26.06.2019

New book »In the Cause of Humanity. Eine Geschichte der humanitären Intervention im langen 19. Jahrhundert« by Fabian Klose

Should the international community respond to violations of humanitarian norms and related humanitarian crises? And if yes, when and how? This question is undoubtedly one of the much-discussed issues on today’s international policy agenda. However, it was not only at the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first centuries that this problem suddenly emerged from nowhere, but already during the course of the long nineteenth century it was controversially dealt with.

In his recently published German book »In the Cause of Humanity. A History of Humanitarian Intervention in the long Nineteenth Century« Fabian Klose is looking at various case studies such as the fight against the slave trade (1807–1890), the military interventions of the major European powers to protec Christian minorities in the Ottoman Empire (1827–1878) and the intervention of the United States in the Cuban War of Independence (1898) to investigate the emerging doctrine of humanitarian intervention as an instrument in international politics. A central key role in this development was played by the armed international struggle against the slave trade as the archetype of humanitarian intervention. Thus, the long nineteenth century can be characterized as the genuine »century of humanitarian intervention«, in which military interventionism under the banner of humanity was significantly linked with colonial and imperial projects.
The publication is based on a postdoctoral thesis, which has been awarded with the »Carl-Erdmann-Preis« of the »Verbands der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands« (VHD). The book was published by the Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht publishing house and is now available in digital form at Open Access.
Fabian Klose is professor for International History and Historical Peace and Conflict Research in the 19th and 20th century at Cologne University. 2012–2018, he was a member of the academic staff at the department for universal history at the IEG Mainz.

Fabian Klose
»In the Cause of Humanity«. Eine Geschichte der humanitären Intervention im langen 19. Jahrhundert
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1. Auflage 2019
516 Seiten, gebunden
ISBN: 978-3-525-37084-1