Abstract
In the shadow of the emotive debates that have surrounded the Arab Spring, Genocide and Its Threat to Contemporary International Order is a timely and insightful addition to the literature on genocide, and humanitarian intervention more generally. Adrian Gallagher's study is informed by two broad and interrelated objectives: first, to encourage International Relations scholars to focus more on genocide (p. 5) and second, to prove that preventing genocide is not just altruistic, but also in the interest of all who seek international peace and stability. The latter objective is obviously of much greater importance, and Gallagher rightly notes that the ‘why should we care?’ question continues to be asked, and is invariably answered by appeals to ‘common morality’.
He notes further that this altruistic defence of genocide prevention has demonstrably failed, and uses the English School theoretical framework to identify a link between genocide and international order via an exploration of legitimacy and the United Nations.
Gallagher challenges the Realist preference for order, not on principle, but on its own logic (p. 150). If, he argues, we can agree that international order is a universal good, and if we determine that the UN constitutes the international institution with the greatest claim to host and proliferate those norms and laws that facilitate the promotion of international order, then clearly we must have an interest in preserving its legitimacy. The inability of the UN to prevent or halt genocide constitutes a grave diminution of its legitimacy and thus the link between genocide prevention and international order is made. Gallagher advances a succinct critique of the relativist/pluralist opposition to humanitarian intervention (p. 154), but he also suggests that the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) does not constitute a viable means to facilitate effective prevention or intervention (p. 144).
While the debate on – and indeed the practice of – genocide prevention can be disheartening, Gallagher argues that it provides us with ‘both a fundamental problem and opportunity: to establish a universal legitimate order that embodies both a commitment to sovereignty (in the conditional sense) and human rights (in the universal sense)’ (p. 162). This book, therefore, almost uniquely avoids both the Realist and pro-R2P perspectives on genocide prevention and humanitarian intervention and advances a theoretically informed defence of a new disposition that is based on reason and logic rather than emotion. Genocide and Its Threat to Contemporary International Order is an important, fresh perspective on this (sadly) perennial issue.