Does humanitarian intervention 'work'? Could it work better if approached differently? Or should we just, in the words of one critic, 'give war a chance'? Since the end of the Cold War and the subsequent surge in civil and international conflicts, the UN has been faced by an ever-increasing set of demands on its military capacity. This book traces the evolution of its armed humanitarian intervention from the grand ambitions for forceful collective security through the 'brushfire' peacekeeping of the cold war years to its engagement with the present globalised yet fractured world order. Key Features Presents a concise analytical overview of the theoretical, moral and practical issues Explores the general setting of contemporary humanitarian intervention Assesses the actual record of post-Cold War humanitarian intervention on a region-by-region basis, from the Balkans to Africa and Southeast Asia Compiles a balance sheet of success and failure in the UN's efforts and confronts hard questions about their short and long- term value.