Humanitarian Intervention in History - An Analysis of the Historical Evolution of the Doctrine
(2018) LAGF03 20181Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Våldsförbudet i artikel 2.4 i FN- stadgan är en av de viktigaste reglerna inom internationell rätt, det finns bara två undantag till regeln. Det pågår dock en diskussion gällande ifall humanitär intervention ska anses som ytterligare ett legalt undantag till våldsförbudet. Konsensus inom den internationella rätten verkar dock vara att humanitär intervention är olagligt.
Syftet med denna kandidatuppsats är att beskriva hur humanitär intervention har utvecklats som koncept genom historien. Vidare så är målet med uppsatsen att upplysa om ifall humanitär intervention var lagligt innan FN- stadgan antogs samt att analysera varför humanitär intervention inte inkluderades som undantag till våldsförbudet i FN- stadgan.
De tankar som senare... (More) - Våldsförbudet i artikel 2.4 i FN- stadgan är en av de viktigaste reglerna inom internationell rätt, det finns bara två undantag till regeln. Det pågår dock en diskussion gällande ifall humanitär intervention ska anses som ytterligare ett legalt undantag till våldsförbudet. Konsensus inom den internationella rätten verkar dock vara att humanitär intervention är olagligt.
Syftet med denna kandidatuppsats är att beskriva hur humanitär intervention har utvecklats som koncept genom historien. Vidare så är målet med uppsatsen att upplysa om ifall humanitär intervention var lagligt innan FN- stadgan antogs samt att analysera varför humanitär intervention inte inkluderades som undantag till våldsförbudet i FN- stadgan.
De tankar som senare utvecklades till vad som idag kallas för humanitär intervention har troligtvis sitt ursprung i traditionen om ”rättvisa krig”. Traditionen utvecklades som ett system som användes av vetenskapsmän och filosofer för att utvärdera ifall ett krig kunde anses rättvist. Olika samhälleliga aspekter har påverkat traditionen under olika tidsperioder i historien. Bland annat har religion, ideologier som rättspositivism och naturrätt samt principerna om interventionsförbudet och statssuveränitet influerat traditionen.
Termen ”humanitär intervention” användes för första gången under artonhundratalet efter att ett flertal krig motiverats på humanitära grunder. Likaväl pågick olika krig i början på nittonhundratalet som förklarades vara humanitära interventioner. De krig som utspelades under arton- och nittonhundratalet och som motiverades på humanitära grunder är mycket troligt en indikation på att humanitär intervention var lagligt innan FN- stadgan antogs.
Efter första världskriget gjordes försök, genom skapandet av Nationernas Förbund att förhindra ett liknande krig från att hända någonsin igen. Tyvärr lyckades inte dessa försök och andra världskriget som tog slut år 1945 hade ännu mer förödande konsekvenser än sin föregångare. För att förhindra att någonting liknande skulle hända någonsin igen så antogs FN- stadgan och genom stadgan även våldsförbudet. Ett förslag gällande att inkludera humanitär intervention som ett undantag till våldsförbudet gjordes under förhandlingarna, men förslaget avslogs då det ansågs vara för vagt och osäkert. (Less) - Abstract
- The prohibition against the use of force as described in article 2.4. of the UN- Charter is one of the most important rules in international law, only two exceptions exist. There is however an ongoing discussion regarding if humanitarian intervention should be considered a legal exception to the prohibition against the use of force. The consensus within the international community however, is that humanitarian intervention is illegal.
The purpose of this thesis is to describe how the doctrine of humanitarian intervention has evolved throughout history. Furthermore, the aim is to determine whether humanitarian intervention was a legal justification for war in the pre- Charter era as well as to evaluate the reasoning as to why humanitarian... (More) - The prohibition against the use of force as described in article 2.4. of the UN- Charter is one of the most important rules in international law, only two exceptions exist. There is however an ongoing discussion regarding if humanitarian intervention should be considered a legal exception to the prohibition against the use of force. The consensus within the international community however, is that humanitarian intervention is illegal.
