Humanitarian Intervention in the Long Nineteenth Century ─ Setting the Precedent

This book is a comprehensive presentation of humanitarian intervention in theory and practice in the course of the long nineteenth century, a precedent of today's situation and debate regarding this controversial concept. Its main contributions are the following: the then international law debate, the international political theory on intervention and the thorough presentation and assessment of the four cases studies linked with the ongoing theory and debate, with emphasis on the lesser known Russian dimension.

The book starts with a brief presentation of the present situation. The first part begins with the genealogy of the idea of assisting people who are maltreated which is to be found in the Renaissance, followed by the nineteenth century civilisation-barbarity dichotomy, with its biased Eurocentric gaze. It then examines the pivotal international law dimension, the arguments of advocates and opponents of humanitarian intervention, concluding with the views on intervention of major political theorists. The second part examines in detail four cases as instances of humanitarian intervention: the Greek war (1821-1831), the Lebanon/Syria ethnic conflict (1860-61), and the Bulgarian case (1876-78) in two chapters, with emphasis on the role of Britain and Russia, and the U.S. intervention in Cuba (1895-98). The book will be of benefit to scholars and students of International Relations, International History, International Law, international political theory and ethics in international politics.

Alexis Heraclides is Professor of International Relations and Conflict Resolution at the Department of Political Science and History of the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens

Ada Dialla is Assistant Professor of European History at the Department of Theory and History of Art, Athens School of Fine Arts