Short description
This study addresses the acutely relevant international politics' topics of humanitarianism and military interventionism in the post-Cold War, global world. It considers the present climate of global media and communications, the increasing international awareness of humanitarian emergencies and the human rights agenda; and the increasingly complex national and strategic interests of the interventionists. The study is particularly concerned with interventionism in Africa; providing a detailed account and analysis of the troubled experience of Somalia to draw wider conclusions for the continent, issues of state sovereignty and international law, the roles of civil society of individual countries, regional organisations such as the African Union and the broader United Nations system. It also covers the experiences of military interventions in Iraq in 1991, Kosovo and East Timor and outlines some general policy recommendations and guidelines for humanitarian interventions.