Unauthorised Humanitarian Interventions in World Politics

The question if states should intervene in massive humanitarian emergencies without a legal right to do so, is still object of an important debate in the theory and practice of international relations. This situation has not changed with the emergence of the 'Responsibility to Protect' norm, which stopped short of a right to intervene without a Security Council authorisation. The book assesses the impact of such unauthorised humanitarian interventions on international society and regions; it is written in the context of the English School of International Relations. Based on empirical studies the author argues that they can be progressive-constructive for international order, if conducted with explicit legitimacy, integrity, and great power participation. The argument is based on the analysis of six cases conducted between 1946 and 2005. Specific consideration is given to the cases of Liberia (1990) and Kosovo (1999). In sum, the book contributes to the solidarism-pluralism debate and the discourse on humanitarian interventions.

Autorentext

Christian Pohlmann is Lecturer (Lehrkraft für besondere Aufgaben) at the Institute of Political Science at the University Duisburg-Essen, Germany. He researches on the English School of International Relations, humanitarian interventions and R2P, international law, and terrorism.

Inhalt
1 Introduction.- 2 English School as Theoretical Paradigm for the Analysis of Humanitarian Interventions.- 3 The Humanitarian Intervention Debate (State of the art).- 4 Humanitarian Intervention: A non-normative and analytical definition.- 5 Impact Theorems: Concretising the solidarism-pluralism debate on HI.- 6 A Systematic Case Pre-Selection.- 7 Humanitarian Interventions in Contemporary History (1946-2005).- 8 Operationalisation and Research Design.- 9 Short of Great Power Politics, Short of Impact: The UHIs in the Cold War.- 10 The Benefit of Being on One's Own: The impact of ECOWAS' UHI in Liberia.- 11 The Coerced Great Power Concert: The impact of NATO's UHI in Kosovo.- 12 The Tale of Opened Floodgates: Comparing and explaining the impact of UHIs on international and regional order.- 13 Human Rights are an Inelastic Regime: Comparing and explaining the impact of UHIs on human rights.- 14 UHI-Impact Theory and Implications for the Understanding of International Society.- 15 Conclusion