Synopses & Reviews
Explores the UN's track record of military action, from cold war 'brushfire' peacekeeping to the fractured globalisation of the contemporary worldMacQueen assesses armed humanitarian intervention on a region-by-region basis, from the Balkans to Africa, the Middle East to Southeast Asia. Using empirical evidence, he compiles a 'balance sheet' of the UN's successes and failures and asks hard questions about humanitarian intervention's short and long-term value.* Presents a concise analytical overview of the theoretical, moral and practical issues* Case study chapters on sub-Saharan Africa, the Balkans and East Timor* Confronts hard questions about the short and long-term value of these interventions
Synopsis
A concise and analytical overview of the theoretical and moral issues raised by humanitarian intervention, relating this to the recent historical record.Divided into two parts, it will first explore the setting of contemporary humanitarian interventions in world politics and in political philosophy. It will ask what went wrong with the post-cold war settlement and will track the transition of UN peacekeeping from the cold war to the post-cold war period. The more philosophical aspects of humanitarian intervention will then be explored, along with the inter-linked roles of the media and public opinion in the global North in setting the agenda for humanitarian intervention.The second part will consider the record of post-cold war humanitarian intervention on a regional basis, with chapters on the Balkans, sub-Saharan Africa (Somalia, Rwanda, Darfur), East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq.A conclusion considers some alternatives to humanitarian intervention by the UN.
Synopsis
Does humanitarian intervention 'work'? Could it work better if approached differently? Or should we just, in the words of one critic, 'give war a chance'?Since the end of the Cold War and the subsequent surge in civil and international conflicts, the UN has been faced by an ever-increasing set of demands on its military capacity. This book traces the evolution of its armed humanitarian intervention from the grand ambitions for forceful collective security through the 'brushfire' peacekeeping of the cold war years to its engagement with the present globalised yet fractured world order.Key FeaturesPresents a concise analytical overview of the theoretical, moral and practical issuesExplores the general setting of contemporary humanitarian interventionAssesses the actual record of post-Cold War humanitarian intervention on a region-by-region basis, from the Balkans to Africa and Southeast AsiaCompiles a balance sheet of success and failure in the UN's efforts and confronts hard questions about their short and long-term value
About the Author
Norrie MacQueen is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Dundee