Contemporary scenes of human conflict, cruelty and catastrophe have prompted calls for the international community to intervene in defence of our common humanity. At the same time, the 2003 US-led military intervention in Iraq to oust a domestic tyrant, Saddam Hussein, has generated great normative debate about its legitimacy. Tapping insights and controversies from feminist political theory, Lu argues that debates between realists, communitarians, and cosmopolitans about the ethics of intervention in world politics are disciplined by competing models of the public/private distinction. A focus on this construct illuminates alternative images of 'sovereignty as privacy ' and 'sovereignty as responsibility', and identifies new ethical challenges arising from the increased agency of private global civil society actors, and their uneasy relationship with the world of states in contexts of 'humanitarian intervention'. This book should interest scholars of international ethics, world order, human rights, international law and society, and global civil society.
Shortlisted for the 2008 Macpherson Prize of the Canadian Political Science Association
'Considering the plight and the miseries suffered in recent years by millions of people in places such as Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Darfur, Catherine Lu boldly attempts in this book to develop a coherent and resolutely cosmopolitan normative global theory. Much of her originality stems from a reconsideration and reformulation of the public-private distinction. The bulk of the book consists in a thorough examination of three ethical perspectives in international affairs: realism, communitarianism and cosmopolitanism. Lu writes intelligently about the premises and problems at work in the approaches of such authors as Rawls, Beitz and Walzer. She clearly endorses a liberal cosmopolitan perspective, placing what she calls "duties of humanity" at the very basis of international and domestic orders. Her analysis is supplemented with an insightful consideration of the contemporary ethical challenges faced by state and civil society agents. The book ends with a lucid assessment of the limits of an approach that focuses on humanitarian intervention rather than on the duties of cosmopolitan justice.' - Jury for the 2008 C.B. Macpherson Prize
'In this elegantly written, carefully argued and sophisticated book, Catherine Lu offers a novel approach to the problem of humanitarian intervention. Drawing on the conceptual similarities between family privacy and state sovereignty, Lu argues that just as privacy in the domestic context has been recalibrated in the name of protecting individuals, so state sovereignty as a form of privacy in the international context ought to be reconceived. Lu shows how cosmopolitanism provides the most reasonable and attractive understanding of the public/private distinction as it applies to states. This is an original and timely contribution to an urgent and pressing topic.' - Kok-Chor Tan, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, The University of Pennsylvania, USA
'...a well-written theoretical and normative study...this book will interest scholars in international relations, philosophy, peace studies, and international law. Summing up: Recommended.' - F. S. Pearson, Choice
'...Lu successfully approaches the matter in a novel and innovative manner that is highly thought provoking and well structured...a book that is well worth taking the time and effort to read, and will prove to be an excellent resource to students and academics alike'. - Taryn Shepperd, Politics and Ethics Review
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Public and Private: Towards Conceptual Clarification
Realism and the Tyranny of the Private
Sovereignty as Privacy
The One and Many Faces of Cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism, Liberalism and Intervention
Cosmopolitan Humanitarianism and the Use of Force
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
CATHERINE LU is Associate Professor of Political Science at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Description
Contemporary scenes of human conflict, cruelty and catastrophe have prompted calls for the international community to intervene in defence of our common humanity. At the same time, the 2003 US-led military intervention in Iraq to oust a domestic tyrant, Saddam Hussein, has generated great normative debate about its legitimacy. Tapping insights and controversies from feminist political theory, Lu argues that debates between realists, communitarians, and cosmopolitans about the ethics of intervention in world politics are disciplined by competing models of the public/private distinction. A focus on this construct illuminates alternative images of 'sovereignty as privacy ' and 'sovereignty as responsibility', and identifies new ethical challenges arising from the increased agency of private global civil society actors, and their uneasy relationship with the world of states in contexts of 'humanitarian intervention'. This book should interest scholars of international ethics, world order, human rights, international law and society, and global civil society.
Reviews
Shortlisted for the 2008 Macpherson Prize of the Canadian Political Science Association
'Considering the plight and the miseries suffered in recent years by millions of people in places such as Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Darfur, Catherine Lu boldly attempts in this book to develop a coherent and resolutely cosmopolitan normative global theory. Much of her originality stems from a reconsideration and reformulation of the public-private distinction. The bulk of the book consists in a thorough examination of three ethical perspectives in international affairs: realism, communitarianism and cosmopolitanism. Lu writes intelligently about the premises and problems at work in the approaches of such authors as Rawls, Beitz and Walzer. She clearly endorses a liberal cosmopolitan perspective, placing what she calls "duties of humanity" at the very basis of international and domestic orders. Her analysis is supplemented with an insightful consideration of the contemporary ethical challenges faced by state and civil society agents. The book ends with a lucid assessment of the limits of an approach that focuses on humanitarian intervention rather than on the duties of cosmopolitan justice.' - Jury for the 2008 C.B. Macpherson Prize
'In this elegantly written, carefully argued and sophisticated book, Catherine Lu offers a novel approach to the problem of humanitarian intervention. Drawing on the conceptual similarities between family privacy and state sovereignty, Lu argues that just as privacy in the domestic context has been recalibrated in the name of protecting individuals, so state sovereignty as a form of privacy in the international context ought to be reconceived. Lu shows how cosmopolitanism provides the most reasonable and attractive understanding of the public/private distinction as it applies to states. This is an original and timely contribution to an urgent and pressing topic.' - Kok-Chor Tan, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, The University of Pennsylvania, USA
'...a well-written theoretical and normative study...this book will interest scholars in international relations, philosophy, peace studies, and international law. Summing up: Recommended.' - F. S. Pearson, Choice
'...Lu successfully approaches the matter in a novel and innovative manner that is highly thought provoking and well structured...a book that is well worth taking the time and effort to read, and will prove to be an excellent resource to students and academics alike'. - Taryn Shepperd, Politics and Ethics Review
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Public and Private: Towards Conceptual Clarification
Realism and the Tyranny of the Private
Sovereignty as Privacy
The One and Many Faces of Cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism, Liberalism and Intervention
Cosmopolitan Humanitarianism and the Use of Force
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Authors
CATHERINE LU is Associate Professor of Political Science at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
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