Contemporary World Problems

Contemporary World Problems Paper

Introduction

Humanitarian intervention has become one of the most highly debated topics in current international politics. An example of this that can found in the news is President Obama stating “we are not going to be getting into a military excursion in Ukraine. What we are going to do is mobilize all of our diplomatic resources to make sure that we’ve got a strong international correlation that sends a clear message,” in regards to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, more specifically Crimea. In this post Cold War Era, this issue of humanitarian intervention has been argued over, sanctioned, used without permission, and gained momentum and force in international relations. However, this problem international issue did not always exist.

The act of intervening in a different sovereign state’s affairs for humanitarian purposes has been an issue of public international law since the 19th century. The turn of the 19th century brought on an influx of issues going from a state level to an international level. Since then, international councils have been created to be solely dedicated to defining, regulating, and sanctioning humanitarian intervention. Today’s current authority over international security is the UNSC and their view on humanitarian intervention is as follows: “International law forbids the use of force except for purposes of self-defense and collective enforcement action authorized by the UN Security Council (UNSC).” While countries may adhere to these sanctions or completely ignore them, a new element has been added- should the humanitarian intervention be armed or not.

Armed humanitarian intervention is one of the primary international security problems today. This is an int...

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...ough there are laws and sanctions set in place to regulate these things, the fact of the matter is that there is not a clear definition or reasoning to go along with this issue. However the law has the power to change and catch up, which is very similar to the ability that the power of sovereignties and the definition of “armed intervention” has to change.

Works Cited

"Humanitarian Intervention: The Evolution of the Idea and Practice." Journal of International Affairs June-July 6.2 (2001): n. pag. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.

Lango, John W. "Is Armed Humanitarian Intervention to Stop Mass Killing Morally Obligatory." Public Affairs Quarterly 15.3 (2001): 173-91. JSTOR. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.

Wheeler, Nicholas. "Humanitarian Intervention in World Politics." (2008): n. pag. Abersystwyth University. Web. 34 Mar. 2014. .