The purpose of this thesis is to describe how the doctrine of humanitarian intervention has evolved throughout history. Furthermore, the aim is to determine whether humanitarian intervention was a legal justification for war in the pre- Charter era as well as to evaluate the reasoning as to why humanitarian intervention was not included as a third exception to the prohibition against the use of force in the UN- Charter.
The ancestral ideas of the doctrine of humanitarian intervention were most likely formed as part of the “just war” tradition. The tradition was developed as a system that scholars used to evaluate the just causes of war. Different societal aspects influenced the just war doctrine during different periods throughout history. It was amongst other things influenced by religion, by different ideologies such as naturalism and positivism as well as by the development of the principles of non- intervention and state sovereignty.
The term “humanitarian intervention” was first used in the nineteenth century after several wars had taken place with the justification that they were waged for humanitarian purposes. The same was true for several wars that occurred during the first half of the twentieth century. The wars mentioned, together with some other aspects, are an indication that humanitarian intervention might have been legal in the pre- Charter era.
After the First World War, attempts were made through the creation of the League of Nations and its Covenant to prevent something similar from happening ever again. Unfortunately, the attempts failed. World War II, which ended in 1945, was even more devastating than its predecessor. To prevent a similar war from occurring again, the victors drafted the UN- Charter and with it the prohibition against the use of force. A suggestion was made to incorporate humanitarian intervention into the Charter as a legal exception during the discussions, but the suggestion was rejected because it was considered much too vague and uncertain. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8941632
- author
- Gisslén, Mikaela LU
- supervisor
-
- Anna Nilsson LU
- organization
- course
- LAGF03 20181
- year
- 2018
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- International Law, Legal History: Humanitarian Intervention, Just War Tradition
- language
- English
- id
- 8941632
- date added to LUP
- 2018-07-04 18:30:12
- date last changed
- 2018-07-04 18:30:12
@misc{8941632,
abstract = {{The prohibition against the use of force as described in article 2.4. of the UN- Charter is one of the most important rules in international law, only two exceptions exist. There is however an ongoing discussion regarding if humanitarian intervention should be considered a legal exception to the prohibition against the use of force. The consensus within the international community however, is that humanitarian intervention is illegal.
The purpose of this thesis is to describe how the doctrine of humanitarian intervention has evolved throughout history. Furthermore, the aim is to determine whether humanitarian intervention was a legal justification for war in the pre- Charter era as well as to evaluate the reasoning as to why humanitarian intervention was not included as a third exception to the prohibition against the use of force in the UN- Charter.
The ancestral ideas of the doctrine of humanitarian intervention were most likely formed as part of the “just war” tradition. The tradition was developed as a system that scholars used to evaluate the just causes of war. Different societal aspects influenced the just war doctrine during different periods throughout history. It was amongst other things influenced by religion, by different ideologies such as naturalism and positivism as well as by the development of the principles of non- intervention and state sovereignty.
The term “humanitarian intervention” was first used in the nineteenth century after several wars had taken place with the justification that they were waged for humanitarian purposes. The same was true for several wars that occurred during the first half of the twentieth century. The wars mentioned, together with some other aspects, are an indication that humanitarian intervention might have been legal in the pre- Charter era.
After the First World War, attempts were made through the creation of the League of Nations and its Covenant to prevent something similar from happening ever again. Unfortunately, the attempts failed. World War II, which ended in 1945, was even more devastating than its predecessor. To prevent a similar war from occurring again, the victors drafted the UN- Charter and with it the prohibition against the use of force. A suggestion was made to incorporate humanitarian intervention into the Charter as a legal exception during the discussions, but the suggestion was rejected because it was considered much too vague and uncertain.}},
author = {{Gisslén, Mikaela}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Humanitarian Intervention in History - An Analysis of the Historical Evolution of the Doctrine}},
year = {{2018}},
}