New security challenges

For far too long the discipline of International Relations has failed to engage with the study of genocide. This is despite the fact that genocide holds a direct relationship with the central concepts of international relations: the state, war, power, and security. This bold, innovative and unique book sets out to tackle this by bringing the concept of genocide into the discipline of IR, via the English School, in order to theorise the relationship between genocide, justice, and order. Drawing on a wide-range of primary and secondary interdisciplinary material from International Relations, Genocide Studies, Security Studies, International Law, History, Politics and Political Theory, this book aims to understand genocide within the context of International Relations and the implications that this has on policymaking. Gallagher identifies the obstacles and challenges involved in bringing the study of genocide into IR and uniquely analyses the impact of genocide on the ordering structure of international society.

"Genocide refers to the destruction of a group. However, if one is not a member of that group, why should one care about its destruction? In an innovative approach, this interdisciplinary book answers this question by looking at the impact of genocide on contemporary international order rather than appealing, as most books do, to the idea of humanity. Setting out a new definition of genocide, the book explains that genocide holds a special relationship with international legitimacy which is the key to understanding how genocide impacts on the authority of international law, international morality, the United Nations and the United Nations Security Council. Genocide is internationally regarded as the 'crime of crimes' from a legal and moral perspective, it erodes the authority of these ordering principles more than any other crime. From this perspective, the prevention of genocide is in the national interest of all states, that is, if they favour international order"--

Machine generated contents note: -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Words Matter: Genocide and the Definitional Debate -- Genocide and the Three Traditions -- Genocide and International Legitimacy -- The Impact of Genocide on International Order -- The Responsibility to Protect -- The Three Traditions Revisited -- Conclusion: Answering the 'East Tennessee Question'.