Humanitarian intervention is a concept that generates several problems in our time. The idea of humanitarian intervention concerns the modern norms of sovereignty and noninterventional principals. It also concerns the conventional norm, which declares that states are not allowed to interfere in other states? internal affairs. The use of military force to implement humanitarian intervention is restricted according to international law.

The increasing importance of human rights within the international community over the past fifteen years has raised the issue of humanitarian intervention. This concept is a complex one, and in the debate surrounding this issue can be heard arguments from and within legal, political and ethical standpoints. There is not yet a unified definition or agreement as to the nature of humanitarian intervention but it is clear that it is an important issue internationally and it is therefore interesting to see how this has affected the debate within individual countries. This study will thus examine the international development surrounding humanitarian intervention in relation to the official position taken by the Swedish government. The developments and discussion surrounding humanitarian intervention internationally and two central difficulties within this concept, legality vs.

This thesis is an analysis based on the problem of defining a humanitarian intervention and argues when or not, it is appropriate to operate it. The interest lies in finding out whether the argument itself is justifiable,not whether the act of interference was justifiable. My hypothesis is that both private and international operatios misuse the definition "humanitarian interventions" as an excuse to trespass the laws of war. Behind the idea of protecting human rights, freedom and democracy, is the liberalist idea of all individuals being equal. The respect for their freedom and rights drives outside actors to intervene when crimes are comitted against them.

AbstractThis essay has as its purpose to discuss the current legal regulation of the concept of humanitarian intervention. The inconsistencies in the debate over the legal status of this concept, and the legal uncertainty it brings to the acts of states and the lives of their nationals is a motivating factor for the writing of this essay. However, it has been clear from the outset that the concept of humanitarian intervention is intricately connected to political and moral ideas and values. Thus, the attitude taken towards this doctrine will be highly dependent on the perspectives of the state, government or single author representing it.Following this starting point, the aim of this essay is not to present a single answer as to whether humanitarian intervention is, or is not, legal, but to research, compare and analyze the different arguments put forward in this subject in international law today. Hopefully, this will provide the reader of this essay with some insight into the sources of international law of today and how the principles of state sovereignty, non-intervention, the prohibition of force and the protection of human rights relate to the concept of humanitarian intervention.A frank overview of the UN Charter does not support use of force except in the case of self-defence or without a Security Council mandate.

In this bachelor thesis my main purpose is to examine the ethical legitimacy of economic sanctions, by assessing the humanitarian consequences this type of actions create. I will do this by a closer examination of the two historic cases of South Africa and Haiti. The humanitarian consequences will then be measured against my chosen theories, to help answer my main questions. The theories I have been working with is the broader interpretation of the just-war theory; the just-sanctions theory, and two major metaethical theories.The result I found after the finished examination of the chosen cases, are that economic sanctions and morality doesn?t necessarily match.

The aim of this paper is to map out the purposes of the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations. This is done in order to see if humanitarian tendencies have been an increasingly cause for the UN to initiate an intervention with military means. This paper uses the time period from the end of the cold war until today, since that historic occurrence increased the U.N.?s involvement in peacekeeping. By using this time span it enables the survey to indicate changes in the mapping of humanitarian interventions.

AbstractTime after time the world is struck by humanitarian catastrophes, whether it is through a war or a natural disaster. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to have a functional and effective aid, as it is a matter of life and death. Thereby the actions of the humanitarian aid organizations are interesting. The investigation treats the three specific organizations Star of Hope, Sida and the Red Cross movement and the process from decision to action in times of war. The organizations are different from one another in many areas.

AbstractTitle: Foreign news coverage. Does the media influence the action in international crises? (Utrikesbevakning. Påverkar media agerandet i internationella kriser?)Number of pages: 39Author: Charlotta AndréssonTutor: Professor Lowe HedmanCourse: Media and Communication Studies CUniversity: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University.Date of submission: 2007-01-03, autumn term of 2006Purpose/AimThe purpose of the essay is partly to examine if foreign news coverage influence the political agenda setting and the incentives of the public?s willingness to give charity for humanitarian crises.

