March 23, 1999 marked the beginning of the NATO bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia lasting three months. The rationale for the campaign was on the basis of “humanitarian intervention.” It was said to be in prevention of the ethnic cleansing of the Kosovar Albanians of Siberia by the authoritative regime of Slobodan Milosevic. The moral justification of this conflict has since been contested by a variety of theoretical schools of thought. This essay will use the revisions to the Legalist Paradigm presented by Walzer to prove the moral impermissibility of NATOs intervention in Kosovo.
To assess the moral justification of the intervention, this essay explores Walzer’s revisions to the Legalist Paradigm. The Legalist Paradigm …show more content…
He rejects three of the principals of the paradigm that together create a strict policy of non-intervention. Walzer argues that an intervention on humanitarian grounds can be justified in certain circumstances. This essay lays emphasis on two main revisions: that states can justly intervene with the issue of succession or ‘national liberation’ …show more content…
The United States is often criticized for having ulterior motives for interventions which Walzer would define as an unjust reason for entering into a humanitarian intervention as “It requires that the intervention involves military action on behalf of the oppressed people, and it requires that the intervening state enter, to some degree into the purposes of those people.” However, it is arguably stated that the United States did not aid the events but rather intensified the Siberian massacre of the Albanians. The original 1500 victims of the ‘ethic cleanings’ were doubled by the end of the conflict arguably due to aerial bombardment. The United States was seen as taking any opportunity to expand their sphere of influence in Europe with Kosovo as an ideal opportunity. The Clinton administration allegedly inflated the number of casualties of Albanians killed by state force in order to exaggerate the intensity of events for the public to believe it was a necessary intervention. America was additionally accused of attempting to divert attention away from the highly controversial Monica Lewinski scandal facing the American government at that time as the media immediately replaced coverage of the controversy with information on the Kosovo intervention. The evidence supporting the ulterior motives of the United States’ intervention would thus not comply
To assess the moral justification of the intervention, this essay explores Walzer’s revisions to the Legalist Paradigm. The Legalist Paradigm …show more content…
He rejects three of the principals of the paradigm that together create a strict policy of non-intervention. Walzer argues that an intervention on humanitarian grounds can be justified in certain circumstances. This essay lays emphasis on two main revisions: that states can justly intervene with the issue of succession or ‘national liberation’ …show more content…
The United States is often criticized for having ulterior motives for interventions which Walzer would define as an unjust reason for entering into a humanitarian intervention as “It requires that the intervention involves military action on behalf of the oppressed people, and it requires that the intervening state enter, to some degree into the purposes of those people.” However, it is arguably stated that the United States did not aid the events but rather intensified the Siberian massacre of the Albanians. The original 1500 victims of the ‘ethic cleanings’ were doubled by the end of the conflict arguably due to aerial bombardment. The United States was seen as taking any opportunity to expand their sphere of influence in Europe with Kosovo as an ideal opportunity. The Clinton administration allegedly inflated the number of casualties of Albanians killed by state force in order to exaggerate the intensity of events for the public to believe it was a necessary intervention. America was additionally accused of attempting to divert attention away from the highly controversial Monica Lewinski scandal facing the American government at that time as the media immediately replaced coverage of the controversy with information on the Kosovo intervention. The evidence supporting the ulterior motives of the United States’ intervention would thus not comply