Humanitarian Intervention Does More Harm Than Good
Topics: World
Public Release Date: March 09, 2018
This debate is presented in partnership with The German Marshall Fund’s Brussels Forum, broadcast live from Brussels, Belgium.
The international community currently faces a global refugee crisis and mass atrocities in Iraq, Myanmar, Syria, Yemen, and beyond. How should the West respond? Proponents of humanitarian intervention – the use of force to halt human rights abuses – argue that the world’s most powerful militaries have a responsibility to protect innocent civilians around the world. Beyond saving lives, they argue, intervention deters would-be abusers and ensures global stability, thereby strengthening the liberal world order.
But opponents argue that military intervention is thinly veiled Western imperialism, and subsequently, an assault on state sovereignty. And, it’s ineffective: the West, with its military might, increases the death toll and worsens the conflicts it sets out to solve. Further, given recent waves of populism in the U.S., France, and U.K., they suggest that Western nations should spend their time looking inward rather than policing activity around the world.
ARGUING YES:
Frank Ledwidge: Senior Fellow at the Royal Air Force College, Former British Intelligence Officer
Rajan Menon: Political Scientist & International Relations Professor
ARGUING NO:
Bernard Kouchner: Co-Founder of Doctors Without Borders
Kori Schake: Senior Fellow and Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies for the American Enterprise Institute
MODERATOR-IN-CHIEF:
John Donvan: Emmy award-winning journalist