Humanitarian Intervention and the United Nations

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

Author: Norrie Macqueen
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Published: 03/24/2011
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780748636976

Review Citation(s):
Choice 01/01/2012

About the Author

Norrie MacQueen is Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Dundee in Scotland and has previously worked in various parts of the world, including Africa and the South Pacific. He has published widely on the United Nations, peacekeeping and the politics and international relations of the global South.