What is Humanitarian Intervention?

Humanitarian Intervention

In this course, Dr Aidan Hehir (University of Westminster) explores humanitarian intervention. In the first module, we look at the origins and definition of humanitarian intervention, noting several of its generally recognised features, including the deployment of military force and justification on the basis of humanitarian concern. The second module then considers the complex relationship between humanitarian intervention and state sovereignty, and whether sovereign inviolability may be abrogated if a state commits human rights violations. In the third module, we think about the legal status of humanitarian intervention, focusing on the role of the UN Security Council in sanctioning military action and its inconsistent record in responding to human rights abuses. We then turn in the fourth module to motivations for humanitarian intervention, emphasising the difficult question of how far morality informs states’ decision-making. In the fifth module, we consider the origins and impact of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle, an important recent development in how humanitarian intervention is understood and undertaken. We conclude with a sixth module on the record of humanitarian intervention since 1990, exploring a series of cases from the 1992 US-led intervention in Somalia to the Rohingya genocide.

What is Humanitarian Intervention?

In this module, we think about the origins and definition of humanitarian intervention, focusing on: (i) why it is both politically important and controversial – it has been invoked many times to justify military action, but there are doubts around its legitimacy and effectiveness; (ii) its basis in just war theory and the emergence of international human rights law after the World Wars; (iii) its increased importance following the end of the Cold War and the factors behind this, such as US hegemony in international politics and the growth of a global civil society committed to human rights; (iv) how it differs from other, similar types of action, such as humanitarian aid, UN peacekeeping, and conventional warfare; (v) Dr Hehir’s composite definition, which identifies several agreed-upon features of humanitarian intervention, for example it must involve the deployment of military force and include humanitarian concern as part of its justification.