Dr James Pattison – Lecturer in Politics, B.A., M.A., PhD (Newcastle)

Address: Politics, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

Email: james.pattison@manchester.ac.uk

Tel: 0161 275 4931

PSA award ceremony 2008

Dr James Pattison is a Lecturer in Politics at the University of Manchester. His research interests concern the moral issues raised when using military force abroad, including humanitarian intervention, the responsibility to protect, and the increased use of private military companies. His PhD on humanitarian intervention was awarded the Sir Ernest Barker Prize for Best Dissertation in Political Theory by the Political Studies Association. He has recently completed the book, Humanitarian Intervention and the Responsibility to Protect: Who Should Intervene?, which has just been published by Oxford University Press (February 2010). This is available on the OUP.co.uk website here and Amazon.co.uk here. He has published various articles on the ethics of force, including for Ethics and International Affairs, International Theory, the Journal of Military Ethics, the Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, the Journal of International Political Theory, the International Journal of Human Rights, and the Journal of Social Philosophy. Before joining Manchester, he was a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of the West of England, Bristol (from Sept 07-09). He has also spent time as a Research Affiliate at New York University and he was a temporary lecturer in the School of Geography, Politics, and Sociology at Newcastle University.

Current Work

Pattison is currently working on the normative issues surrounding the use of private military force (most of the work in this area has been empirical and conceptual, rather than normative). His most recent paper (with Deane-Peter Baker) considers the deeper problems with the use of private force for humanitarian intervention. From September 2010-2012, he will be working on an ESRC-funded project, “The Morality of Private War”.

ESRC Project on the Morality of Private War (£97,875), from September 2010

SUMMARY: The private military industry has been growing rapidly since the end of the Cold War. Private military and security companies (PMSCs) provide a myriad of services, including the training of troops and security forces, the provision of transportation and logistics, and a number of roles more likely to involve direct combat, such as the protection of state officials. Given its extent, the increased reliance on PMSCs is often claimed to be one the most significant changes in the military profession over the past three decades. Although the potential benefits and disadvantages of using PMSCs are often discussed, the ethical considerations are rarely fully elaborated. This research project will therefore use normative political theory to assess the leading normative objections to the use of private military and security companies. It will develop a normative framework (the Moderate Instrumentalist Approach) on the justifiability of private force for individual contractors and those employing the services of PMSCs (e.g., states). It will also develop two themes: first, the use of PMSCs raises a number of deeper, more fundamental normative difficulties, in addition to the more obvious contingent problems; second, the use of PMSCs can, nevertheless, sometimes be morally acceptable, even in combat roles. To do this, the research will consider six central issues: (i) if and when individual contractors can permissibly use and assist military force; (ii) private contractors' liability to attack; (iii) the legitimacy of states that employ PMSCs; (iv) whether military services should be viewed as a public good; (v) the possibility of using PMSCs to augment the international community's capacity to undertake humanitarian intervention; and (vi) the use of PMSCs by humanitarian organisations to protect their personnel and infrastructure in the field.

Papers in progress

James Pattison and Deane-Peter Baker (2010) “The Principled Case for Employing Private Military and Security Companies in Humanitarian Interventions and Peacekeeping” Human Rights and Human Welfare Working Papers Series.

Publications in brief – more details (including abstracts and papers to be downloaded) can be found here.

James Pattison (2010) Humanitarian Intervention and the Responsibility to Protect: Who Should Intervene? (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Available on OUP.co.uk, OUP.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.com.

James Pattison (forthcoming) “Deeper Objections to the Privatisation of Military Force”, Journal of Political Philosophy. Also available on Early View at the Journal of Political Philosophy

James Pattison (2010) “Outsourcing the Responsibility to Protect: Humanitarian Intervention and Private Military and Security Companies”, International Theory 2 (1), 1–31.

James Pattison (2009) “Humanitarian Intervention, the Responsibility to Protect, and jus in bello”, Global Responsibility to Protect, 1 (3), 364-91 [11,000 words]. This article can also be downloaded on the EUP website here.

James Pattison (2008) “Whose Responsibility to Protect: The Duties of Humanitarian Intervention” Journal of Military Ethics, 7 (4), 262-83 [11,000 words].

James Pattison (2008) “Just War Theory and the Privatization of Military Force”, Ethics & International Affairs, 22 (2), 143-62. [9,000 words].

James Pattison (2008) “Legitimacy and Humanitarian Intervention: Who Should Intervene?”, International Journal of Human Rights, 12 (3), 395-413 [11,000 words]. The definitive (typeset) version of this article is available here.

James Pattison (2008) “Humanitarian Intervention and a Cosmopolitan UN Force”, Journal of International Political Theory, 4 (1), 126-45. [9,000 words]. This article can also be downloaded on the EUP website here.

James Pattison (2007) “Representativeness and Humanitarian Intervention”, Journal of Social Philosophy, 38 (4), 569-87. [10,000 words]. This article can also be downloaded on the journal website here.

James Pattison (2007) “Humanitarian Intervention and International Law: The Moral Significance of an Intervener’s Legal Status”, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 10 (3), 301-19. [9,000 words]. The definitive (typeset) version of this article can be downloaded here.

Other Publications

James Pattison (2010) Roundtable in Human Rights and Human Welfare: An International Review of Books and Other Publications:

- “On Genocide and the National Interest”, on “How Genocide Became a National Security Threat”, Mar 2010.

- “Hope, Despair, and Human Rights” on “The Downfall of Human Rights” (April 2010), forthcoming.

