Humanitarian Intervention: The United Nations in an Evolving World Order.

• Author: Hopfe, Cathleen

SEAN D. MURPHY, HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION: THE UNITED NATIONS IN AN EVOLVING WORLD ORDER, University of Pennsylvania Press; Philadelphia (1996); ISBN 0 81223-382-4; 427 pp. (hardcover).

In a comprehensive study of humanitarian intervention and its relevance to the United Nations, author Sean D. Murphy has provided rare scholarship. HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION: THE UNITED NATIONS IN AN EVOLVING WORLD ORDER may, indeed, be the only work of its kind on a subject of ever more political, legal and ethical importance. As such, this monograph is an invaluable and timely contribution to the contemporary polemics of humanitarian intervention -- particularly in light of the recent horrors of Rawanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the awakening of the international community to seek and demand solutions to mitigate human suffering caused by corrupt or ineffectual governments. Edited by Burns H. Weston, the book is the twenty-first volume in the Procedural Aspects of International Law Series. This series has been devoted to diverse areas of international legal studies by high profile scholars for over thirty years. HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION is a fine addition to this body of work.

The author begins this study with an analysis of what "humanitarian intervention" could mean, and the problem of the broad ambiguity of the term as it has historically been understood and applied. He then constructs a working definition, attempting to identify the general contours of the issue: "humanitarian intervention is the threat or use of force by a state, group of states, or international organization primarily for the purpose of protecting the nationals of the target state from widespread deprivations of internationally recognized human rights." Each element of this statement is then briefly analyzed, supporting a discrete, well-articulated and theoretically satisfying definition which serves as the nucleus of the work.

Once the working definition is established, Murphy briefly assesses the concept of humanitarian intervention vis-a-vis the matrices of international law, moral philosophy and political theory. This is helpful to the study, demonstrating the need to be wary of the conceptual dynamics by which humanitarian endeavors must be justified. The author then outlines the methodology of his study. Although all traditional sources of international law are tapped, Murphy puts noteworthy emphasis on Michael Reisman's "incidents" genre, finding it particularly appropriate...