Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book considers contemporary human rights in humanitarian intervention as an institutional complex, using a methodology of institutional ethnography (IE) informed by actor-network theory (ANT). This approach explores the interplay of institutional actors and texts to illuminate practices and relations of power in this emerging form of global governance. 'Humanitarian intervention' is a contested term with a lengthy history, and contemporary definitions and use vary. The book explores the dimension of humanitarian intervention through an examination of the practices of international human rights experts in United Nations (UN) and other other intergovernmental organization (IGO) field missions, and the key legal texts that authorize and direct their work. It traces the practices of law and expertise from global IGO headquarters to the 'field' and back again, and through various contemporary field missions from Bosnia to Afghanistan and East Timor to Sierra Leone.