Humanitarian intervention case studies

Created by: blombus
Created on: 20-05-21 12:28

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Humanitarian intervention case studies
- Kosovo (1999)
  - Fighting erupted again in the Balkans
    - Albanians wanted independence from Serbia
  - Tony Blair pushed for NATO military intervention
    - Air strikes against Serbia
    - Threat of a full land invasion meant the president handed Kosovo over to NATO
      - Would still legally remain Serbian territory
      - NATO forces stayed and took over rebuilding
    - Resolution lead to the inventon of the 'Blair Doctrine'
      - 'Acts of genocide can never be a purely internal matter'
      - Genocide requires intervention
- Somalia (1992-1993)
  - George H. W. Bush committed 28,000 troops to Somalia at the end of his presidency
    - Stated it was "to end the starvation"
      - Easier to imagine in the 1990s when the USA had just become the sole global superpower
      - They felt they had to "answer the call"
  - Battle of Mogadishu
    - US troops brutally captured and killed
    - Picture and videos of the scene all over the news
  - Withdrawal of troops
    - Because of Mogadishu
    - Bill Clinton withdrew all troops by March 1994
      - Remains an anarchic failed state to his day
    - UN abandoned operations a year later
      - Remains an anarchic failed state to his day
- Bosnia (1995)
  - NATO intervention
    - Suffering had finally persuaded them to take action
      - Bosnian Serb attacks on Sarajevo
      - The Srebenica Massacre
    - End of the Cold War meant it was trying to protect the 'near abroad'
    - In December 1995 all sides agreed to the Dayton Peace Accords
  - Nation-building
    - Couldn't just end the fighting and leave
      - Power vacuums are dangerous
    - Former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown became High Represen-tative
      - Criticised for potential neo-colonialism
      - Position designed to fill power vacuumuntil a working democracy could be put in place
- First Gulf War (1991)
  - Seemed to signal the start of a new age of global cooperation in international humantarian resolutions
    - Maybe countries were willing to intervene beyond their own interests
    - Living up to UN ideals
  - States working together to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait
    - George H. W. Bush termed Hussein's actions as "naked aggression"
- Afghanistan (2001-2015)
  - Fight against al-Qaeda after 9/11
    - Humanitarian element too because of the Taliban's brutal rule
  - Forces didn't consider how hard it would be
    - Very remote country
    - Culture was so different
    - Long-term security is a lot harder than temporary presence in a single town or village
- Libya (2011)
  - Civil war against President Gaddafi broke out in 2011
  - NATO took on responsibility for UN resolutions 1970 and 1973
    - Focused on destroying Gaddafi's air force and artillery
      - Destroyed the little infrstructure present for cilivians
    - Gaddafi was captured and killed
      - Left a huge power vacuum which led to widespread gang warfare
        ISIS spread its influence to the region
        
        Many Libyans are resentful of the intervention
        Would rather be under Gaddafi
- Iraq (2003-2011)
  - Similar initial reasoning to Afghanistan
  - Saddam Hussein was quickly overthrown
    - Little thought was paid to reconstruction
      - The army, government and civil service wwere disbanded
        Sunni Muslims' interests had been most closely tied to Hussein
        Launched an insurgency
        
        Western forces couldn't prevent the killings
        
        Failure of nation-building directly led to ISIS
    - Bush administration felt Iraq could move to democracy with little interference
      - Donald Rumsfield wanted the USA to leave a 'light footprint'

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Humanitarian intervention case studies

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