Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T04:05:25.960Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Authorizing Humanitarian Intervention: Hard Choices in Saving Strangers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 March 2007

Cristina G. Badescu
Cristina G. Badescu
Affiliation:
University of Western Ontario
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Abstract. In recent years, the question of authorization for the use of force for humanitarian purposes has become more contentious than ever. Participants on both sides of the debate, namely those rejecting any exception to the requirement for UN authorization and the proponents of surpassing this in cases of exceptional humanitarian emergencies, do not seem to have reached any consensus. This article examines these opposing arguments, their legal interpretations, and tests the theoretical assumptions against state practice through a review of the record of humanitarian interventions since the 1990s. The final purpose is to assess two of the most promising alternatives for authorization: the UN and regional organizations. This analysis suggests some implications of the debate for the perception of the UN role in authorizing interventions, in addition to determining the need for alternative mechanisms to authorize interventions for humanitarian purposes.

Résumé. Dans les dernières années, la question de l'autorisation du recours à la force dans des missions à but humanitaire est devenu un sujet particulièrement contesté de l'actualité. Les participants aux deux côtés du débat, ceux qui rejettent toute exception à l'autorisation préalable des Nations Unies et ceux qui proposent de court-circuiter l'ONU dans des situations humanitaires d'une urgence exceptionnelle seulement, ne semblent pas pourvoir atteindre de consensus. Cet article examime ces deux vues opposées et leurs interprétations juridiques et met leurs hypothèses théoriques à l'épreuve de la pratique en considérant les missions humanitaires entreprises depuis 1990. Le but ultime consiste à évaluer deux des alternatives d'autorisation les plus prometteuses : celle des Nations Unies et celle d'organisations régionales. Cette analyse suggère certaines implications du débat quant à la perception du rôle des Nations Unies dans le processus d'autorisation des interventions et révèle, d'autre part, le besoin de mécanismes nouveaux pour autoriser ces missions humanitaires.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , March 2007 , pp. 51 - 78
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Hard Choices is the title of a book edited by Jonathan Moore (1999), while Saving Strangers is the title of a book by Nicholas Wheeler (2000).

References

Alagappa, Muthiah. 1998. “Regional Arrangements, the UN, and International Security: A Framework for Analysis.” In Beyond UN Subcontracting: Task-Sharing with Regional Security Arrangements and Service-Providing NGOs, ed. Thomas Weiss. London: Macmillan Press Ltd.
Ayoob, Mohammed. 2004. “Third World Perspectives on Humanitarian Intervention and International Administration.” Global Governance 10: 99–118.Google Scholar
Bellamy, Alex. 2005. “Responsibility to Protect or Trojan Horse? The Crisis in Darfur and Humanitarian Intervention after Iraq.” Ethics and International Affairs 19 (2): 31–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellamy, Alex and Matt McDonald. 2004. “Securing International Society: Towards an English School Discourse of Security.” Australian Journal of Political Science 39(2): 307–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellamy, Alex and Paul Williams. 2005. “Who's Keeping the Peace? Regionalization and Contemporary Peace Operations.” International Security 29 (4): 157–195.Google Scholar
Bernath, Cliff and Sarah Martin. 2004. Peacekeeping in West Africa: A Regional Report. Refugees International Project. Washington: Refugees International. June. http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/peacekpg/reform/2004/06westafrica.pdf (March 20, 2006).
Buchanan, Allen. 2004. Justice, Legitimacy, and Self-determination: Moral Foundations for International Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bull, Hedley. 1977. The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics. London: Macmillan.
Byers, Michael and Simon Chesterman. 2003. “Changing the Rules about Rules.” In Humanitarian Intervention: Ethical, Legal and Political Dilemmas, eds. J.L. Holzgrefe and Robert Keohane. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cassese, Antonio. 1999. “Ex Iniuria ius Oritur: Are We Moving towards International Legitimation of Forcible Humanitarian Countermeasures in the World Community?” European Journal of International Law 10(1): 22–30.Google Scholar
Challenges Project, The. 2005. Meeting the Challenges of Peace Operations: Cooperation and Coordination, Stockholm: Elanders Gotab. www.challengesproject.net (March 14, 2006).
