Humanitarian Intervention as a ‘Responsibility to Protect’: An International Society Approach

Abstract

This article proposes to explain the post-Cold War practice of humanitarian intervention by drawing on the English School’s international society approach. It argues that although the sovereignty versus human rights debate traditionally was framed in dichotomized terms, the post-Cold War practice of humanitarian intervention illustrated the possibility of a via media approach to these competing normative claims. Post-Cold War developments regarding the place of the conventional norms of sovereignty and non-intervention on the one hand and the growing space for the protection of human rights on the other, have eased worries about the prospect for order in the international system and created a suitable environment for including of humanitarian intervention without jeopardizing that order. To contextualize this development, the article will argue that Hedley Bull’s discussion of such key terms as the international society, the centrality of states, the importance of norms, and normative change helps explain intervention in today’s world. By building on that framework, the article draws attention to the enabling and constraining factors highlighted by the international society approach, and as such, concludes that the English school suggests both promise and caution regarding the prospects for
humanitarian intervention in modern international relations. 

Keywords

• humanitarian intervention,responsibility to protect,international society,sovereignty,non-intervention

Humanitarian Intervention as a ‘Responsibility to Protect’: An International Society Approach

Abstract

References

1. Abiew, Francis Kofi. “Assessing Humanitarian Intervention in the Post-Cold War Period: Sources of Consensus.” International Relations 14 2 (August 1998): 61-90.
2. ––– . The Evolution of the Doctrine and Practice of Humanitarian Intervention. The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 1999.
3. Annan, Kofi. “Two Concepts of Sovereignty.” The Economist, September 16, 1999.
4. Ayoob, Mohammed. “Humanitarian Intervention and State Sovereignty.” International Journal of Human Rights 6 1 (2002): 81-102.
5. Brown, Chris. “World Society and the English School: An ‘International Society Perspective’ on World Society.” European Journal of International Relations 7 4 (2001): 423–41
6. Bull, Hedley. Anarchical Society. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.
7. ––– . Conclusion to Intervention in World Politics, edited by Hedley Bull, 181- 95. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984.
8. In To Loose the Bands of Wickednes: International Intervention in Defence of Human Rights, edited by N. S. Rodley, 14-42. London: Brassey’s, 1992.

9. Schnabel, Albrecht. “Humanitarian Intervention: A Conceptual Analysis.” In Peacekeeping at a Crossroads, edited by S. Neil Mac Farlane and Hans-Georg Ehrhart, 19-44 . Clementsport: The Canadian Peacekeeping Press, 1997.
10. Shue, Henry. “Limiting Sovereignty.” In Welsh, Humanitarian Intervention and International Relations, 11-28.
11. Shulong, Chu. “China, Asia and Issues of Sovereignty and Intervention.” Pugwash Occasional Papers 2 1 (January 2001).
12. Stanton, Kimberly. “Pitfalls of Intervention.” Harvard International Review 16 1 (Fall 1993): 14-16.
13. Vincent, R. J.. Human Rights and International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
14. Walzer, Michael. Just and Unjust Wars. New York: Basic Books, 2000.
15. Weiss, Thomas G.. “The Politics of Humanitarian Ideas.” Security Dialogue 31 1 (March 2000): 1-23.
16. –––. “The Sunset of Humanitarian Intervention? The Responsibility to Protect in a Unipolar Era.” Security Dialogue 35 2 (2004): 135-153.
17. Welsh, Jennifer M. ed. Humanitarian Intervention and International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
18. Welsh, Jennifer M.. “Taking Consequences Seriously.” In Welsh, Humanitarian Intervention and International Relations, 52-70.
19. Wheeler, N..“Humanitarian Responsibilities of Sovereignty.” In Welsh, Humanitarian Intervention and International Relations, 29-51.
20. ––– . Saving Strangers. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
21. Wheeler, Nicholas and Morris, Justin. “Humanitarian Intervention and State Practice at the End of the Cold War.” In International Society after the Cold War: Anarchy and Order Reconsidered, edited by Rick Fawn and Jeremy Larkins, 135 – 171. London: Macmillan Press Ltd., 1996.