A Critical Humanitarian Intervention Approach

A Critical Humanitarian Intervention Approach explores ways of reconceptualising security in terms of Ken Booth's Theory of World Security. This approach, focusing on human development more broadly can improve upon the theoretical and practical limitations of solidarist theories on the subject of humanitarian intervention.

Essay from the year 2004 in the subject Politics - Topic: Peace and Conflict, Security, grade: 1,8, University of Edinburgh, language: English, abstract: Especially since the post-1945 era and the United Nations-establishment, international political theory has been concerned with the topic of humanitarian intervention and a complex debate, touching principles of international society and our human existence, has emerged. It focuses on two levels: the traditional debate is concerned with the arguments for and against intervention in relation to the principles of sovereignty, non-intervention and non-use of force versus global human rights norms. The critical approach to humanitarian intervention moves beyond the classical debate and its limits in providing new aspects.1 Additionally, the international society recently has to deal with lots of problems. 9/11 and the war in Iraq have given rise to new challenges and terrorism prescribes a new and unique dimension for humanitarian intervention. This essay aims to provide a clearer understanding of current issues and the complex debate concerning humanitarian intervention. Due to lack of space it can only give a rough overview about the topic. Thus it first offers a definition of humanitarian intervention and a brief historical overview about the UN. Secondly, it deals with the classical debate and related issues. The third section is concerned with critical approaches to and new ways of looking at intervention. The essay concludes by offering possible solutions to the debate. 1 The complexity of the debate has been perfectly expressed by Hoffman: “The very act of intervention and non-intervention and the justification offered tells us a great deal - about how we conceive of ourselves, how we construct our identities and how we conceive of and construct the world in which we live.” (1993: 194)

New essays on philosophical, legal, and moral aspects of armed humanitarian intervention, including discussion of the 2011 bombing in Libya.

Volume I. Law, ethics, and theories -- volume II. Humanitarian intervention in history -- volume III. Humanitarian intervention in contemporary practice -- volume IV. Beyond humanitarian intervention : the responsibility to protect

Since the end of the Cold War, humanitarian interventions have continued to evolve and respond to a wide range of political crises. These insightful essays focus on the challenges associated with interventions when facing conflict and human rights violations, unmitigated systematic violence, state re-building, human mobility and dislocation. Each chapter is linked to the rest through three defining themes that permeate the book: the evolution of humanitarian interventions in a global era; the limits of sovereignty and the ethics of interventions; and the politics of post-intervention: (re)-building and humanitarian engagement. The authors incorporate a variety of case studies including Kosovo, Timor-Leste, Syria, Libya and Iraq, and examine the complexity of interventions across their different dimensions, including relevant doctrines such as R2P, 'Use of Force' and Human Security.

Military intervention in a conflict without a reasonable prospect of success is unjustifiable, especially when it is done in the name of humanity. Couched in the debate on the responsibility to protect civilians from violence and drawing on traditional 'just war' principles, the centralpremise of this book is that humanitarian military intervention can be justified as a policy option only if decision makers can be reasonably sure that intervention will do more good than harm. This book asks, 'Have past humanitarian military interventions been successful?' It defines success as saving lives and sets out a methodology for estimating the number of lives saved by a particular military intervention. Analysis of 17 military operations in six conflict areas that were thedefining cases of the 1990s-northern Iraq after the Gulf War, Somalia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, Kosovo and East Timor-shows that the majority were successful by this measure. In every conflict studied, however, some military interventions succeeded while others failed, raising the question, 'Why have some past interventions been more successful than others?' This book argues that the central factors determining whether a humanitarian intervention succeeds are theobjectives of the intervention and the military strategy employed by the intervening states. Four types of humanitarian military intervention are offered: helping to deliver emergency aid, protecting aid operations, saving the victims of violence and defeating the perpetrators of violence. Thefocus on strategy within these four types allows an exploration of the political and military dimensions of humanitarian intervention and highlights the advantages and disadvantages of each of the four types.Humanitarian military intervention is controversial. Scepticism is always in order about the need to use military force because the consequences can be so dire. Yet it has become equally controversial not to intervene when a government subjects its citizens to massive violation of their basic humanrights. This book recognizes the limits of humanitarian intervention but does not shy away from suggesting how military force can save lives in extreme circumstances.

Humanitarian aid workers increasingly remain present in contexts of violence and are injured, kidnapped, and killed as a result. Since 9/11 and in response to these dangers, aid organizations have fortified themselves to shield their staff and programs from outside threats. In Aid in Danger, Larissa Fast critically examines the causes of violence against aid workers and the consequences of the approaches aid agencies use to protect themselves from attack. Based on more than a decade of research, Aid in Danger explores the assumptions underpinning existing explanations of and responses to violence against aid workers. According to Fast, most explanations of attacks locate the causes externally and maintain an image of aid workers as an exceptional category of civilians. The resulting approaches to security rely on separation and fortification and alienate aid workers from those in need, representing both a symptom and a cause of crisis in the humanitarian system. Missing from most analyses are the internal vulnerabilities, exemplified in the everyday decisions and ordinary human frailties and organizational mistakes that sometimes contribute to the conditions leading to violence. This oversight contributes to the normalization of danger in aid work and undermines the humanitarian ethos. As an alternative, Fast proposes a relational framework that captures both external threats and internal vulnerabilities. By uncovering overlooked causes of violence, Aid in Danger offers a unique perspective on the challenges of providing aid in perilous settings and on the prospects of reforming the system in service of core humanitarian values.