Issue 22.4
Humanitarian Intervention and the Distribution of Sovereignty in International Law
Legal debates about humanitarian intervention tend to assume that its legitimacy is irrelevant to its legality, while political theorists often assume the inverse. This paper defends an alternative account, which sees the legality and legitimacy of humanitarian intervention as intertwined.
Norms, Minorities, and Collective Choice Online
Building on case studies of Wikipedia and the Daily Kos, this essay argues that different kinds of rules shape relations between members of the majority and of the minority in these communities in important and consequential ways.
On Promoting Democracy [Full Text]
The first question that we have to ask about promoting democracy is the question of agency: Who are the promoters? Most recent arguments have focused on the state, but states are not the only or the most important agents of regime change.
Briefly Noted
This section contains a round-up of recent notable books in the field of international affairs.
![Targeting Civilians in War, and Killing Civilians: Method, Madness and Morality in War [Double Review]](http://www.ethicsandinternationalaffairs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Targeting-Civilians-in-War-127x150.jpg "Targeting Civilians in War, and Killing Civilians: Method, Madness and Morality in War [Double Review]")
Targeting Civilians in War, and Killing Civilians: Method, Madness and Morality in War [Double Review]
Given the moral stigma and its supposed dubious effectiveness, why does the targeting of civilians occur? Both authors contribute to the still nascent mapping of violence against civilians during armed conflicts of the past and of the present, outlining the reasons that justify or enable such violence.
International Justice in Rwanda and the Balkans: Virtual Trials and the Struggle for State Cooperation by Victor Peskin
Peskin’s analysis focuses on “virtual trials”: the battles by ad hoc criminal tribunals to secure state cooperation in the enforcement of international law. Concentrating on this under-explored theme, this book is a major contribution to the literature on transitional justice.
After Anarchy: Legitimacy and Power in the United Nations Security Council by Ian Hurd
Hurd argues that perceptions of legitimacy undergird how states act, both vis-à-vis one another and in relation to international institutions; in other words, legitimacy creates international order.
Theory of World Security by Ken Booth
Booth aims to illuminate a “New 20 Years’ Crisis” that global society is now entering. His central thesis is that in order to respond, we need a critical theory of world security.
