Genocide and Its Threat to International Society, PhD
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Events in Rwanda in 1994 mark a landmark in the history of modern genocide. Up to one million people were killed in a planned public and political campaign. In the face of indisputable evidence, the UN Security Council failed miserably in its response.
In this classic of investigative journalism, Linda Melvern tells the compelling story of what really happened, revealing both the scale, speed and intensity of the unfolding genocide, as well as exposing the governments and individuals who could have prevented what was happening, if they had chosen to act. The book also tells the unrecognised heroism of those who stayed on during the genocide - from volunteer peacekeepers to courageous NGO workers.
Twenty-five years on from one of the darkest episodes in modern history, A People Betrayed is a shocking indictment of how Rwanda was ignored then and how today it is remembered in the West.
This essay presents the three main traditions of thinking about international relations in Western societies since the sixteenth century, with particular attention to the ‘middle ground’ between extremes. These extremes are typified by thinkers such as Machiavelli and Hobbes at one pole, and Kant and Wilson at the other. The via media is associated with the development of constitutional government and the rule of law, as represented by thinkers such as Grotius and Gladstone. The essay illustrates the differences among these three traditions by analysing their distinct positions concerning international society, the maintenance of order, intervention, and international morality. ‘Western values’ are most effectively supported by thinkers and leaders who neither deny the existence of international society nor exaggerate its foreseeable prospects for gaining greater cohesion and strength. The middle course—the mainstream of the ‘Western values’ tradition—respects moral standards and sees moral challenges as complex, instead of regarding them as simple or nonexistent.
