Health, Human Rights and Intervention EQ4 - Outcomes of geopolitical interventions

Question 1

What are the possible measures of success of intervention for human development?

Answer 1

• life expectancy
• provision of healthcare
• literacy rate
• quality of physical infrastructure
• per capita GDP

Question 2

What are the possible measures of success of intervention for human rights?

Answer 2

• freedom of speech
• gender equality
• democratic elections
• respect for minorities
• recognition of refugee status

Question 3

Why might the introduction of democratic institutions be deemed important?

Answer 3

Some governments and IGOs view freedom of expression as central to development of these democratic societies.
Broad respect for human rights more likely to flourish in a democracy

Question 4

What is the impact of some countries focusing on economic growth as measure of success?

Answer 4

Less attention given to holistic development - human wellbeing or human rights
Governments tempted to give economic growth precedence over human rights which causes serious tension

Question 5

Why may the outcomes of development aid not have matched the inputs?

Answer 5

• inappropriateness of some forms of aid
• siphoning of funds via corruption
• lack of sound governance/political unrest and instability
• dependency

Question 6

How was development aid relatively successful through the Ebola outbreak?

Answer 6

UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) set up 6 months after the first case - led and coordinated international responses of NGOs.
Sharp fall in number of new cases of Ebola during first half of 2015, and region finally declared Ebola free in Jan 2016. First ever mission deployed by UN to tackle huge health security challenge - and although creation was criticised for being late, it bodes well for future cooperation of governments

Question 7

How was emergency aid a relative failure in Haiti?

Answer 7

Earthquake in 2010 - £12 billion pledged.
5 years on, only 50% of this received. Aid unequally distributed, and should’ve shifted from short term to longer term priorities such as dealing with serious human rights abuses, corruption, poor governance etc. Uncoordinated relief effort - many NGOs had no language skills/interpreters or experience of working in a developing country

Question 8

What is emergency aid?

Answer 8

Rapid assistance given by organisations or governments to people in immediate distress following natural or man made disasters

Question 9

What is the impact on economic inequality of top down vs bottom up aid?

Answer 9

Top down - tends to increase polarisation of country’s rich to poor
Bottom up - done more for the poor in terms of access to basic services, primary education and healthcare (reduction in inequalities)

Question 10

What do superpowers need to be constantly securing?

Answer 10

• strategic locations
• future supplies of resources
• alliances
• technological advances
• a global sphere of influence
  Aid can be used to pave the way to achieving many of these objectives

Question 11

What is the importance of giving development aid by superpowers?

Answer 11

Use it as an extension of their foreign policies
Can be used to access resources, increase case for political support in IGOs, and form military alliances.
Creates image of magnanimous and benevolent power - philanthropic figures providing support to those in need.

Question 12

What are the significant costs associated with military interventions?

Answer 12

• loss of sovereignty
• immense human costs (civilian deaths and displacement)
  Sometimes short term gains with long term costs

Question 13

What are the complexities associated with the Syrian crisis, what impacts has this had?

Answer 13

Diverse rebel groups struggling to overthrow President Assad’s regime, whilst IS has also invaded. Superpowers such as US and Russia have also become involved
Impacts of conflict = deaths, internal displacements and refugees
10.8 mil of Syria’s 22 mil population either killed or displaced from their homes by the conflict

Question 14

What principles guide basic UN peacekeeping?

Answer 14

• consent of all parties in the conflict
• impartiality
• non use of force except in self defence and defence of the mandate

Question 15

What are the drawbacks of UN peacekeeping?

Answer 15

• doesn’t improve development, only aims to put into place the right sort of governance for successful development
• peacekeepers cannot be everywhere all the time
• UN can only take action where and when all parties to a dispute say yes

Question 16

What are the 3 options for the global community when faced with threats to human wellbeing and human rights?

Answer 16

• turn a blind eye and do nothing
• make a limited military intervention to deal with short term threat
• make an extended military intervention that includes the longer term tasks of reconciliation and reconstruction

Question 17

What are the consequences for a lack of global action?

Answer 17

Negative impact on progress in environmental, political and social development (human wellbeing and human rights)

Question 18

Why was intervention in Cote D’Ivoire necessary?

Answer 18

2010 - former president Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept defeat in democratic election, plunging country into a spiral of violence and repression.
Turned state security forces against population, killing over 500 and forcing a million to flee
Intervention justified by illegitimate power grab - France and UN bombed Gbagbo’s military base to aid rebels on the legitimate president’s side

Question 19

What were the successes and drawbacks of intervention in Cote D’Ivoire?

Answer 19

Success - within a week Gbagbo in custody. Swift, decisive and ‘put brakes on’ an escalating situation. Since 2010, Cote D’Ivoire’s HDI has increased from 0.48 to 0.54, and it’s GNI per capita has also increased
Drawbacks - colonial powers intervening in an independent country (sovereignty)

Question 20

What happened in the Ebola outbreak of 2014 that required a global response?

Answer 20

In 2014 - 28,600 infected and over 11,000 died in West African countries like Guinea and Sierra Leone. Highly contagious and deadly disease.

Question 21

What was the justification for military intervention in the Iraq war?

Answer 21

Justification from US and coalition allies (including UK) for invading Iraq was to remove Saddam Hussein.
Considered a brutal dictator who had previously developed, hidden and used weapons of mass destruction against his own people.

Question 22

What were the short term gains of the Iraq War?

Answer 22

• military intervention did remove Saddam Hussein and some of his oppressive security forces
• some early development efforts succeeded: e.g. US funded vaccination programme reduced infant mortality by 75%, in 2005 Iraqis voted in first free election in the country for 50 years

Question 23

What were the long term costs of the Iraq War?

Answer 23

• lack of understanding and long range planning by coalition forces left Iraq without the systems it needed to restore security, foster democracy, protect human rights or grow economically
• Islamic militant groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS who previously had no presence took advantage of Iraq’s political instability to establish themselves
• animosity between Shia and Sunni Muslims worsened in aftermath
• political instability allowed corruption to flourish (ranked 161 out of 168 in 2015 CPI)
• human rights insecure

Question 24

Why is there a lack of intervention in Zimbabwe?

Answer 24

• Western nations sensitive of claims for intervention linked to former colonies
• unlikely that UN Security Council would agree to action (Russia and China oppose action there)
• many neighbouring states argue President Mugabe was not a threat

Question 25

What are the consequences of a lack of action in Zimbabwe?

Answer 25

Zimbabwean gov actions have been allowed to lead to economic, social and environmental instability
- 72% live below national poverty line
- average life expectancy amongst world’s lowest
- corruption
- deforestation rates increasing
- human rights abuses occur regularly
- rural poverty increasing