In late February, Libyan demonstrators began taking to the streets in protest against Colonel Muammar Khadafy’s oppressive regime that has held power for 41 years. Originally the demonstrators were conducting their protests in a peaceful manner similar to their neighboring countries that successfully toppled oppressive governments in Egypt and Tunisia. However in Libya, Khadafy’s security forces and loyalists began attacking demonstrators. Khadafy had ordered these attacks on civilians whom had no means of defending themselves, and vowed to execute anyone who continued to stand against his rule. It was not long before these peaceful protesters had to arm themselves in order to fight off the government’s full-scale assault.
This prompted the international community to react rapidly and resulted in the United Nations Security Council passing Resolution 1973 which demanded an immediate cease-fire in Libya. The Resolution called for an end to the current attacks against civilians, which it said might constitute “crimes against humanity,” and imposed a ban on all flights in Libyan air space under a NATO “no-fly zone.” Clearly the situation in Libya is not just a problem for the people of Libya; rather its outcome may affect a region that is under constant turmoil, and consequently the world as a whole. With a civil war breaking out in Libya between Khadafy forces and the rebels it was imminent that some national security interests would be at stake in this vital region of the world. Amongst the nations discussing the importance of the war was the United States. As President Obama described the United States’ role in pursuit of the NATO imposed “no-fly zone,” he said, “The United States has played a unique role as an anchor of global ...
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Political violence is action taken to achieve political goals that may include armed revolution, civil strife, terrorism, war or other such activities that could result in injury, loss of property or loss of life. Political violence often occurs as a result of groups or individuals believing that the current political systems or anti-democratic leadership, often being dictatorial in nature, will not respond to their political ambitions or demands, nor accept their political objectives or recognize their grievances. Formally organized groups, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), businesses and collectives of individual citizens are non-state actors, that being that they are not locally, nationally or internationally recognized legitimate civilian or military authorities. The Cotonou Agreement of 2000 defines non-state actors as being those parties belonging to the private sector, economic and social partners and civil society in all its forms according to national characteristics. Historical observation shows that nation states with political institutions that are not capable of, or that are resistant to recognizing and addressing societies issues and grievances are more likely to see political violence manifest as a result of disparity amongst the population. This essay will examine why non-state political violence occurs including root and trigger causes by looking at the motivations that inspire groups and individuals to resort to non-conforming behaviors that manifest as occurrences of non-state political violence. Using terrorism and Islamic militancy on the one side, and human rights and basic freedoms on the other as examples, it will look at these two primary kinds of political violence that are most prevalent in the world ...
Our nation is plagued with problems, and we look to one man to solve them all, president Barack Obama. He plans to solve these in his address to the United Nations General Assembly given on September 24, 2014 in New York City. President Obama gave this speech in response to major issues that were taking place at that time. Some of the issues he talked about were Ebola, which was a deadly disease running rampant through West Africa, the conflict in Ukraine having to do with Russia, and the issue of ISIL terrorist groups. Obama talks about all of these issues to bring up one major goal of this argument. The goal is for the international community to come together to sort out and overcome the problems. He tackles two questions in this argument, “whether the nations here today will be able to renew the purpose of the UN’s founding; and
The purpose of this essay is to adequately depict the current conflict in Darfur and discuss the effects that the Darfur Conflict has had on the neighboring countries, the Horn of Africa region and U.S. interest. In addition, this essay will explore how Darfur Conflict affects global concerns.
...perts agree that the air strikes against Kosovo by NATO were illegal because they were never authorized by the security council. However, libertarian expert cite humanitarian international law to justify NATO's actions. For example the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan stated that NATO was justified and its actions were legitimate and that a new form of intervention was emerging- for cases involving repression of minorities that will and must take precedence over other concerns of the law of states. Thus any fragrance violations of humanitarian law, be it crimes against humanity, violations of human rights in the Geneva convention or ethnic cleansing, may provide a legitimate basis for action on the part of international community because all of these have international consequences and go well beyond sacred principles of the domestic jurisdiction of state.8
Early 2011 uprisings swept across the Middle East and North Africa, and many rebellions are still going on today. The Arab region has seen revolts and conflict since the 1800‘s, but only recently have these revolts been redirected to the problems of Arab society (Ghannam, J. 2011 pg 4-5)The Arab Spring Uprising was first sparked in Tunisia and eventually struck Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen and then spread to other countries. Citizens throughout these countries were dissatisfied with the rule of their local governments. Issues like human rights violations, political corruption, economic decline, unemployment, extreme poverty, dictators...
Lott Jr., John R.. At the Brink: Will Obama Push Us Over The Edge?. Washington DC: Regnery
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An attack on the Syrian state would fall within the boundaries of the international concept of the responsibility to protect. The crisis in Syria has escalated by protests in March 2011 calling for the release of all political prisoners. National security forces responded to widespread peaceful demonstrations with the use of brutal violence. The Syrian President Bashar al-Assad refused to stop attacks and allow for implementation of the reforms requested by the demonstrators. By July 2011, firsthand accounts emerged from witnesses, victims, and the media that government forces had subjected innocent civilians to detention, torture, and the use of heavy weaponry. The Syrian people were also subjected to the Shabiha, a largely armed state sponsored militia fighting with security forces. Al-Assad continually denied responsibility to these crimes and placed blame on the armed groups and terrorists for these actions.
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