Preface and acknowledgments

The 2011 bombing in Libya by Western nations occasioned renewed debate and concern about armed humanitarian intervention and the doctrine of “Responsibility to Protect” (RtoP). This book is a collection of chapters on many of the important moral and legal issues involved. All the chapters are original contributions, written specifically for this volume. The chapters are by leading international thinkers from Australia, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The question of military intervention for humanitarian purposes has become a major focus for international law, the United Nations, regional organizations such as NATO, and the foreign policies of nations. The chapters reflect the latest ideas of the authors on this timely international issue – one that continues to evolve in the quest for reasonable global governance.

A number of the chapters present perspectives on the moral rationale for armed humanitarian intervention (AHI). Others focus on normative aspects of the practice - including critical views of AHI, the problem of abuse and needed limitations, the future viability of RtoP and some of its problematic implications, the possibility of AHI providing space for peaceful political protest, and how AHI might be integrated with post-war justice.

I wish to thank all the authors for their contributions to this volume and, in some cases, their work on revisions. Special thanks go to Hilary Gaskin of Cambridge University Press and to her assistant, Anna Lowe, for their advice, patience, and valuable help in the preparation of this volume. I am especially grateful to my wife, Dr. Mary Ann Scheid, for her support - and quiet tolerance during episodes of absentmindedness or grouchiness.