Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Towards a history of humanitarian intervention
- Part I Early modern precedents
- 2 ‘If a prince use tyrannie towards his people’: interventions on behalf of foreign populations in early modern Europe
- 3 The Protestant interest and the history of humanitarian intervention, c. 1685–c. 1756
- 4 ‘A false principle in the Law of Nations’: Burke, state sovereignty, [German] liberty, and intervention in the Age of Westphalia
- Part II The Great Powers and the Ottoman Empire
- Part III Intervening in Africa
- Part IV Non-European states
- Part V Postscript
- Index
3 - The Protestant interest and the history of humanitarian intervention, c. 1685–c. 1756
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 April 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Towards a history of humanitarian intervention
- Part I Early modern precedents
- 2 ‘If a prince use tyrannie towards his people’: interventions on behalf of foreign populations in early modern Europe
- 3 The Protestant interest and the history of humanitarian intervention, c. 1685–c. 1756
- 4 ‘A false principle in the Law of Nations’: Burke, state sovereignty, [German] liberty, and intervention in the Age of Westphalia
- Part II The Great Powers and the Ottoman Empire
- Part III Intervening in Africa
- Part IV Non-European states
- Part V Postscript
- Index
Summary
Kings, besides the Care of their own Kingdom, have lying upon them the Care of human society: Hence it is, that the Powers of the Earth enter into Alliances and Leagues to guard Men against the Oppression of their own Governours and others. And this accounts for the Original of a Guarantee, whose Office is, not only to see Articles perform'd in Treaties between Princes and Princes, but between Princes and their Subjects.
Charles Owen (1725)Historians enjoy speculating on the past. There is a certain satisfaction in showing that ideas and developments that are more generally deemed to be novel and radical have a longer history than is generally accepted. The longevity of ideas of humanitarian intervention is something that a number of chapters in this volume seek to demonstrate and the present contribution concentrates attention on the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. It considers how concern for oppressed peoples was articulated in the diplomatic and public discourse and practice of the period. Some of the techniques adopted and the problems faced have a surprisingly modern ring about them. This is not necessarily that surprising. Yet it is still worth recalling this history during discussions about the legitimacy or otherwise of humanitarian interventionism today.
Despite some of the similarities between the worlds of the eighteenth century and now, some substantial differences are apparent. The figures with whom this chapter is primarily concerned were very rarely motivated by a concern for common humanity.
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- Humanitarian InterventionA History, pp. 67 - 88Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
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