"David Kennedy's new book reflects on the misunderstandings and mistakes that sometimes lurk amidst the work and results of well-intentioned people who are trying to make the world a better place... This is a disheartening but essential book."
Donald W. Jackson, The Law and Politics Book Review "Important and timely... The most systematic and attentive treatment of the problems that arise ... Read morewhen ideas of humanitarian professionalism contradict the real needs of people in distress."
Eric A. Heinze, Perspectives in Political Science "This is an interesting and important book... [W]hat Kennedy does do well is to argue that the humanitarian community has by and large failed to confront the reality of bad consequences flowing from good intentions."
Ramesh Thakur, Japanese Journal of Political Science "David Kennedy ... has written in this work a provocative analysis of those who would better the lives of individuals through action in international relations... Kennedy is always stimulating and well worth reading."
David P. Forsythe, The American Journal of International Law "There is a sort of almost spiritually liberating quality in [Kennedy's] relentless self-examination, in his search for a meta-shift of focus for the discipline, in his search for new boundaries to trespass beyond what can be concretely said... Kennedy's call for a pragmatic and responsible humanitarian self-empowerment can appeal to many."
Ignacio de la Rasilla del Moral, European Journal of International Law Show Less