Critiques international policies by examining their impact on developing and transitional countries. This book argues that military interventions have had limited success in building sustainable peace. It endorses the notion of a 'responsibility to protect'.

'A masterly summation and analysis. Michael Newman has an uncanny gift for bringing clarity to complexity, for doing justice to every nuance while reaching firm conclusions based on a thorough and fair examination on the evidence. He writes, as he often reminds us, from what he calls a left-liberal or left-wing position, but he is equally critical of the facile economic dogmas and military adventures of liberal interventionists and of critics who unconditionally reject humanitarian intervention as thinly disguised imperialism or as contrary to political realism.' - Survival 'Against rising scepticism in the wake of imperial wars waged in the name of humanitarianism, Michael Newman's Humanitarian Intervention offers a principled position for leftists who oppose military crusades waged by the West, but who still wish to argue that there are circumstances in which military intervention is justifiable on humanitarian groundS. It furthermore shines a spotlight on the role of rich countries in contributing to conflict in poorer ones via neo-liberal policies. ... Newman's case is persuasively supported by a detailed analysis of conflict zones from the past twenty years. His analysis takes into account both historical events and the theoretical evolution of humanitarianism. ... An important contribution to the debate.' - Political Studies Review 'Michael Newman addresses the vexed moral and legal issues surrounding intervention with a scrupulous seriousness. Seeking out the complexities and ambiguities inherent in practice and scholarship, Newman impressively and effectively deploys his research in support of his arguments.' - Professor Bill Bowring, Birkbeck College, University of London 'Humanitarian Intervention unpacks the contradictions of this controversial topic in ways that are both scholarly and accessible to those who might be unfamiliar with relevant literature. A range of examples engage as well as inform the reader by relating the arguments to specific cases in point.' - Marjorie Mayo, author of Global Citizens: Social Movements and the Challenge of Globalization