About the Symposium
This conference focuses on the contemporary status of humanitarian intervention--that is, the use of military force to stop large-scale human rights abuse, such as genocide.. After Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo, and East Timor military intervention for the purpose of human protection was a major topic of discussion in the late 1990s and into the new millennium. However, with 9/11 and the subsequent war on terror, the issue of humanitarian intervention largely moved off center stage. One result is that the international community still lacks effective measures for halting mass violations of human rights -- as is evident in Darfur today. This symposium will bring together a small group of leading thinkers to focus on some of the following questions: Is humanitarian intervention still a viable policy option? How have the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq changed the terms of debate? Is "Responsibility to Protect" a better framework than "Humanitarian Intervention"? What issues remain unresolved in the debate around humanitarian intervention? What lessons were learned from the interventions and non-interventions of the 1990s? What are the unforeseen negative consequences of using military force for the purpose of human rights? And where do we go from here? The papers will subsequently be collected for publication.