This issue features an essay by Ann Florini on the global governance of energy; articles by Janina Dill and Henry Shue on the undue moralization of war and Ned Dobos on humanitarian intervention and the problem of mediated consequences; review essays by Tom Farer on the history and future of humanitarianism and Oliver Jütersonke on classical realism and international law; and book reviews by Jack Snyder, Andrew Hurrell, Samuel Moyn, and Martti Koskenniemi.
The Peculiar Politics of Energy [Full Text]
Ann Florini
The provision of energy services is a matter of basic distributional justice, which the world is failing to achieve. But it would not be technologically impossible to transform the energy sector into one that does a much better job of meeting energy needs without imposing such great costs.
FEATURES
Limiting the Killing in War: Military Necessity and the St. Petersburg Assumption
Janina Dill and Henry Shue
In this article, we explain why an ideal typical war cannot be regulated with rules that attach to individuals’ moral status; propose an alternative framework for regulating the conduct of hostilities that hinges on military necessity; and argue that its deliberate departure from individual rights-based morality is morally preferable.
International Rescue and Mediated Consequences
Ned Dobos
It is generally assumed that when judging the proportionality of a humanitarian intervention, these consequences must be factored into the equation. If an intervention is expected to provoke adverse reactions the accumulated costs of which will outweigh the benefits that the intervention will deliver, then the intervention is thought to be disproportional and, therefore, unjustified. I want to challenge this assumption.
REVIEW ESSAYS
Two Cheers for Humanitarianism
Tom Farer
The unsettled boundaries of what properly constitutes humanitarianism brings a number of difficult questions to the surface.
Echoes of a Forgotten Past: Mid-Century Realism and the Legacy of International Law
Oliver Jütersonke
Those studying the work of Hans J. Morgenthau, widely considered the “founding father” of the Realist School of International Relations, have long been baffled by his views on world government and the attainment of a world state—views that, it would appear, are strikingly incompatible with the author’s realism.
REVIEWS [Full Text]
The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution by Francis Fukuyama
Review by Jack Snyder
Fukuyama is frustrated by the difficulty of building stable, order-keeping states in the contemporary developing world. What is the historical secret leading to stable political orders, such as Denmark’s, he asks, and can that secret be shared with the Somalias and Afghanistans of the world?
The Problem of Harm in World Politics: Theoretical Investigations by Andrew Linklater
Review by Andrew Hurrell
Linklater engages in a sustained reflection on the core theoretical issues surrounding the problem of harm in world politics. His goal, as he puts it, is to theorize harm, not to develop a theory of harm.
The International Human Rights Movement: A History by Aryeh Neier
Review by Samuel Moyn
Aryeh Neier has written a fluent and engaging history of the international human rights movement, of which he is a senior statesman. But his “history” is really a series of essays, only a couple of which offer deeper historical context for the American branch of the human rights movement—which Neier helped launch.
Humanity’s Law by Ruti G. Teitel
Review by Martti Koskenniemi
In the last years of the 20th century, at least partly as a result of the end of the cold war, the language of universal humanity spread throughout diplomacy and international institutions. The cost of this has been the abstraction of political discourse, which has made invisible the reality of political choices: the way some will win, others lose.
BRIEFLY NOTED [Full Text]
Briefly Noted
This section contains a round-up of recent notable books in the field of international affairs.
