Humanitarian Intervention Does More Harm Than Good. A Debate

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The international community currently faces a global refugee crisis and mass atrocities in Iraq, Myanmar, Syria, Yemen, and other countries. How should the West respond? Proponents of humanitarian intervention—the use of force to halt human rights abuses—argue that the world’s most powerful nations have a responsibility to protect innocent people around the planet. Beyond saving lives, they contend, intervention deters would-be abusers and ensures global stability, thereby strengthening peace, security, and order. But opponents argue that humanitarian intervention is a thinly veiled form of imperialism that imposes Western values on other nations and undermines state sovereignty and independence. It's also often ineffective, they add, and can increase death tolls and worsen the conflicts it sets out to resolve. Does humanitarian intervention do more harm than good?