Alexis Heraclides & Ada Dialla 
Humanitarian intervention in the long nineteenth century 
Setting the precedent

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. This book is a comprehensive presentation of humanitarian intervention in theory and practice during the course of the nineteenth century. Through four case studies, it sheds new light on the international law debate and the political theory on intervention, linking them to ongoing issues, and paying particular attention to the lesser known Russian dimension. The book begins by tracing the genealogy of the idea of humanitarian intervention to the Renaissance, evaluating the Eurocentric gaze of the civilisation-barbarity dichotomy, and elucidates the international legal arguments of both advocates and opponents of intervention, as well as the views of major political theorists. It then goes on to examine four cases as humanitarian interventions: the Greek War of Independence (1821–31), the Lebanon and Syria (1860–61), the Bulgarian atrocities (1876–78), and the U.S. intervention in Cuba (1895–98). Humanitarian intervention in the long nineteenth century will be of benefit to scholars and students of international relations, international history, international law and international political theory.

Table des matières

1. Humanitarian intervention today Part I. Theory Introduction 2. The origins of the idea of humanitarian intervention: just war and against tyranny 3. Eurocentrism: ‘civilization’ and the ‘barbarians’ 4. International law: advocacy and rejection of humanitarian intervention 5. Intervention and non-intervention in international political theory Part II. Practice Introduction 6. Intervention in the Greek War of Independence 7. Intervention in Lebanon and Syria 8. The Bulgarian atrocities: a bird’s eye view with emphasis on Britain 9. The Balkan Crisis of 1875-1878 and Russia: between humanitarianism and pragmatism 10. The U.S. intervention in Cuba Part III 11. Conclusion Select bibliography on International Law until 1945 Select bibliography Index

A propos de l’auteur

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