Are Humanitarian Interventions Inevitable? International Society’s Influence on Conflicts

Authors

  • Felipe Costa Lima Doutorando em Direito Internacional na Université de Strasbourg, França, e Doutorando em Relações Internacionais na Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Brasil (Bolsa CAPES) (Co-tutela de Tese) https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6390-3950

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5380/cg.v9i1.70237

Abstract

Criticism on humanitarian interventions has been increasing in recent decades, as the balance between sovereignty and interventions within International Society (IS) remains difficult. The establishment of a ‘green light’ for interventions for any so-called humanitarian situation would provide a free path to the imperialism of the great powers; however, a ‘red light’ resulting in the impossibility of interventions in all situations would be an absurd argument, since there are situations of real humanitarian emergencies. Searching for the best parameters of a ‘yellow light’ is thus a serious challenge, owing to the difficulties in establishing the legal and political boundaries of a humanitarian response. Nevertheless, we cannot envisage this ‘yellow light’ without comprehending that the absence of neutrality of the IS as concerns humanitarian interventions seems to be a positivist hegemonic myth. Therefore, the foremost objective of this article is to demonstrate the presence of international society before, during and after conflicts, particularly through neoliberal/neocolonial policies. To achieve this goal, Critical Theory and International Political Economy (IPE) will be essential, as well as the intrinsic relation between International Law and International Relations’ scopes of knowledge. Based on these methodological precepts, we will highlight this lack of neutrality by analyzing the humanitarian interventions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Timor-Leste. The utmost result of this research highlights neo-colonial policies in DI’s background.


Keywords: Neocolonialism; Neoliberalism; International Law; Hegemony; Humanitarian Interventions.

Author Biography

Felipe Costa Lima, Doutorando em Direito Internacional na Université de Strasbourg, França, e Doutorando em Relações Internacionais na Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Brasil (Bolsa CAPES) (Co-tutela de Tese)

Professor Adjunto de civilização lusófona e de civilização latino-americana no Instituto de Estudos Romanos da Université de Strasbourg; mentor acadêmico e coordenador de projetos do blog Direito internacional sem Fronteiras.
Doutorando em Direito Internacional na Université de Strasbourg, França, e Doutorado em Relações Internacionais na Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Brasil (Bolsa CAPES) (Co-tutela de Tese). É mestre em Direito Internacional Público - percurso Direitos Fundamentais - pela Université de Strasbourg (Bolsista Eiffel), é mestre em Relações Internacionais pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais (PUC Minas), tem Especialização em Política Internacional pela Faculdade Damásio de Jesus e possui graduação em Direito pela Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (2012).

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Published

2020-03-13

How to Cite

Costa Lima, F. (2020). Are Humanitarian Interventions Inevitable? International Society’s Influence on Conflicts. Conjuntura Global, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.5380/cg.v9i1.70237

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Vol. 9 No. 1 (2020)

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