SOCIOL 2 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Humanitarian Intervention, Geopolitics, United Nations General Assembly
Document Summary
1990s often seen as golden age for humanitarian intervention. International community increasingly contemplated military intervention to protect citizens abroad. Hard to measure numbers of humanitarian interventions over time, given disagreements over what counts. But, clear increase in u. n. peacekeeping operations. = one form of military humanitarian intervention (can be coercive/non- One popular opinion is that the world became more violent during the 1990s. Argues that there were more wars in 1990s. Therefore, more reasons for international community to intervene. Problem: empirical evidence doesn"t fit with this explanation. During the cold war (prior to 1990s) world politics was dominated by competition between u. s. and soviet union. Strong emphasis on global order and sovereignty. U. s. and soviet union involved in many proxy wars. Little emphasis on enforcing human rights among international community. 1990s heralded the end of the cold war: Absence of cold war competition opened up global space for other issues - global human rights movement accelerated.
