Intervention: Walzer, Evans, Mamdani

Question 1

Walzer: under what circumstances is intervention in another state’s matters justified?

Answer 1

1. when a foreign power has intervened (this would be counter-intervention)
2. secession
3. humanitarian aid

Question 2

What ideal is in conflict with intervention?

Answer 2

Self-determination.

According to John Stuart Mill, interventions should be limited because a state’s self-determination should not be interfered with. Freedom must be sought by the members of that community.

Question 3

Walzer: what reasons underlie humanitarian intervention?

Answer 3

1. loss of the state’s legitimacy – it cannot control its own population
2. the inclusion of other factors, like economic ones, and its effects on foreign states
3. morality

Question 4

Walzer: what is counter-intervention?

Answer 4

Intervention on behalf of a foreign state to “balance” the prior intervention of the another foreign state.

The point is to make it once again possible for the country to resolve their own affairs (win or lose) on their own.

Question 5

Evans: what is R2P?

Answer 5

An approach for intervention called “Responsibility to Protect.” Has been proposed in the UN. It is rooted in the idea that the international community should be responsible for the lives of endangered individuals.

It is meant to be distinct from humanitarian intervention in that it is mainly preventative.

Question 6

What is the aim of R2P?

Answer 6

To prevent atrocities from occurring in the first place. It focuses on individuals.

Question 7

What does R2P’s approach consist of?

Answer 7

Three elements

1. Prevention
2. Reaction through diplomacy, sanctions, and prosecution. Military force is last option and only if there’s recognition that it will benefit vulnerable people.
3. Reconstruction

Question 8

What is some criticism of R2P?

Answer 8

That it is a form of neo-colonization from more powerful states to intervene in less powerful ones.

Question 9

Mamdani: what are the limits of humanitarian intervention?

Answer 9

It only responds to cases of genocide and what is defined as genocide varies. It only responds to some forms of violence that are “exceptional”; all others are “regular.”

Question 10

Mamdani: how does he judge humanitarian intervention?

Answer 10

Humanitarian intervention is a product of international power relations – it justifies intervention of powerful states in smaller and newer ones.

De-policitizing the language of humanitarian intervention masks its politics.