Going Nowhere: The Rhetoric of Warfare and Humanitarian Intervention in Global Law and Policy Debates

Harvard International Law Journal Online, February 13, 2015

Mississippi College School of Law Research Paper No. 2014-05

18 Pages Posted: 19 Feb 2015 Last revised: 16 Dec 2015

See all articles by John D. Haskell

John D. Haskell

University of Manchester School of Law

Date Written: February 13, 2015

Abstract

From Kosovo and Iraq to Syria and Crimea, the specter of military intervention is a core theme within international law and policy literature. Rather than address ‘warfare’ and ‘humanitarian intervention’ as something actually occurring ‘out there in the real world’, this essay focuses on their functions within the text as a rhetorical device that helps constitute the structural conditions of disciplinary argument. In the face of what feels like escalating threats requiring immediate reaction, this essay seeks to demonstrate that it is instead exactly the right moment for reflection on the analytical toolkits that we take with us as partisans of a legal persuasion into given conflicts.

Suggested Citation

Haskell, John D., Going Nowhere: The Rhetoric of Warfare and Humanitarian Intervention in Global Law and Policy Debates (February 13, 2015). Harvard International Law Journal Online, February 13, 2015, Mississippi College School of Law Research Paper No. 2014-05, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2566533

John D. Haskell (Contact Author)

University of Manchester School of Law ( email )

Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PL, M139PL
United Kingdom

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