Morality vs. Legality: European Responses to the Changing Norms of Military Intervention

Abstract

This article argues that the diverging European positions on the Iraq intervention reflected distinct approaches to the international normative framework regulating the use of force. New security threats by global terrorist networks as well as calls for intervention in cases of human rights violations have challenged the existing criteria for legitimate military intervention. It identifies two types of positions – legal and moral. Evidence for the validity of this distinction is provided by an examination of the foreign policy lines adopted by Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom. Their contending approaches to the use of force can be expected to cause considerable difficulty in formulating a concerted European response to the changing norms of military intervention.