Perilous interventions

Perilous interventions is a must-read for scholars and students of international politics, at a time when the global order itself feels imperilled. The United Nations and its apex crisis management body, the Security Council, created to protect future generations from the scourge of war, emerge as part of the problem in this disturbing and frank account of politics at the high table. Discussing cases of militarized intervention, carried out with and without the mandate and legitimacy of Council resolutions, the book provides a detailed and gripping insight into UN decision-making. The book's tragic conclusion is that parts of the Middle East and North Africa have become sites of enduring crisis and chaos, as a result of ‘the vicious cycle of perilous interventions’ (p. 7). The book comes with a very concrete prescription: that interventions, especially those that entail the ‘use of force’, and more generally that ‘interventionist mindsets’ (p. 5), have disastrous consequences and need to be challenged and scrutinized. Hardeep Singh Puri, a long-serving and distinguished diplomat, draws on his experience of multilateral diplomacy but especially focuses on the inner workings of the UNSC. Having served as permanent representative at the UN for India, he was President of the Council in August 2011 and November 2012, when Libya and Syria were high on the UNSC agenda. The UNSC comprises five permanent members—China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States—collectively known as the P5, each with the power to veto a resolution. The council's ten elected members serve two-year, non-consecutive terms and are not afforded veto power. There is thus a particular nuance to the narrative and perspective provided in this book, as India, a non-permanent member, did not have veto power but was afforded an opportunity to steer and shape deliberations on two major international crises

Diplomacy · Humanitarian intervention · International law · Intervention (counseling · Legitimacy · Mandate · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Psychological intervention · Responsibility to Protect · Security council · Sociology · Veto · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Law · Medicine · Peacebuilding and International Security · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Public Administration