Moral Responsibility, Statecraft, and Humanitarian Intervention
This book explores the moral complexity of statecraft in the context of decision-making on armed intervention in the post-Cold War era. It adds to the debate on humanitarian intervention by analyzing the moral complexity of statecraft when confronted with situations of severe human rights violations. Through a comparative case study of the Clinton administrations failure to intervene in the Rwanda genocide (1994), the George W. Bush administrations tepid response to the Darfur atrocities (20032007), and the Barack Obama administrations leadership behind the limited UN intervention in Libya (2011), it explores the factors domestic and international that influence decision-making about humanitarian intervention. These cases show not only how international moral concerns often compete with interest-based and domestic concerns, but how decision-makers are often confronted by competing moral imperatives. In such situations, it is often not clear which imperatives should be followed.
In an increasingly interconnected world, Moral Responsibility, Statecraft, and Humanitarian Intervention examines how we expect state leaders to balance different moral responsibilities. It will be of much interest to students of humanitarian intervention, the Responsibility to Protect, human rights, US foreign policy, African politics and IR in general.
Cathinka Vik is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health, Technology and Society at Gjovik University College, Norway, and has a PhD in International Relations from the University of Miami.
Global Politics and the Responsibility to Protect
Series editors:
Alex J. Bellamy (Griffith University), Sara E. Davies (Griffith University) and Monica Serrano (The City University of New York)
The aim of this book series is to gather the best new thinking about the responsibility to protect into a core set of volumes to provide a definitive account of the principle, its implementation, and its role in crises, while reflecting a plurality of views and regional perspectives.
Global Politics and the Responsibility to Protect
From words to deeds
Alex J. Bellamy
The Responsibility to Protect
Norms, laws and international politics
Ramesh Thakur
Humanitarian Intervention and the Responsibility to Protect
Security and human rights
Cristina G. Badescu
Sri Lanka and the Responsibility to Protect
Politics, ethnicity, genocide
Damien Kingsbury
International Responsibility and Grave Humanitarian Crises
Collective provision for human security
Hannes Peltonen
Global Justice, Kant and the Responsibility to Protect
A provisional duty
Heather M. Roff
UN Emergency Peace Service and the Responsibility to Protect
Annie Herro
International Organizations and the Implementation of the Responsibility to Protect
The humanitarian crisis in Syria
Edited by Daniel Silander and Don Wallace
Moral Responsibility, Statecraft, and Humanitarian Intervention
The US response to Rwanda, Darfur, and Libya
Cathinka Vik
First published 2015
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2015 Cathinka Vik
The right of Cathinka Vik to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vik, Cathinka.
Moral responsibility, statecraft, and humanitarian intervention : the US
response to Rwanda, Darfur, and Libya / Cathinka Vik.
pages cm. (Global politics and the responsibility to protect)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. United StatesForeign relations1989Moral and ethical aspects.
2. Humanitarian interventionRwanda. 3. Humanitarian intervention
SudanDarfur. 4. Humanitarian interventionLibya. 5. Rwanda
HistoryCivil War, 1994. 6. SudanHistoryDarfur Conflict, 2003
7. LibyaHistoryCivil War, 2011 I. Title.
JZ1480.V55 2015
172.4dc23
2014047663
ISBN: 978-1-138-88799-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-71376-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Times by
FiSH Books Ltd, Enfield
The book is dedicated to my beloved husband, Jan Tore, and to our dear family, with gratitude for their kind and compassionate hearts.
This book is directly attributable to the insight, encouragement, and feedback of many people. Above all, I am indebted to my parents, Elisabeth and Thor Henning, whose example, vision, and unconditional love have motivated this work. I am forever grateful to my beloved husband, Jan Tore, and to my beautiful sisters, Martine, Karoline and Kari, for their perpetual unbound affection and hope showered upon me.
The topic of this book was conceived during my time as a student at the University of Miami. I would like to thank my supervisors at the time for their insight, support, and encouragement, without which the foundation for this book would not have been written. I am especially grateful to Ruth Reitan for her constant support and encouragement. Her constructive criticism and patient push stretched my understanding of this topic. Special thanks are also due to Henrik Syse for inspiring me to continuously strive for knowledge in service to humanity, and for his crucial role in my professional development and in the development of this book. I would also like to acknowledge and extend my heartfelt gratitude to Ambler Moss, Laura Gomez-Mera, and Roger Kanet, for their invaluable input in the earlier stages of the writing process.
Initially written as a dissertation, this manuscript demanded time, feedback, and effort to transform into a publishable book. The transformation of the draft version into this final manuscript is the result of the thorough, thoughtful and constructive comments provided by series editor Alex Bellamy, and by the anonymous reviewers. I am deeply grateful for the time and energy they devoted into critically reading the manuscript and suggesting substantial improvements. In its current format, the book owes its existence to the support of my colleagues at Gjovik University College. In particular, I thank Heidi Vifladt and Roger Lian for giving me the opportunity and time to produce this work.
Although many people provided input on the content on this book, the mistakes of fact and judgment are mine alone. I have done my best to tell the story accurately and fairly, and I welcome comments and criticism from readers that can help me improve my work.
Finally, it would be impossible to adequately acknowledge here the many other people who have contributed to this book in various ways. My heartfelt gratitude goes to all my friends around the world for teaching me, through example, the importance and power of love and sacrifice in developing ties of friendships across political and cultural boundaries.
