A History of Humanitarian Intervention

History is underrepresented in international law, in particular in the narrative created for the legal instrument 'humanitarian intervention'. This book examines the historical events and narratives created around them in international law in context to tell an undogmatic, alternative history of the fight for the protection of human rights.

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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.