Suchergebnisse

Explores challenges facing the international community in relation to human rights abuse & humanitarian intervention in Africa. Debates about humanitarian intervention that occurred between 1945 & 1990 are described. Although the UN Charter sanctions intervention only if the Security Council recognizes a threat to international security, the case for intervention rests on the belief that humanitarian catastrophes demand an exceptional response. It is argued that Africa fails to provide support for the proposition that there is a new norm of humanitarian intervention even though it has been the testing ground for post-Cold War interventions. An overview of the UN operation in Somalia shows that Somalia's political culture is unique & failure in Somalia was not an indication that other African interventions were bound to fail. Nonetheless, the Somalia experience led to the Western denial of genocide in Rwanda. Difficulties surrounding the issue of consent, proposals of pragmatic humanitarianism that focuses on what is politically possible, & contrasts between the international response to natural disasters & those caused by civil conflict are discussed. J. Lindroth

This response describes the circumstances that led Professor Mervyn Frost to write his article on tragedy in international relations. In examining his argument, it identifies several points of agreement but two points of disagreement. The first is over the evidence for the evolution of a global human rights culture; the second over the weight to be attached to the impediments to progress represented by the external world. These points are illustrated by reference to international developments since September 2001. The conclusion is that the modern world, despite its public commitment to the progressive idiom of democratic politics, and enlightened attempts to promote a democratic world order, cannot easily escape tragic outcomes.