Chesterman, Simon. 2001. Just War or Just Peace? Humanitarian Intervention and International Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Chesterman, Simon. 2003. “Hard Cases Make Bad Law: Law, Ethics and Politics in Humanitarian Intervention.” In Just Intervention, ed. Anthony F. Lang, Jr. Washington: Georgetown University Press.
Claude, Inis L., Jr. 1966. “Collective Legitimization as a Political Function of the United Nations.” International Organization 20 (3): 367–379.Google Scholar
Claude, Inis L., Jr. 1971. Swords into Plowshares: The Problems and Progress of International Organizations. New York: Random House.
Crawford, Neta. 2005. “To Intervene or not to Intervene? What Duties?” Roundtable: Humanitarian Intervention after 9/11. International Relations 19 (2): 229–237.Google Scholar
De Wet, Erika. 2004. The Chapter VII Powers of the United Nations Security Council. Oxford: Hart Publishing.
Etzioni, Amitai. 2005. “Genocide Prevention in the New Global Architecture.” The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 7 (4): 469–485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farer, Tom. 1993. “A Paradigm of Legitimate Intervention.” In Enforcing Restraint: Collective Intervention in Internal Conflict, ed. Lori Fisler Damrosch. New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press.
Farer, Tom. 2003. “Humanitarian Intervention Before and After 9/11: Legality and Legitimacy.” In Humanitarian Intervention: Ethical, Legal and Political Dilemmas, eds. J.L. Holzgrefe and Robert Keohane. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Farer, Tom. 2005. “Cosmopolitan Humanitarian Intervention: A Five-part Test” Roundtable Humanitarian Intervention after 9/11. International Relations 19 (2): 211–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franck, Thomas M. 2003. “Interpretation and Change in the Law of Humanitarian Intervention.” In Humanitarian Intervention: Ethical, Legal, and Political Dilemmas, eds. J.L. Holzgrefe and Robert O. Keohane. Cambridge: Cambridge University. Press.
Garrett, Stephen. 1999. Doing Good and Doing Well: An Examination of Humanitarian Intervention. Westport CT: Praeger.
Heinze, Eric A. 2006. “Humanitarian Intervention and the War in Iraq: Norms, Discourse, and State Practice.” Parameters Spring: 20–34.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, Stanley. 1992. “Delusions of World Order.” The New York Review of Books April 9.
Independent International Commission on Kosovo. 2000. Kosovo Report: Conflict, International Response, Lessons Learned, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
International Commission on Intervention, andState Sovereignty. 2001a. The Responsibility to Protect. Ottawa: International Development Research Council.
International Commission on Intervention, andState Sovereignty. 2001b. The Responsibility to Protect. Supplementary volume. Ottawa: International Development Research Council.
International Crisis Group. 2006. “To Save Darfur.” Africa Report no.105. http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=4027 (March 18, 2006).
Jackson, Robert. 1990. Quasi-states: Sovereignty, International Relations and the Third World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jackson, Robert. 1993. “Armed Humanitarianism.” International Journal XLVIII (4): 580–606.Google Scholar
Jackson, Robert. 2000. The Global Covenant: Human Conduct in a World of States. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Job, Brian. 2004. “The UN, Regional Organizations, and Regional Conflict: Is There a Viable Role for the UN?” In The United Nations and Global Security, ed. Richard Price and Mark Zacher. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Karns, Margaret P. and Karen A. Mingst. 2004. International Organizations: The Politics and Processes of Global Governance. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Kissinger, Henry. 2001. Does America Need a Foreign Policy? Toward a Diplomacy of the 21st Century. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Knight, Andy W. 1996. “Towards a Subsidiarity Model for Peacemaking and Preventive Diplomacy: Making Chapter VIII of the UN Chapter Operational.” Third World Quarterly 17 (1): 31–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacFarlane, Neil, Jennifer Welsh and Carolin Thielking. 2002. “The Responsibility to Protect: Assessing the Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty.” International Journal 57: 489–502.Google Scholar
Olonisakin, Funmi and Comfort Ero. 2003. “Africa and the Regionalization of Peace Operations.” In The United Nations and Regional Security: Europe and Beyond, ed. Michael Pugh and Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Pawlowska, Karina. 2005. “Humanitarian Intervention: Transforming the Discourse.” International Peacekeeping. 12(4): 487–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, Richard M. 2004. “The League of Nations Redux?” In The United Nations and Global Security, ed. Richard Price and Mark Zacher. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Pugh, Michael and Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu, eds. 2003. The United Nations and Regional Security: Europe and Beyond. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Roberts, Adam. 2004. “The Politics and Practice of Humanitarian Intervention.” In Humanitarian Intervention and International Relations, ed. Jennifer Welsh. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sarooshi, Danesh. 2000. The United Nations and the Development of Collective Security: The Delegation by the UN Security Council of its Chapter VII Powers. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Shue, Henry. 1998. “Let Whatever is Smouldering Erupt? Conditional Sovereignty, Reviewable Intervention, and Rwanda 1994.” In Between Sovereignty and Global Governance: The United Nations, the State and Civil Society, ed. Albert Paolini, Anthony P. Jarvis and Christian Reus-Smit. New York: Macmillan Press Ltd.