James Pattison (2010) "Legitimacy". Commissioned entry in Mark Bevir (ed) Sage Encyclopaedia of Political Theory [2,500 words]

James Pattison (2009) Commissioned ‘Book Note’ of Eric Heinze’s Waging Humanitarian War: The Ethics, Law, and Politics of Humanitarian Intervention (Albany: SUNY Press, 2009) for Human Rights and Human Welfare.

James Pattison (2008) Roundtable in Human Rights and Human Welfare: An International Review of Books and Other Publications:

- “Myths, Reasonable Expectations, and a League of Democracies”, on “Foreign Policy Myths Debunked”, Nov. 08.

- “Improving the Agents and Mechanisms of Humanitarian Intervention”, on “Making Intervention Work”, Oct. 08.

- “Cosmopolitanism and Rationalizing Tendencies”, on “The Politics of NGOs and Aid Assistance”, Sep. 08.

James Pattison (2008) Commissioned book review of Robert Jackson’s Sovereignty, Evolution of an Idea (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2007) for International Affairs, 84 (1), January 2008, 145-146. This can be downloaded here.

Research Interests

Areas of specialisation: international political theory, particularly the ethics of war, private military and security companies, and humanitarian intervention

Areas of competence: political philosophy, International Relations

(i) Convening and Organising

· Organiser of Departmental External Speaker Seminar Series, Department of Politics, Philosophy, and International Relations, University of the West of England, 2009.

· Co-convener. Global Ethics BISA Working Group (globalethicsbisa@yahoo.co.uk), 2008-

· Convener and Chief Organiser. CANE (Central and Northern England) PSA Graduate Conference in Politics. Newcastle University, 20th January 2007.

(ii) Refereeing and Editorial Boards

Refereeing

· Journals: American Political Science Review, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, Ethics & International Affairs, Global Responsibility to Protect, Global Society, International Journal of Human Rights, Journal of Global Ethics, Journal of International Political Theory, Journal of Moral Philosophy, Journal of Political Philosophy, Journal of Social Philosophy, Millennium

· Publishing houses: Oxford University Press, Routledge, University of Chicago Press

· Funding bodies: ESRC

Editorial Board Member

· Human Rights & Human Welfare

(iii) Funding

· ESRC, “The Morality of Private War”, £97,875 (FEC), from September 2010-2010. This funding is to consider the normative issues surrounding the use of private military force. A summary is provided above.

· Research Collaboration Scheme, Association of Commonwealth Universities/British Academy. “Privatised Humanitarianism: An Ethical Imperative”. This funding is to collaborate with Deane-Peter Baker (Senior Lecturer in the School of Philosophy and Ethics, University of KwaZulu-Natal) on a joint research project on PMCs and humanitarian intervention from May 09. Worth: £4514.80.

· One-year ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship. Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford. Worth £89,574.00 (FEC). July 2007 (I did not take up this Fellowship since I was offered a permanent position at the University of the West of England at the same time

· Funding for CANE graduate conference. £500 secured from School of Politics, Geography, and Sociology and £350 secured from PSA Graduate Network. Jan 2007

· Expenses and Living Costs to be a Research Affiliate at New York University. Awarded by the ESRC as part of their Overseas Institutional Visit scheme (worth over £3000). Jul-Sep 2006

· Four-year ESRC Studentship Award (1+3 Scheme). Covered all living expenses and fees for the duration of the M.A. and PhD (Worth over £60,000). Oct 2002-2006

(iv) Awards

· Sir Ernest Barker Prize for Best Dissertation in Political Theory. Awarded by the Political Studies Association (award for best PhD in field in the U.K.), 2008

· Hugh Berrington Prize for Outstanding Performance. Awarded by the School of Geography, Politics, and Sociology, Newcastle University (award for highest average on Masters programmes), 2003

(v) Appointments

· Lecturer in Politics (Human Rights), University of Manchester, Sept 09-

· Senior Lecturer in International Relations. Department of Politics and Philosophy, University of the West of England, Bristol, Jan 08-Aug 09.

· Lecturer in International Relations. Department of Politics and Philosophy, University of the West of England, Bristol, Sep 07-Jan 08

· Temporary Lecturer. School of Geography, Politics, and Sociology, Newcastle University, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Jan-Jul 07

· Research Affiliate. Wilf Family Department of Politics, NYU (New York University), New York, Jul-Sep 06

· Seminar Leader. School of Geography, Politics, and Sociology, Newcastle University, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Jan 04-Jun 06

(vi) Qualifications

· PhD: “Legitimacy and Humanitarian Intervention: Who Should Intervene?”. Department of Geography, Politics, and Sociology, Newcastle University. (Submitted within 3 years and passed viva with no revisions or changes required.)

***Awarded ‘Sir Ernest Barker Prize’ for Best Dissertation in Political Theory 2006/7 by the Political Studies Association***, Oct 03-Dec 06

· M.A. Politics (Research). Department of Geography, Politics, and Sociology, Newcastle University. (Distinction;

***Awarded ‘Hugh Berrington Prize for Outstanding Performance’ for highest mark in year***), Oct 02-03.

· B.A. Politics. Department of Geography, Politics, and Sociology, Newcastle University. (First Class Honours), Oct 99-02.

(vii) Current Teaching

· POLI60502 Human Rights in World Politics (MA) -- Module Leader

· POLI70492 Human Rights Vocational Placement (MA) -- Module Leader

· POLI70401: Graduate Seminar in International Politics (MA)

· POLI30142: Security Studies (undergraduate)

· POLI20602: Arguing about Politics (undergraduate)

(viii) Previous Teaching

· Global Ethics

· Theories of International Relations

· MA: The Politics of Human Rights

· Foreign Policy

· Kant and Hegel

· Political Thought: Perspectives on International Affairs.

Last updated: April 2010