Political Theory, International Relations, and the Ethics of Intervention

This volume is about the discourse and practice of intervention and non-intervention in international relations. The product of a dialogue between theorists of politics and international relations, it argues that intervention is endemic in world politics but that we need to move beyond traditional accounts of such practices. In moving towards a more encompassing approach, it explores traditional and post-modern perspectives on our understanding of sovereignty, the state and the state system; conceptions of power, identity and agency; and universal, particularist and contingent justifications for intervention and non-intervention.

Acknowledgements - Notes on the Contributors - Introduction: Intervention and State Sovereignty in the International System; I.Forbes & M.Hoffman - PART 1: DEFINITIONS AND DILEMMAS - Recent Literature on Intervention and Non-Intervention; R.Little - Intervention and the Limits of International Law; A.Carty - Intervention, Non-Intervention and the Construction of the State; C.Navari - Intervention and Moral Dilemmas; P.Johnson - PART 2: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES - Realism, International Anarchy and Intervention; L.McCarthy - The Pragmatic Case Against Intervention; C.Thomas - The Justifications for Intervention: Needs before Contexts; R.Plant - Intervention and Virtue; B.Paskins - Beyond Non-Intervention; J.Vincent & P.Wilson - PART 3: HARD CASES - Confronting Moral Dilemmas in an Amoral World: The Non-State of Lebanon and Israeli Interventionism; A.Sadeghi - Vietnam's Intervention in Kampuchea: The Rights of State v The Rights of People; M.Leifer - Legitimate Intervention and Illegitimate States: Sanctions Against South Africa; J.Hoffman - Non-Intervention, Self-Determination and the New World Order; J.Mayall - PART 4: THEORETICAL DEPARTURES - Contextuality, Interdependence and the Ethics of Intervention; N.Rengger - Agency, Identity and Intervention; M.Hoffman - Beyond the State; I.Forbes - Index