Humanitarian intervention in the long nineteenth century

Setting the precedent

By (author) Alexis Heraclides, Ada Dialla

Publication date:

01 June 2015

Length of book:

272 pages

Publisher

Manchester University Press

Dimensions:

234x156mm

ISBN-13: 9780719089909

This book is a comprehensive presentation of humanitarian intervention in theory and practice during the course of the nineteenth century. Through four case studies, it sheds new light on the international law debate and the political theory on intervention, linking them to ongoing issues, and paying particular attention to the lesser known Russian dimension.

The book begins by tracing the genealogy of the idea of humanitarian intervention to the Renaissance, evaluating the Eurocentric gaze of the civilisation-barbarity dichotomy, and elucidates the international legal arguments of both advocates and opponents of intervention, as well as the views of major political theorists. It then goes on to examine four cases as humanitarian interventions: the Greek War of Independence (1821-31), the Lebanon and Syria (1860-61), the Bulgarian atrocities (1876-78), and the U.S. intervention in Cuba (1895-98).

Humanitarian intervention in the long nineteenth century will be of benefit to scholars and students of International Relations, international history, international law and international political theory.

An electronic edition of this book is freely available under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.

1. Humanitarian intervention today
Part I. Theory
Introduction
2. The origins of the idea of humanitarian intervention: just war and against tyranny
3. Eurocentrism: ‘civilization’ and the ‘barbarians’
4. International law: advocacy and rejection of humanitarian intervention
5. Intervention and non-intervention in international political theory
Part II. Practice
Introduction
6. Intervention in the Greek War of Independence
7. Intervention in Lebanon and Syria
8. The Bulgarian atrocities: a bird’s eye view with emphasis on Britain
9. The Balkan Crisis of 1875-1878 and Russia: between humanitarianism and pragmatism
10. The U.S. intervention in Cuba
Part III
11. Conclusion
Select bibliography on International Law until 1945
Select bibliography
Index

‘Sadly, the book is of acute relevance today, at a time when, amidst the ruins of states that have crumbled, humanitarian crises have broken out the world over. The book will be of interest not only to scholars of Ottoman history and international relations in the nineteenth century, but also to politicians and experts dealing with humanitarian intervention as both a concept and practice.’
Krisztián Csaplár-Degovics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungarian Historical Review 5, No 4 (2016)