Description
Book SynopsisAddresses Western officials' responses to post-Cold War conflicts and analyses the reactions of the Left to their governments' positions.
Trade Review“
Powerless by Design is necessary reading for anyone concerned with the contemporary politics of human rights. Feher offers a lucid and incisive indictment of the humanitarian pretensions of the international community.”—Robert Post, University of California, Berkeley
“Extremely provocative and informative, this book should quickly become the center of political debate among liberal and left scholars and activists. The book deftly lays out the paradox of a discourse on human rights and international obligations that under certain political conditions undermines the very principles at stake”—Judith Butler, author of
The Psychic Life of Power: Theories in Subjection“Michel Feher is a keen and lucid analyzer of doctrines and hypocrisies, and in
Powerless by Design he has given us a truly valuable analysis of the doctrines and hypocrisies of right now.”—Paul Berman, author of
A Tale of Two Utopias: The Political Journey of the Generation of 1968Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
A Puzzling Chiasm
A New Doctrine
A Radical Critique
1. Misguiding Definitions
2. Self-serving motives
3. Obfuscating policies
I. Humanitarianism
II. Diplomacy
III. Reconstruction
IV. Justice
4. Self-fulfilling prophecies
An Ambiguous Evolution
An Unsettling Message
An Emerging Polarization
Notes