Smith, Edwin and Thomas Weiss. 1998. “UN Task-Sharing: Toward or Away from Global Governance?” In Beyond UN Subcontracting: Task Sharing with Regional Security Arrangements and Service-Providing NGOs, ed. Thomas Weiss. London: Macmillan Press Ltd.
Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, United Nations. 2006. “Responsibility to Protect Populations under Threat is Paramount.” UN GA/PK/188, Report issued on February 28. http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/gapk188.doc.htm (February 28, 2006).
Stromseth, Jane. 2003. “Rethinking Humanitarian Intervention: The Case for Incremental Change.” In Humanitarian Intervention: Ethical, Legal and Political Dilemmas, ed. J.L. Holzgrefe and Robert Keohane. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Taft, Patricia and Jason Ladnier. 2006. Realizing “Never Again”: Regional Capacities to Protect Civilians in Violent Conflicts. The Fund for Peace Project. Washington: The Fund for Peace.
Thakur, Ramesh. 2003. “UN Peace Operations and US Unilateralism and Multilateralism.” In Unilateralism and US Foreign Policy: International Perspectives, ed. David Malone and Yuen Foong Khong. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Thakur, Ramesh. 2005. “A Shared Responsibility for a More Secure World.” Global Governance. Vol. 11: 281–289.Google Scholar
United Nations. 2004. A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility. Report of the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges, and Change. New York: United Nations Foundation.
Voon, Tania. 2004. “Legitimacy and Lawfulness of Humanitarian Intervention.” In International Intervention in the Post-Cold War World: Moral Responsibility and Power Politics, ed. Michael Davis, W. Dietrich, B. Scholdan and D. Sepp. London: M.E. Sharpe.
Walzer, Michael. 2000. Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations. 3rd ed. New York: Basic Books.
Weiss, Thomas, ed. 1998. Beyond UN Subcontracting: Task-Sharing with Regional Security Arrangements and Service-Providing NGOs. London: Macmillan Press Ltd.
Weiss, Thomas. 2004. “The Sunset of Humanitarian Intervention? The Responsibility to Protect in a Unipolar Era.” Security Dialogue 35 (2) 135–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiss, Thomas. 2005a. Military-Civilian Interactions: Humanitarian Crises and the Responsibility to Protect. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Weiss, Thomas. 2005b. “Cosmopolitan Force and the Responsibility to Protect.” Roundtable: Humanitarian Intervention after 9/11. International Relations 19 (2): 211–250.Google Scholar
Welsh, Jennifer. 2002. “Review Essay: From Right to Responsibility: Humanitarian Intervention and International Society.” Global Governance 8 (4): 503–521.Google Scholar
Welsh, Jennifer. 2004. “Authorizing Humanitarian Intervention.” In The United Nations and Global Security, ed. Richard Price and Mark Zacher. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wheeler, Nicholas. 2000. Saving Strangers: Humanitarian Intervention in International Society, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wheeler, Nicholas. 2005. “Legitimating Humanitarian Intervention: A Reply to Farer's Five-part Test.” Roundtable: Humanitarian Intervention after 9/11. International Relations 9 (2): 237–242.Google Scholar
Williams, Paul and Alex Bellamy. 2005. “The Responsibility to Protect and the Crisis in Darfur.” Security Dialogue 36 (1): 27–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zajadlo, Jerzy. 2005. “Legality and Legitimization of Humanitarian Intervention.” American Behavioral Scientist 48 (6): 653–670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar