The Ethics of Armed Humanitarian Intervention

The question of military intervention for humanitarian purposes is a major focus for international law, the United Nations, regional organizations such as NATO, and the foreign policies of nations. Against this background, the 2011 bombing in Libya by Western nations has occasioned renewed interest and concern about armed humanitarian intervention (AHI) and the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect (RtoP). This volume brings together new essays by leading international, philosophical, and political thinkers on the moral and legal issues involved in AHI, and contains both critical and positive views of AHI. Topics include the problem of abuse and needed limitations, the future viability of RtoP and some of its problematic implications, the possibility of AHI providing space for peaceful political protest, and how AHI might be integrated with post-war justice. It is an important collection for those studying political philosophy, international relations, and humanitarian law.1. Introduction Don E. Scheid; Part I. Intervention and Debate: 2. The responsibility to protect and the war in Libya Tzvetan Todorov; 3. Revisiting armed humanitarian intervention: a 25-year retrospective George R. Lucas, Jr; Part II. Moral Perspectives: 4. The moral basis of humanitarian intervention revisited Fernando R. Teson; 5. All or nothing: are there any 'merely permissible' humanitarian interventions? Ned Dobos and C. A. J. Coady; 6. Judging armed humanitarian intervention Helen Frowe; 7. Bombing the beneficiaries: the distribution of the costs of the responsibility to protect and humanitarian intervention James Pattison; Part III. Ideas and Reconsiderations: 8. The costs of war: justice, liability, and the pottery barn rule Michael Blake; 9. Humanitarian intervention and the problem of abuse after Libya Luke Glanville; 10. The responsibility to protect and the problem of regime change Alex J. Bellamy; 11. Law, ethics, and the responsibility to protect Michael W. Doyle; 12. Responsibility to protect and the language of crimes: collective action and individual culpability Jennifer M. Welsh; 13. Post-intervention: permissions and prohibitions Brian Orend; 14. Rethinking responsibility to protect: the case for human sovereignty David Rodin.