Synopses & Reviews
Uses legal, feminist and postcolonial, and psychoanalytic theory to consider the cultural and economic effects of militarised humanitarianism.
Review
"Orford presents a compelling challenge to those who argue for militarist interventions to protect victimized peoples." Perspectives on Political Science
Review
"...provocative and original. It deserves the widest possible reading..." Political Science Quarterly, Richard Falk, University of California, Santa Barbara"Orford presents a compelling challenge to those who argue for militarist interventions to protect victimized peoples." Perspectives on Political Science"If the best test of significance of a book is whether is makes you rethink a familiar topic, then this study of humanitarian intervention passes with flying colors...It deserves the widest possible reading, and is a fine complement to the more conventional..." Political Science Quarterly
Synopsis
During the 1990s, humanitarian intervention seemed to promise a world in which human rights would be privileged over national interests or imperial ambitions. Orford argues that humanitarian intervention had far more exploitative effects. What, if anything, has been lost in the move from humanitarian intervention to the war on terror?
About the Author
ANNE ORFORD is Senior Lecturer in the Law School at the University of Melbourne.
Table of Contents
Preface; 1. Watching East Timor; 2. Misreading the texts of international law; 3. Localizing the other: the imaginative geography of humanitarian intervention; 4. Self-determination after intervention: the international community and post-conflict reconstruction; 5. The constitution of the international community: colonial stereotypes and humanitarian narratives; 6. Dreams of human rights; Bibliography; Index.