Less coercive forms of intervention have been relatively neglected by politicians and academics. The case of Syria clearly demonstrates the pitfalls of this approach.
The best response to the crisis in Syria is the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force to oversee an inclusive political process for a new Syrian constitution.
The China–Russia veto does not prove the irrelevance of the UN Security Council. Rather, it proves that the politics of the Security Council must be got right before an R2P military intervention; and the political equilibrium should be maintained during the operation.
Local leaders, activists, and regional and international organisations have a responsibility to make sure that these revolutions do not just result in a different brand of self-serving rulers.
With contributions from many of the world’s most respected experts, this compendium draws attention to the points of contention highlighted by the Libyan intervention.
Without Western responsibility for the outcome of the intervention in Libya and without any transformative promise, Western powers were strengthened morally and politically through their actions, whereas in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, they were humbled and often humiliated.
The Arab Spring’s impact on the Global Jihad Movement is ironic. Al Qaeda, its associated groups and home-grown cells are no longer the agents of change. In the eyes of the people, this most powerful grouping of violent entities remains marginalized.
The UN-mandated intervention in Libya is now officially at an end. Perhaps only time will tell whether Libya turns out to have been a great case of international intervention or something rather less.
The moral imperative to intervene in a nation’s internal affairs where acts of genocide are threatened is a powerful one. That the UN is eager to push the doctrine of R2P and to re-define sovereignty to permit intervention in a state’s internal affairs is testimony to the fact that the Charter does not provide that legal authority. It should.
My blood curdled upon seeing images of a dying Gaddafi. So begins the new Libya, drenched in blood, celebrating the death of its 40-year dictator. I am no apologist for the butchers of 9/11, the rapists of Misrata, or the killers of innocent men, women and children worldwide. But I cannot bring myself to glorify death.
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