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On Moral Arguments Against A Legal Right To Unilateral Humanitarian Intervention, David Lefkowitz
On Moral Arguments Against A Legal Right To Unilateral Humanitarian Intervention, David Lefkowitz
Philosophy Faculty Publications
As the international response to recent events in Darfur demonstrates, the restriction of authority to intervene to the United Nations poses the greater legal barrier to intervention. From a practical perspective, then, the more pressing question may be whether international law ought to be modified to permit states, or multi-state organizations, to carry out unilateral humanitarian interventions; that is, interventions that are not authorized by the United Nations. The issue here is essentially a moral one: would the incorporation of a right to unilateral humanitarian intervention entail a moral improvement to international law – for example, a decrease in the …