Few questions of global politics are more pressing than how to respond to widespread violence against civilians. Despite the efforts of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) proponents to draw attention away from exclusively military responses, debates on humanitarian intervention and R2P’s “Third Pillar” still tend to boil down to two unsatisfying options: stand by and “do nothing” or take military action to protect civilians – essentially using violence to stop violence. Accordingly – and given disagreement and uncertainty regarding moral claims, as well as the unpredictability of military effectiveness – this book asks: how can we counter violence ethically and effectively, taking action consistent with our particular moral commitments while also nurturing difference and enacting responsibility towards multiple others? After evaluating the pragmatic and ethical failings of military action, the book proposes nonviolent intervention as a third – unarmed, on-the-ground – option for protecting civilians during humanitarian crises. In the empirical section of the book, focusing on the discursive and psychological conditions enabling violence, Wallace analyses the mechanisms by which Nonviolent Peaceforce – an international NGO engaged in nonviolent intervention/ unarmed civilian peacekeeping (UCP) – was able to protect civilians and prevent violence, even if on a limited scale, in the broader context of Sri Lanka’s war/counterinsurgency in 2008. Both philosophically innovative and practically useful to those working in the field, the book contributes to a range of literatures and debates: from just war theory and poststructuralist ethics to nonviolent action and conflict transformation, and from humanitarian intervention, R2P, and civilian protection to strategic theory and discursive and psychological theories of violence.

Wallace explores ethical yet effective responses to violence, proposing nonviolent intervention (civilian peacekeeping) as a third option for protecting civilians during humanitarian crises. This book addresses a diverse range of literatures and debates, and is both philosophically innovative and practically useful for those working in the field.

This book examines the question: Is the elimination of nuclear weapons feasible? Individual chapters address the major conceptual, technical, and economic issues in the design of a non-nuclear security regime. Other chapters explore more specialized issues as they relate to the feasibility of the elimination of nuclear weapons: elite perceptions and the decision-making process, verification, nuclear proliferation, fissile materials and warheads, alliance and regional hegemonies, and deterrence.

This book focuses on the non-military military means through which states intervene to balance the economic and military power of other states. Also available as Open Access.

SIPRIStockholm International Peace Research Institute is an independent institute for scientific research, which aims to further an understanding of the conditions for peaceful solutions to international conflicts and for a stable peace. Over the past twenty years, SIPRI has concentrated on problems ofarmaments, disarmament, and arms regulation. SIPRI is financed mainly by the Swedish Parliament. Its staff, the Governing Board, and the Scientific Council are international.The prospect of large reductions of nuclear weapons poses fundamental questions about the purpose of nuclear weapons. Why have some states chosen to acquire nuclear weapons? How - and why - have these decisions been maintained over time? Why have some states elected to approach, but not cross, thenuclear threshold?This book examines the commonalities and differences in political approaches to nuclear weapons both within and among three groups of states: nuclear, non-nuclear, and threshold. The chapters explore the evolution of thinking about nuclear weapons and the role these weapons play in nationalsecurity planning.The book transcends traditional East-West approaches to analysis of nuclear issues by giving equal prominence to the issues of nuclear proliferation and non-nuclearism. The book also provides a comprehensive analysis of how current approaches to nuclear weapons have evolved both within and amongthe countries under study.

Why do states block some foreign direct investment on national security grounds even when it originates from within their own security community? Government intervention into foreign takeovers of domestic companies is on the rise, and many observers find it surprising that states engage in such behaviour not only against their strategic and military competitors, but also against their closest allies. Ashley Lenihan argues that such puzzling behaviour can be explained by recognizing that states use intervention into cross-border mergers and acquisitions as a tool of statecraft to internally balance the economic and military power of other states through non-military means. This book tests this theory using quantitative and qualitative analysis of transactions in the United States, Russia, China, and fifteen European Union states. It deepens our understanding of why states intervene in foreign takeovers, the relationship between interdependence and conflict, the limits of globalization, and how states are balancing power in new ways. This title is also available as Open Access.

The Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria should be seen as both a phenomenon and as an activity. As a phenomenon it should be seen as expressions of injustice and de-development in Nigeria and as an activity it should be seen as expressions of violence and destruction to satisfy orgiastic aspirations, especially in some northern parts of Nigeria. Again, as a phenomenon, the coverage of Boko Haram is the entire Nigeria while as an activity it has turned northern Nigeria into one boiling cauldron with fear being personalized while insecurity lurks in the streets. With Boko Haram, the sword of Damocles now hangs on every head, especially in the northern region. This deadly scenario provokes soul-searching questions: Why is Nigeria constantly enmeshed in deadly conflicts? What conditions fertilize social violence in our societies? What were the warning signals or accumulation of combustible materials that were ignored? What conditions could engender peace and security in a plural society like ours? Are the violence entrepreneurs engaging Nigeria in conversation or are they determined to crack its history? Is Nigeria sitting on a keg of gunpowder? Are Nigerian youths dissatisfied with the political economy of Nigeria? Is the aggression of the Boko Haram a product of frustration, religious messianism or terrorism? How can the swords of Damocles in Nigeria be turned into ploughshares? And how can the phenomenon of Boko Haram in Nigeria and its activities in some parts of Northern Nigeria be stopped?These are some of the questions which the book tries to provide answers for.