The Dark Sides of Virtue: Reassessing International Humanitarianism

In this provocative and timely book, David Kennedy explores what can go awry when we put our humanitarian yearnings into action on a global scale—and what we can do in response.


Rooted in Kennedy's own experience in numerous humanitarian efforts, the book examines campaigns for human rights, refugee protection, economic development, and for humanitarian limits to the conduct of war. It takes us from the jails of Uruguay to the corridors of the United Nations, from the founding of a non-gove...