The following is a list of the top ten downloaded articles on the Blackwell Synergy site in 2008:
1. Toward a Moral System for World Society: A Reflection on Human Responsibilities
Mary Maxwell
A group of statesmen known as the InterAction Council, in consultation with theologians and philosophers representing many cultures, has drafted a proposed Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities. (Vol. 12, 1998)
2. Responsibility to Protect or Trojan Horse? The Crisis in Darfur and Humanitarian Intervention after Iraq
Alex J. Bellamy
What does the world’s engagement with the unfolding crisis in Darfur tell us about the impact of the Iraq war on the norm of humanitarian intervention? Is a global consensus about a “responsibility to protect” more or less likely? There are at least three potential answers to these questions. (Vol. 19.2, Summer 2005)
3. Justifications of the Iraq War Examined
Richard B. Miller
This paper critically assesses three claims on behalf of the Iraq war made by the Bush administration and by various defenders of the war. Then it steps back from the specifics of these three rationales to ask whether they are in fact of the same sort. (Vol. 22.1, Spring 2008)
4. Whither the Responsibility to Protect? Humanitarian Intervention and the 2005 World Summit
Alex J. Bellamy
This article examines how consensus was reached on the responsibility to protect, given continuing hostility to humanitarian intervention expressed by many (if not most) of the world’s states and whether the consensus will contribute to avoiding future Kosovos and Rwandas. (Vol. 20.2, Summer 2006)
5. The Legitimacy of Global Governance Institutions
Allen Buchanan, Robert O. Keohane
The authors articulate a global public standard for the normative legitimacy of global governance institutions. This standard can provide the basis for principled criticism of global governance institutions and guide reform efforts in circumstances in which people disagree deeply about the demands of global justice and the role that global governance institutions should play in meeting them. (Vol. 20.4, Winter 2006)
6. World Poverty and Human Rights
Thomas Pogge
Despite a high and growing global average income, billions of human beings are still condemned to lifelong severe poverty, with all its attendant evils of low life expectancy, social exclusion, ill health, illiteracy, dependency, and effective enslavement. This problem is solvable, in spite of its magnitude. (Vol. 19.1, Spring 2005)
7. Deliberation and Global Governance: Liberal, Cosmopolitan, and Critical Perspectives
William Smith, James Brassett
This paper develops a critical analysis of deliberative approaches to global governance. After first defining global governance and with a minimalist conception of deliberation in mind, the paper outlines three paradigmatic approaches: liberal, cosmopolitan, and critical. (Vol. 22.1, Spring 2008)
8. On the Morality of Immigration
Mathias Risse
This essay makes a plea for the relevance of moral considerations in debates about immigration. It offers a standpoint that demonstrates why one should think of immigration as a moral problem that must be considered in the context of global justice. (Vol. 22.1, Spring 2008)
9. Ecological Intervention: Prospects and Limits
Robyn Eckersley
This essay seeks to extend the already controversial debate about humanitarian intervention by exploring the morality, legality, and legitimacy of ecological intervention and its corollary, ecological defense. (Vol. 21.3, Fall 2007)
10. Uganda’s Civil War and the Politics of ICC Intervention
Adam Branch
The International Criminal Court’s intervention into the ongoing civil war in northern Uganda evoked a chorus of confident predictions as to its capacity to bring peace and justice to the war-torn region. However, this optimism is unwarranted. (Vol. 21.2, Summer 2007)