BOOK: Mark SWATEK-EVENSTEIN, A History of Humanitarian Intervention (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2020), 286 p. ISBN 9781107061927, 85 GBP

(image source: CUP)

Abstract:

The question of 'humanitarian intervention' has been a staple of international law for around 200 years, with a renewed interest in the history of the subject emerging in the last twenty years. This book provides a chronological account of the evolution of the discussion and uncovers the fictional narrative provided by international lawyers to support their conclusions on the subject, from justifications and arguments for 'humanitarian intervention', the misrepresentation of great power involvement in the Greek War of Independence in 1827, to the 'humanitarian intervention that never was', India's war with Pakistan in 1971. Relying on a variety of sources, some of them made available in English for the first time, the book provides an undogmatic, alternative history of the fight for the protection of human rights in international law.

On the author:

Mark Swatek-Evenstein is a scholar and lawyer specializing in criminal law, immigration and refugee law. He is a member of the International Network of Genocide Scholars and has taught courses on The Holocaust and The Law. His current research focuses on the minority experience in international law. 

(source: ESILHIL Blog)