Verified Document

Humanitarian Intervention Is Morally And Legally Justified Essay

Humanitarian intervention is morally and legally justified in response to internal atrocities, even at the expense of national sovereignty. The ongoing violence in Syria has raised the specter of intervention by external forces in order to address the growing humanitarian crisis. Yet to this point, no foreign government or body has been willing to intervene. The legitimacy of humanitarian intervention at the expense of national sovereignty has been an issue for over a century (Kahler, 2011). The most recent guidance on the issue comes from the UN General Assembly, which passed guidance known as "responsibility to protect." The final arbiter of such intervention under the R2P framework in the UN Security Council, and any nation that signed on to R2P must accept that it may one day be subject to intervention, as such action would be legal if the UNSC approves it.

The R2P mechanism was put into place because of the lack of legal framework justifying humanitarian intervention. An example...

He notes that R2P represents not only a mandate to intervene, but creates a moral obligation making it harder to "do the wrong thing, or nothing at all."
Pape (2012) argues that the doctrine of intervention has failed in the past specifically because the bar for such intervention was set too high. He points out that by the time evidence of genocide or other war crime has been uncovered, it is too late to stop the killing. R2P is a recognition that the norms surrounding intervention need to change. Where previous a nation's sovereignty was considered nearly sacrosanct, Pape makes the case that R2P resets the bar for intervention to a level that is too low, but at least it allows for intervention in a situation like Syria, should the UNSC agree.

Rauchhaus (2009) notes that one…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Chesterman, S. (2011). Leading from behind: The responsibility to protect, the Obama doctrine, and humanitarian intervention in Libya. New York University Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers.

Kahler, M. (2011). Legitimacy, humanitarian intervention and international institutions. Politics, Philosophy and Economics. Vol. 10 (1) 20-45

Pape, R. (2012) When duty calls: A pragmatic standard of humanitarian intervention. International Security. Vol. 37 (1) 41-80.

Rauchhaus, R. (2009). Principal-agent problems in humanitarian intervention: Moral hazards, adverse selection and commitment dilemma. International Studies Quarterly. Vol. 53 (4) 871-884.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

U.S. War on Terrorism the
Words: 1450 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

Even governments who supported the use of force, most notably Britain, did not support the regime change." Motivating U.S. position, author Robert J. Lieber justifies the preemptive and preventive use of force by the American policymakers: "militant Islamic terrorism plus weapons of mass destruction pose a threat and require us to alter the way we think about the preemptive and even preventive use of force." Supporting the human rights argument

Atlantic Slave Trade History
Words: 871 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Describe the Neirsée incident. What upset France? What upset Britain? What was unfair about the capture of the slaves? Although Britain and France were formally attempting to dismantle the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the global economy had come to depend on it. The Neirsée incident of 1828 reveals the difficulties inherent in dismantling the slave trade due to the interconnectedness of the global economy. For several years prior to this incident, Britain

Assisted Suicide and Suicide
Words: 13401 Length: 60 Document Type: Thesis

Physician Assisted Suicide in Patients With Unbearable Suffering or the Terminally Ill One of the most hotly debated issues today is physician-assisted suicide. Recently, California became the fifth state to legalize physician-assisted suicide, and there is an increasing likelihood that other states will follow suit in the foreseeable future. The purpose of this study is to determine if the factors chosen have any bearing on those who choose to end their

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now