MANCEPT research seminar - Thursday 28 April - Massimo Renzo - University of Warwick
| Dates: | 28 April 2016 |
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| Times: | 16:00 - 18:00 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | School of Social Sciences |
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| Speaker: | Massimo Renzo |
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ABSTRACT: It is now widely acknowledged that it is morally permissible to interfere with the sovereignty of
another state in order to stop widespread or systematic violations of human rights such as genocide, ethnic
cleansing, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The textbook cases are the Rwandan Genocide, the
atrocities committed by Idi Amin in Uganda or those perpetrated by West Pakistan during the Bangladesh
War of Independence. At the same time, it is commonly agreed that a revolution to bring down a tyrannical
regime would be permissible even if the human rights violations perpetrated by the regime fell short of those
perpetrated in Rwanda or Uganda. This suggests that according to the received view, the conditions for the
permissibility of humanitarian intervention do not coincide with the conditions for the permissibility of revolution.
Let’s be creative and call this the Asymmetry View. Should we accept the Asymmetry View? I argue that we should.
In order to do so, I outline an account of political self-determination and illustrate the complex role that the notion
should play in the debate on humanitarian intervention. I then rebut a powerful objection recently raised by Jeff McMahan,
Andrew Altman and Christopher Wellman that, if valid, would undermine the Asymmetry View.
Speaker
Massimo Renzo
Role: Speaker
Organisation: University of Warwick
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
2nd Floor Boardroom
Arthur Lewis Building
Manchester
