The Least of All Possible Evils: Humanitarian Violence from Arendt to Gaza - Hardcover

Weizman, Eyal

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1844676471 ISBN 13: 9781844676477

Publisher: Verso, 2012

Synopsis

Groundbreaking exploration of the philosophy underpinning Western humanitarian intervention

The principle of the “lesser evil”—the acceptability of pursuing one exceptional course of action in order to prevent a greater injustice—has long been a cornerstone of Western ethical philosophy. From its roots in classical ethics and Christian theology, to Hannah Arendt’s exploration of the work of the Jewish Councils during the Nazi regime, Weizman explores its development in three key transformations of the problem: the defining intervention of Médecins Sans Frontières in mid-1980s Ethiopia; the separation wall in Israel-Palestine; and international and human rights law in Bosnia, Gaza and Iraq. Drawing on a wealth of new research, Weizman charts the latest manifestation of this age-old idea. In doing so he shows how military and political intervention acquired a new “humanitarian” acceptability and legality in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

About this title

About the Author

Eyal Weizman is Professor of Spatial and Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he directs the Centre for Research Architecture and the European Research Council funded project Forensic Architecture. He is also a founder member of the collective Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency (DAAR) in Bethlehem, Palestine. He is the author of Hollow Land, The Least of All Possible Evils, and co-editor of A Civilian Occupation. He lives in London.

Reviews

Weizman's criticism of humanitarianism is indispensable, even if he leaves open what should replace it. Since deploying violence in the name of compassion has become a central feature of global politics, Weizman's tour of the dark places humanitarianism can lead is alarming and provocative. —Samuel Moyn

Edition details

• Publisher: Verso
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1844676471
• ISBN 13: 9781844676477
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208