
My new book, Intervention before Interventionism: A Global Genealogy, has been published with Oxford University Press.
Reviews
“There is no trivializing how much Quinton-Brown’s impressive research and thinking has augmented the retrieval of the postcolonial agenda in IR. The results are magisterial. It is very much to be hoped that the book creates a new starting-point in this field…”—Samuel Moyn, Yale University, International Affairs
“…an essential read for IR students and scholars. Quinton-Brown not only uncovers the history and development of the concept of intervention, but he also brings to the forefront the issues that global South state leaders were negotiating; what visions for global ordering they had; and how they saw their role in the global system, advocating for interdependence between freedom and peace.”—Lina Benabdallah, Wake Forest University, International Affairs
“This is a meticulously researched, and carefully constructed analysis…not simply a diplomatic history but an exploration of meaning making as political practice and political contestation in the constitution of orders.”—Jacinta O’Hagan, The University of Queensland, Cambridge Review of International Affairs
“Intervention before Interventionism boldly encourages us to rethink what it means to ‘intervene’. Patrick Quinton-Brown analyses the views and practice of non-aligned countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America in the post-1945 period, and his approach reveals that there was a competitive discursive practice around the concept of intervention throughout the Cold War.”—Jennifer Welsh, former Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the Responsibility to Protect and McGill University, Canada, International Affairs
“Intervention before Interventionism: a Global Genealogy by Patrick Quinton-Brown is a much-needed global genealogy of the intervention concept in world politics. This book comes at a critical moment; one in which the (recent) hegemonic meaning of this timeless problematique has come undone. Much ink will be spilled in praising, challenging, and engaging with the divergent strands of Quinton-Brown’s argument.”—Thomas Peak, Vilnius University, Global Responsibility to Protect
“Quinton-Brown succeeds in his attempt to foreground the importance of what we now call the Global South to debates about intervention, and by the same token, he succeeds in adding a more post-colonial aspect to the English School.”—Iver B. Neumann, Contemporary Political Theory
“It remains worthwhile to try to prevent more wars like the one that took place in Vietnam, which was certainly one of Rosenau’s goals. Although popular stories of intervention seem to remain focused on heroes violating the directive, the seemingly odd debate about the best way to define intervention remains, in fact, pertinent and relevant.” – Craig N. Murphy, Wellesley College, International Affairs
- Review forum in International Affairs (Robbie Shilliam, Lina Benabdallah, Heloise Weber, Craig N Murphy, Samuel Moyn, Jennifer M Welsh, Patrick Quinton-Brown, Intervention before interventionism, International Affairs, https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiae264.) *Open Access review forum*
- Reviewed in Contemporary Political Theory. (Iver Neumann, Intervention before interventionism: a global genealogy. Contemporary Political Theory, https://doi.org/10.1057/s41296-024-00725-w.)
- Reviewed in Cambridge Review of International Affairs (Jacinta O’Hagan, Intervention before interventionism: A global genealogy, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, https://doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2024.2420461.)
- Reviewed in Global Responsibility to Protect (Thomas Peak, Intervention before Interventionism: A global genealogy, Global Responsibility to Protect, https://doi.org/10.1163/1875984X-20240029.)
- Review essay in Geopolitics (Haziq Hakimi, A Tale of Two Bandungs: Between Rebuke and Redemption, Geopolitics, https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2025.2513994)
- Listed in ‘Top 10 Books: The International Affairs Christmas Reading List 2024.’ https://medium.com/international-affairs-blog/top-10-books-the-international-affairs-christmas-reading-list-b01a06458d70.
Additional recent writings include:
- Two Responsibilities to Protect. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 51 (2), 405-430. https://doi.org/10.1177/03058298221138944.
- Interventionist or internationalist? Coercion, self-determination, and humanitarianism in Third World practice. International Relations, 37 (2), 251-273. https://doi.org/10.1177/004711782110594.
- The South, the West, and the meanings of humanitarian intervention in history. Review of International Studies, 46 (4), 514-533. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210520000236.
- The South, the West, and the meanings of humanitarian intervention in history – summary and discussion for BISA
- The uses of history in international society: From the Paris Peace Conference to the present. International Affairs, 95 (1), 181-200. https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiy238. (co-authored with Margaret MacMillan)
- Introduction: World politics 100 years after the Paris Peace Conference. International Affairs, 95 (1), 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiy269. (co-authored with Margaret MacMillan and Anand Menon)
- Discussion of co-edited special issue (International Affairs, Volume 95, Issue 1) for OUPBlog. (co-authored with Margaret MacMillan and Anand Menon)
- Bandung, 1955: Asian-African Conference and Human Rights. Online Atlas on the History of Humanitarianism and Human Rights, edited by Fabian Klose, Marc Palen, Johannes Paulmann, and Andrew Thompson, 2017-06, urn:nbn:de:0159-2017071008 [2023-01-01].