Post-Cold War Conflicts: Imperative for Armed Humanitarian Intervention
Contrary to the predictions that wars would become obsolete in the post-Cold War world, they rather shifted dramatically from inter-state to increasingly intra-state manifestations. The world since then has become racked by ethnic and nationalist violence. The tragedies and gruesome atrocities concomitant with these eruptions have pushed the imperative for humanitarian intervention to the fore of contemporary international politics and practice, provoking a shift on the international right and necessity of using military force to protect civilians within sovereign states. A novel acceptance has now made its foray into the international scene, which is of emblematic significance for the evolving international humanitarian regime, that a war against a sovereign state can be initiated and justified on humanitarian grounds. The task of situating the imperative for armed humanitarian intervention within the context of the compelling nature and character of the post-Cold War conflicts engages the concern of this study. The paper posits that notwithstanding the fluidity of the concept, chances of misuse and the abounding probabilities of abuse in its practice, humanitarian intervention have in this age, carved a niche for itself, given the bloodbaths and horrendous genocidal incidences that have both wrecked and defined the post-Cold War world.