The world is getting smaller. Global markets, political processes and communication technology bring people together. Even though many of these processes are dynamic and constructive, they have also resulted in a need for better and more effective ways of international conflict resolution. This thesis investigates central issues connected to the concept of humanitarian interventions in relation to current and future legislation of the European Union. The overall question is whether the rapid globalization process has resulted in a change of international law towards more liberal view where authorization of the security council is not always needed? And, if there has actually been such a liberalization, how does that affect the legal possibilities for the European Union to carry out armed operations without the consent of the global community?The conclusion of the thesis is that international law has been modified mainly in two aspects: First, the concept of sovereignty is no longer seen merely as a right of the nation, but also as a responsibility.

The purpose of this study is to use a qualitative approach to highlight the western involvement in Thai orphanages and, on basis of Western moral development workers and volunteers, enlighten how Western colonial heritage can be recreated in the humanitarian economic aid.The study is based on the recent tsunami disaster in 2004 which led to a huge voluntary effort by Western volunteers and organizations who wanted to rebuild the country. Now, seven years after the disaster, the country has recovered well and thanks to a strong turism, and industrial growth, the country has now reached the position of a middle income country with regional power.The study presents a selection of previous ressearch in the area from different critical perspectives. It is a field study based on qualitative interviews with six informants that highlights the individual engagment in humanitarian assistance. Theories based on Post-colonialism and globalization have been used in order to analyze and reach the result of this study..

The world is getting smaller. Global markets, political processes and communication technology bring people together. Even though many of these processes are dynamic and constructive, they have also resulted in a need for better and more effective ways of international conflict resolution. This thesis investigates central issues connected to the concept of humanitarian interventions in relation to current and future legislation of the European Union. The overall question is whether the rapid globalization process has resulted in a change of international law towards more liberal view where authorization of the security council is not always needed? And, if there has actually been such a liberalization, how does that affect the legal possibilities for the European Union to carry out armed operations without the consent of the global community? The conclusion of the thesis is that international law has been modified mainly in two aspects: First, the concept of sovereignty is no longer seen merely as a right of the nation, but also as a responsibility.

For one month during the beginning of 2011, the world followed the violent events in Libya. During this time the United Nations was faced with a complex question, could they handle the ongoing violence and find a solution to the killings or would the hostile situation go on. We now know what happened, but not why. It is this question that this essay aims to answer. This essay covers the discussion of sovereignty on the one hand and humanitarian intervention on the other and responsibility to protect in between.

The purpose of this thesis is to study how swedishness is constructed and narrated in two Swedish documentary series that picture the Swedish participation in the international ISAF mission in Afghanistan. The main focus lies on how the Swedish soldier as such is portrayed, on which values, characteristics and qualities that they are said to embody and how these are linked to notions of swedishness, particularly the strong historical narrative, formed during the second half of the twentieth century, that defines Sweden as a peaceful, neutral and humanitarian state, with peaceful, enlightened and democratically minded citizens. Theoretically it draws on the concept of metanarrative to explain how ideas of shared national origin translates in to a broad organizing discourse, that defines, interprets and communicates notions of what it means to be a Swede and what is needed to make claims on swedishness. Another concept, that of national bodyscape, is also used to further define and explain how ideas of nationality are embodied and take the form of specific characteristics and  personal qualities. The meaning-making in these two series makes use of the above mentioned definition of swedishness as defined by humanitarian concerns, democratic ideals and moral superiority to construct an image of the Swedish soldiers as on the one hand soft, humanitarians, who are needed in Afghanistan because of their especially strong sense of justice and moral, and, on the other, as tough soldiers, who are able to participate in every aspect of the war as fighters.

The main aim of this study is to investigate which structural ideas that lies behind the European Union?s marine operation Atalanta that has been put into motion to counteract piracy and robbery outside the coast of Somalia. In order to do this, we have with the use of the theory of weak states, intervention as well as sovereignty, investigated EU?s document in the question with the use of the idea centered analytical method. The questions that has guided this study, lies both on an empirical and theoretical level.

Over the past twenty years, the cooperation within the European Union (EU) has strengthened and expanded with both more number of Member States and stronger influence on international politics. The unique character of the Union and its ability to enforce peace and humanitarian intervention has attracted attention in political science. This prominent position of the Union is perceived by many scholars who often hold this derived from the Union's influence in international relations. Various terms have been used to define the powers of the Union. The British researcher Ian Manners states that the unique identity of the Union in the international arena is formed by its normative power.  An important policy area within the Union is the environmental cooperation.