Philosophy
Humanitarian Intervention in International Relations Theory
Quick fact
Since the early 1990s, humanitarian intervention has been used as a justification for military force more often than at any time since the founding of the United Nations—yet it remains legally and politically contested, and the UN charter itself never explicitly authorizes it for humanitarian causes.
Why this is interesting
Why do we sometimes invade another country to save people, yet at other times look away while atrocities unfold? What makes a foreign war humanitarian?