United States to act as it did. I demonstrate how this disposition was evident in the rhetoric employed by both Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush but also – more importantly – in the strategies they each implemented. Ultimately, this disposition played a crucial – though not exclusive – role in undermining international support for US leadership and precipitating the end of 'the unipolar moment'.