The Reluctant Superpower

Abstract

Since a consensus existed among the American people that the security interests at stake in Bosnia could justify only limited American involvement, the case for military intervention could be strengthened if it could also be justified on humanitarian grounds. But it is not easy to justify a foreign policy on humanitarian grounds. Proponents of military intervention in Bosnia have sometimes used the slogan ‘never again’, referring to the Nazi experience in Europe, to shame opponents into action against the carnage taking place in the former Yugoslavia. The passive Western response to the Bosnian episode, along with the rest of the post-World-War-II record, provides sufficient evidence to discredit once and for all the idea that nations willingly march out to help their fellow non-nationals, especially if there is a cost involved. Even after the Dayton Agreement, when it became clear that US troops were going to Bosnia, public resistance continues to confirm a passive stance toward Bosnia. The tendency to assume that we learned a lesson in World War II and that in the future we would respond appropriately to prevent atrocities is naive.