Between War and Politics: International Relations and the Thought of Hannah Arendt

234 Pages·2007·0.5 MB·English

by  Patricia Owens

BETWEEN WAR AND POLITICS
TheChangingCharacterofWarProgrammeisaninter-disciplinaryresearch
centre located in the University of Oxford, and funded by the Leverhulme
Trust.
Between War and Politics
International Relations and the Thought
of Hannah Arendt
PATRICIA OWENS
1
3
GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26
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Owens,Patricia.
Betweenwarandpolitics:internationalrelationsandthethoughtofHannah
Arendt/PatriciaOwens.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN-13: 978–0–19–929936–2(alk.paper) 1. Politicsandwar. 2. Internationalrelations.
3. Arendt,Hannah,1906–1975. I. Title.
JZ6385.094 2007
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2007012575
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ISBN 978–0–19–929936–2(Hbk.)
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ForFrancis,Ella,andTashi
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Acknowledgements
It gives me enormous pleasure to recognize those who have supported the
writing of this book. I am especially grateful to George Welton and Michael
Jagowhogaveextensivecommentsontheentiremanuscript.LynBoydJud-
son, Tony Lang, Keith Stanski, and Nina Silove commented on many, if not
all, of the chapters. Ken Booth and Nick Wheeler were excellent advisers of
the dissertation where some of these ideas were first worked out. Bhikhu
ParekhandTimDunnewerefirst-rateexaminers.Forcommentsonthebook
proposal, chapters and conference or workshop papers I warmly thank two
anonymousreviewers,HaywardAlker,TarakBarkawi,MollyCochran,Martin
Coward, Lisa Disch, Jean-Francois Drolet, Pauline Ewan, Alexandra Gheciu,
Patrick Hayden, T. X. Hammes, Lene Hansen, Helen Kinsella, Jerome Kohn,
Richard Little, Bryan Mabee, Jennifer Mitzen, Norma Claire Moruzzi, Mark
Philp, Richard Price, Henry Shue, Steve Smith, Hew Strachan, Ann Tickner,
DanTwining,JohnWilliams,andMichaelC.Williams.
The Department of Politics and International Relations at the University
of Oxford and Oriel College have provided a first-rate home for the past
three years. The Oxford–Leverhulme programme on the Changing Char-
acter of War provided financial support. I am very grateful to my editor,
Dominic Byatt, who has been supportive, encouraging, and patient. Keith
Stanski has been a diligent and good-humoured assistant in the final weeks
double-checkingquotesanddoinglastminutelibraryruns.Iamalsograteful
to Jerome Kohn and Jessica Reifer of the Hannah Arendt Blucher Literary
Trust.
A few paragraphs of the material are reprinted from: ‘Accidents Don’t
Just Happen: The Liberal Politics of High-Tech Humanitarian War’, Millen-
nium:JournalofInternationalStudies,Vol.32,no.3(2003),pp.595–616and
‘Hannah Arendt, Violence, and the Inescapable Fact of Humanity’, in John
Williams and Anthony F. Lang, Jr. (eds.), Hannah Arendt and International
Relations:ReadingAcrosstheLines(London:PalgravePress,2005),pp.41–65.
Chapter7originallyappearedinReviewofInternationalStudies,Vol.33,no.3
(2007).IamgratefultoViking/Penguin,Harcourt,ChicagoUniversityPress,
and Random House for permission to use scattered quotes from Hannah
Arendt’sworks.
PatriciaOwens
OrielCollege,Oxford
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Contents
AbbreviationsofBooksbyHannahArendt x
1. Introduction 1
2. ViolenceandPower,PoliticsandWar 13
3. WhoIsRevealedinWar?History,War,andStorytelling 33
4. TheBoomerangEffect:OntheImperialOriginsofTotalWar 52
5. ‘HowDangerousItCanBeToBeInnocent’:WarandtheLaw 72
6. RageAgainstHypocrisy:OnLiberalWarsforHumanRights 91
7. BeyondStrauss,LiesandtheWarinIraq:ACritiqueof
Neoconservatism 111
8. TheHumanitarianCondition?OnWarandMakinga
GlobalPublic 128
Conclusion 149
Notes 153
Bibliography 188
Index 216