Rwanda and the Moral Obligation of Humanitarian Intervention

Joshua James Kassner is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Baltimore. He has published articles in the Journal of Political Philosophy, the Journal of Global Ethics, Contemporary Political Theory and the Human Rights Review.

• Introduction: Brief History and Overview; 1. The Rwandan Genocide, 2. My Project: The Failure of the International Community to Intervene in Rwanda, 3. Overview, 4. Conclusion; Part I – The Groundwork for a Moral Obligation of Humanitarian Intervention; 1. Making Conceptual Room: Responding to the Skeptic, 2. Making Conceptual Room: Responding to the Noninterventionist, 3. Methodology: Why a Standard of Reasonable Deniability, 4. Constitutive Elements of a Moral Obligation of Humanitarian Intervention, 5. Conclusion; Part II – Defending a Moral Obligation of Humanitarian Intervention; 1. Critical Assessment of Alternative Accounts, 2. The Basic Right to Physical Security: Explication and Analysis, 3. Charity or Justice, 4. Additional Considerations , 5.Conclusion: Statement and Application of Principle; Part III: The Normative Framework of International Relations, 1. The Normative Framework of International Relations, State Sovereignty, and the Right of Nonintervention, 2. Justifying the Right of Nonintervention, 3. Critically Assessing the Justificatory Arguments, 4. Reconstructing the Normative Framework: Lessons Learned, 5. Reasons in Support of a Presumption of Nonintervention, 6. Conclusion: Reconstruction of the Normative Framework; Part IV: Completing the Transition from Theory to Practice; 1. Explication of the Responsibility to Protect, 2. Critical Perspectives on the Responsibility to Protect, 3. Critically Assessing the ICISS Recommendations for Institutionalization, 4. Normative Guideposts for an Alternative Institutional Structure, 5. A Reformed Normative Framework ; Conclusion: Application of the Reformed Normative Framework and Concluding Remarks

The horrific moral failure of the world community during the Rwanda tragedy raises some of the most troubling dilemmas about humanitarian military intervention. Joshua Kassner's book responds to these quandaries with admirable clarity and impressive depth. This is a powerful book on the vexing questions of human wrongs and global responsibilities in our fast emerging globalized world.