Playing with Fire: Humanitarian Intervention Post-Kosovo

Abstract

Between March and June of 1999 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) fought a widely discussed and contested air war against Serb forces that terrorized the Southern Yugoslav province of Kosovo. NATO justified the operation as a humanitarian intervention in defence of the Albanian population of Kosovo. This interpretation was disputed by some, but accepted by most. It re-ignited a heated debate in scholarly and policy-making circles about the legitimacy, opportunities for, and limits of, humanitarian intervention. Many pacifists turned out to support NATO’s actions. For them, the ends — the fight against an oppressive regime — justified the use of force. Others accused the Alliance of deeply troublesome double standards: While numerous wars — even worse in duration and scope — in many other parts of the world remain virtually unnoticed, an internal conflict in the backyard of Europe triggered a flood of compassion and commitment to external intervention. Moreover, some accused NATO of lawlessness: It waged its war against Yugoslavia without UN Security Council authorization.