Debating Humanitarian Intervention

Should We Try to Save Strangers?

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Political, Ethics & Moral Philosophy
Cover of the book Debating Humanitarian Intervention by Bas van der Vossen, Fernando R. Tesón, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Bas van der Vossen, Fernando R. Tesón ISBN: 9780190699031
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: October 3, 2017
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Bas van der Vossen, Fernando R. Tesón
ISBN: 9780190699031
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: October 3, 2017
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

When foreign powers attack civilians, other countries face an impossible dilemma. Two courses of action emerge: either to retaliate against an abusive government on behalf of its victims, or to remain spectators. Either course offers its own perils: the former, lost lives and resources without certainty of restoring peace or preventing worse problems from proliferating; the latter, cold spectatorship that leaves a country at the mercy of corrupt rulers or to revolution. Philosophers Fernando Tesón and Bas van der Vossen offer contrasting views of humanitarian intervention, defining it as either war aimed at ending tyranny, or as violence. The authors employ the tools of impartial modern analytic philosophy, particularly just war theory, to substantiate their claims. According to Tesón, a humanitarian intervention has the same just cause as a justified revolution: ending tyranny. He analyzes the different kinds of just cause and whether or not an intervener may pursue other justified causes. For Tesón, the permissibility of humanitarian intervention is almost exclusively determined by the rules of proportionality. Bas van der Vossen, by contrast, holds that military intervention is morally impermissible in almost all cases. Justified interventions, Van der Vossen argues, must have high ex ante chance of success. Analyzing the history and prospects of intervention shows that they almost never do. Tesón and van der Vossen refer to concrete cases, and weigh the consequences of continued or future intervention in Syria, Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Iraq, Lybia and Egypt. By placing two philosophers in dialogue, Debating Humanitarian Intervention is not constrained by a single, unifying solution to the exclusion of all others. Rather, it considers many conceivable actions as judged by analytic philosophy, leaving the reader equipped to make her own, informed judgments.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

When foreign powers attack civilians, other countries face an impossible dilemma. Two courses of action emerge: either to retaliate against an abusive government on behalf of its victims, or to remain spectators. Either course offers its own perils: the former, lost lives and resources without certainty of restoring peace or preventing worse problems from proliferating; the latter, cold spectatorship that leaves a country at the mercy of corrupt rulers or to revolution. Philosophers Fernando Tesón and Bas van der Vossen offer contrasting views of humanitarian intervention, defining it as either war aimed at ending tyranny, or as violence. The authors employ the tools of impartial modern analytic philosophy, particularly just war theory, to substantiate their claims. According to Tesón, a humanitarian intervention has the same just cause as a justified revolution: ending tyranny. He analyzes the different kinds of just cause and whether or not an intervener may pursue other justified causes. For Tesón, the permissibility of humanitarian intervention is almost exclusively determined by the rules of proportionality. Bas van der Vossen, by contrast, holds that military intervention is morally impermissible in almost all cases. Justified interventions, Van der Vossen argues, must have high ex ante chance of success. Analyzing the history and prospects of intervention shows that they almost never do. Tesón and van der Vossen refer to concrete cases, and weigh the consequences of continued or future intervention in Syria, Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Iraq, Lybia and Egypt. By placing two philosophers in dialogue, Debating Humanitarian Intervention is not constrained by a single, unifying solution to the exclusion of all others. Rather, it considers many conceivable actions as judged by analytic philosophy, leaving the reader equipped to make her own, informed judgments.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book Handbook of Culture and Creativity by Bas van der Vossen, Fernando R. Tesón
Cover of the book Buddhist Warfare by Bas van der Vossen, Fernando R. Tesón
Cover of the book Democracy and the New Religious Pluralism by Bas van der Vossen, Fernando R. Tesón
Cover of the book The Legacy of Ronald Dworkin by Bas van der Vossen, Fernando R. Tesón
Cover of the book Identifying the Image of God by Bas van der Vossen, Fernando R. Tesón
Cover of the book No God but God by Bas van der Vossen, Fernando R. Tesón
Cover of the book Addiction in the Older Patient by Bas van der Vossen, Fernando R. Tesón
Cover of the book The Handbook of the Political Economy of Financial Crises by Bas van der Vossen, Fernando R. Tesón
Cover of the book American Obscurantism by Bas van der Vossen, Fernando R. Tesón
Cover of the book Washington's Crossing by Bas van der Vossen, Fernando R. Tesón
Cover of the book Is Racial Equality Unconstitutional? by Bas van der Vossen, Fernando R. Tesón
Cover of the book Distributive Principles of Criminal Law by Bas van der Vossen, Fernando R. Tesón
Cover of the book Inner Grace by Bas van der Vossen, Fernando R. Tesón
Cover of the book Quantitative Fish Dynamics by Bas van der Vossen, Fernando R. Tesón
Cover of the book Carmen and the Staging of Spain by Bas van der Vossen, Fernando R. Tesón
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy