The Selective Enforcement of Human Rights?, The International Response to Violent Humanitarian Crises and Gross Violations of Human Rights in the Post-Cold-War Era
Year: 2007
Type: report
Abstract: How did the international community respond to violent humanitarian crises and gross violations\nof human rights after the end of the Cold War? While from an optimistic perspective on\nglobal governance it is argued that humanitarian crises have been increasingly addressed,\nskeptics maintain that this response has been highly selective. However, we know very little\nabout the actual extent of selectivity, since so far the international community’s reaction to\nhumanitarian crises has not been systematically analyzed. The aim of this paper is to fill this\ngap by empirically examining the extent and nature of the selectivity. To do so, I identify the\nmost severe humanitarian crises in the Post-Cold War era and examine whether and how the\ninternational community has responded to these crises. Concerning response, different modes\nof action, ranging from humanitarian aid to military intervention, and different actors, viz.\nstates, international institutions, and NGOs, will be taken into account. This approach leads to\na more precise picture of selectivity: While the international community responded inconsistently\nto human suffering, the extent of selectivity is smaller than often claimed, and none of\nthe crises identified here remained completely unaddressed. At a more theoretical level this\nmeans that humanitarian norms matter though their impact varies significantly. Why? To\nunderstand the politics of selectivity it does thus not suffice to show that humanitarian norms\nmatter: rather, we need to understand why and under what circumstances they do so and,\nconversely, why and under what circumstances they do not. Therefore, factors that are likely\nto impact upon the strength of norms-countervailing power considerations, economic interests\nand institutional path dependencies-will be taken into account in further research on selectivity.
Source: Econstor (Econstor)
Author: Martin Binder
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1492278240