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 Medecins Sans Frontieres 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.
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 Medecins Sans Frontieres 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.
Groundbreaking exploration of the philosophy underpinning Western humanitarian intervention.
EYAL WEIZMAN is Professor of Spatial and Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is the author of Hollow Land and co-editor of A Civilian Occupation. He lives in London.
Eyal Weizman's work has become an indispensable source of both
insight and guidance in these difficult times. He understands the
evolving dynamics of war and sovereignty better than anyone.
*Paul Gilroy, Professor of Social History, London School of
Economics*
This is a wonderful book, written with clarity, precision, and
passion. It takes the reader into the heart of contemporary
necro-politics and calculations of "lesser evils" by powerful
states and their humanitarian accomplices. Deeply learned and
informative on every page, this is essential reading for anyone who
cares about contemporary conditions of warfare and state-controlled
violence; about the spatial practices that reinforce and regulate
systemic forms of violence, such as the calculation of minimal
requirements for human survival. In the spirit of Doctors Without
Borders, Weizman is an architect without borders, at home in
political philosophy, military history, just war theory, and the
spatial systems of controlled, calculated violence that constitute
Israel-Palestine, and much of the world today.
*W. J. T. Mitchell, Professor of English and Art History,
University of Chicago*
Originality, ingenuity, and brilliance do not even begin to do
justice to this amazing study, this architectural forensics of
battle and human rights as pieced together from the study of the
ruin and the terrifying logic of "the lesser evil". How astonishing
to see our new world this new way.
*Michael Taussig, Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University*
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