This book seeks todetermine what is meant by 'evil' when used to describe actors and events in international politics. Focusing on the history of evil in western secular and religious thought, it reintroduces a classical understanding of evil as the means to which we seek to understand otherwise meaningless human suffering."

Drawing on the development of 'Grotian' scholarship in international legal and political thought, this book seeks to ascertain precisely what the term has meant, both historically and as it is employed in contemporary scholarship.

This book offers original essays on the subject of evil in international relations. It considers questions of moral agency associated with the perpetration of evil acts by individuals and groups in the international sphere, and the range of ethical responses the international community has available to it in the aftermath of large-scale evils.