Can institutions, in the sense of formal organizations, be considered vulnerable to moral burdens? The contributors to this book critically examine the idea of the 'collective' or 'institutional' moral agent in, inter alia , the guise of states, transnational corporations, the UN and international society. The viability of treating these entities as bearers of moral responsibilities is explored in the context of some of the most critical and debated issues and events in international relations, including the genocide in Rwanda, development aid, the Kosovo campaign and global justice.

Can institutions (in the sense of formal organizations) bear duties and be ascribed blame in the same way that we understand individual human beings to be morally responsible for actions? The idea of the "institutional moral agent" is critically examined in the guise of states, transnational corporations, the UN, NATO and international society in the context of some of the most critical and debated issues and events in international relations, including the Kosovo Campaign, development aid, and genocide in Rwanda.

This book provides an innovative contribution to the study of the Responsibility to Protect and Kantian political theory. The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine has been heralded as the new international security norm to ensure the protection of peoples against genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Yet, for all of the discussion, endorsements and reaffirmations of this new norm, R2P continues to come under fire for its failures, particularly, and most recently, in the case of Syria. This book argues that a duty to protect is best considered a Kantian provisional duty of justice. The international system ought to be considered a state of nature, where legal institutions are either weak or absent, and so duties of justice in such a condition cannot be considered peremptory. This book suggests that by understanding the duty’s provisional status, we understand the necessity of creating the requisite executive, legislative and judicial authorities. Furthermore, the book provides three innovative contributions to the literature, study and practice of R2P and Kantian political theory: it provides detailed theoretical analysis of R2P; it addresses the research gap that exists with Kant’s account of justice in states of nature; and it presents a more comprehensive understanding of the metaphysics of justice as well as R2P. This book will be of much interest to students of the Responsibility to Protect, humanitarian intervention, global ethics, international law, security studies and international relations (IR) in general.

Exploring theoretical foundations for the distribution of shared responsibility, this book provides a basis for the development of international law.

Five essays set out the general principles of international law that are applicable to the IFIs and consider how these are or should be evolving to produce IFIs that are respectful subjects of international law and accountable to all relevant stakeholders for their compliance with international law. Six more focus on selected aspects of the IFIs’ operations that both raise important and challenging international legal issues and that have substantial impacts on both the different stakeholders in the operations of the IFIs, and on the sustainability and success of the operations. Introductory and concluding essays frame the volume. The many issues raised include the following: • IFIs’ impact on economic policies in Member States; • IFI operations as private financial transactions; • IFIs as key players in the creation of international law; • IFIs as promoters of the international capitalist system; • IFIs as bearers of human rights obligations under international human rights law or as participants in the UN system; • consequences of an IFI’s breach of its own internal policies or directives; • IFI immunity; • IFI capacity to sue and to be sued in national courts; • ability of various claimants to sue IFIs in domestic courts; • environmental and social rights and interests of third parties affected by IFI financing; • right of indigenous people to give their free, prior, and informed consent to IFI operations that affect them; and • IFIs’ treatment of workers’ rights.

This is the first study of how major global problems have been managed through the international distribution of special responsibilities.

This collection explores the changes that the current international order has brought to the theory and practice of recognition of secessionist claims and to the conditions for secessionist mobilization. The contributors employ comparative analysis within legal, international relations and political science frameworks and examine several recent attempts at secession.