Introduction

This chapter describes humanitarian protection as a field of study, outlines the key theoretical approaches, and discusses some central concepts: humanitarian intervention, the Responsibility to Protect, and humanitarian protection. The chapter then turns to a description of the development of the field in recent decades, discussing conceptual developments including the emergence of ‘human security’; ‘structural violence’ and the development of peace studies; the expansion of constructivism and the role of norms as a field of study; as well as the contribution of the literature in the field of Global Governance. The chapter concludes with a description of the structure of the book.