By Uditha DevapriyaIn 1999 Charles Krauthammer famously penned an obituary for humanitarian intervention. As policy, humanitarian intervention dates back to the 19th century. Hersch Lauterpacht’s view that Grotius propounded “the first authoritative statement of the principle of humanitarian intervention” has been widely contested. Charles Krauthammer was wrong, I think, in arguing that humanitarian intervention – as a doctrine of US foreign policy – would fade away in the new millennium. The West’s conception of humanitarian intervention suffers from one major flaw, and in Libya we saw it unfold only too clearly: a failure to oversee essential, vital post-war reconstruction.

Source: The Nation February 13, 2021 01:02 UTC