Children and the Responsibility to Protect edited by Bina D'COSTA and Luke GLANVILLE. Leiden/Boston: Brill Nijhoff, 2019. xi + 299 pp. Paperback: €92.00, E-Book: €92.00. doi: 10.1163/9789004379534

Abstract

paradigm that has become dominant since the 1990s. This new paradigm, which does not concern itself with the legality of war but rather with the legality of how the war is fought, has become convenient to the United States, which has invented new forms of warfare characterized by drone attacks and targeted killings (Chs. 7 and 8). Furthermore, the author suggests that the endeavour to humanize war has led towards legitimizing the endless war the United States has unleashed on foreign territories. The book introduces a range of thinkers belonging to both pacifist and humanitarian traditions, spanning across more than a century. Readers acquainted with Moyn’s previous work would identify the recurrence of familiar categories of minimalism and maximalism in the analysis. The limitation of the minimalist approach to war (humanitarianism) is explained in comparison to the maximalist imperative (pacifism). Although the discussion focuses mainly on debates that occurred in the United States, any reader would still benefit because the account provides useful insights on an important aspect of contemporary imperial dominance. The book could perhaps have been even more interesting if it had included a discussion on the way in which humanizing warfare might favour imperial states with technological superiority over peripheral states and irregular combatants lacking the sophistication to engage in targeted killings.