Ethics and Intervention
The 'Humanitarian Exception' and the Problem of Abuse in the Case of Iraq
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3915882 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alex J Bellamy (0000-0003-2490-4613, The University of Queensland, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2004 |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 131-147 |
| Publication date | 2004-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Peace Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-3433 • E-ISSN: 1460-3578 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022343304041777 |
| OpenAlex | W2117699455 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 18 |
| References cited | 24 |
This article investigates the ethics of intervention and explores the decision to invade Iraq. It begins by arguing that while positive international law provides an important framework for understanding and debating the legitimacy of war, it does not cover the full spectrum of moral reasoning on issues of war and peace. To that end, after briefly discussing the two primary legal justifications for war (implied UN authorization and pre-emptive self-defence), and finding them wanting, it asks whether there is a moral 'humanitarian exception' to this rule grounded in the 'just war' tradition. The article argues that two aspects of the broad tradition could be used to make a humanitarian case for war: the 'holy war' tradition and classical just war thinking based on natural law. The former it finds problematic, while the latter it argues provides a moral space to justify the use of force to halt gross breaches of natural law. Although such an approach may provide a moral justification for war, it also opens the door to abuse. It was this very problem that legal positivism from Vattel onwards was designed to address. As a result, the article argues that natural law and legal positivist arguments should be understood as complementary sets of ideas whose sometimes competing claims must be balanced in relation to particular cases. Therefore, although natural law may open a space for justifying the invasion of Iraq on humanitarian terms, legal positivism strictly limits that right. Ignoring this latter fact, as happened in the Iraq case, opens the door to abuse
Comparative law · Humanitarian intervention · International humanitarian law · International law · Jus ad bellum · Just war theory · Legal positivism · Legitimacy · Natural law · Philosophy of law · Political science · Politics · Positivism · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · International Law and Human Rights · Law · War, Ethics, and Justification
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Just War Theory and the 2003 Iraq War Forced Displacement
The Iraq War and the Responsibility to Protect
A New Approach to Humanitarian Intervention? Tony Blair's ‘Doctrine of the International Community’
The Tragedy of Darfur and the Limits of the ‘Responsibility to Protect’
Humanitarian Intervention
Time is politics
Humanitarian intervention – What's in a name
The responsibility to protect doctrine – Coherent after all
A Renewed Social Democracy for an ‘Age of Internationalism’
The Responsibility To Protect and the Crisis in Darfur
Sovereignty as irresponsibility? A Realist critique of the Responsibility to Protect
Virtuous war’ and the emergence of jus post bellum
The duty to oppose violence
Limited Spin
Política, emancipação e humanitarismo
Regulating intervention
Enforcing Restraint
The Kosovo Report
Saving Strangers
Ideology, Reason, and the Limitation of War
Kosovo and International Society
Legal Positivism as Normative Politics
The Persistent Spectre
From Unity to Polarization
On the Necessity of Pre-emption
The Use of Force in a Changing World–US and European Perspectives
Sovereignty Is No Longer Sacrosanct
The Moral Basis of Humanitarian Intervention
International law and the preemptive use of military force
The law and the use of force after Iraq
Terrorism, The use of Force and International Law After 11 September
After Bangladesh
International Law and the Use of Force. Beyond the UN Charter Paradigm
| Unique citing works | 18 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.86 |
| Citation span | 2005 - 2021 (17) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 17 |