The New Interventionalism, The Search for a Just International Law
Author(s)
Glennon, M. J.
Abstract
As the twentieth century fades away, so too does the international consensus on when to get involved in another state’s affairs. The US and NATO – with little discussion and less fanfare – have effectively abandoned the old United Nations Charter rules that strictly limit international intervention in local conflicts. They have done so in favor of a vague new system that is much more tolerant of military intervention but has few hard and fast rules. What rules do exist seem more the product of after-the-fact rationalization by the West of deliberation and pre-agreement. Whether the cost of abandoning the old anti-interventionist structure will be offset by the benefits of the newly emerging one remains to be seen. Replacing a formal system with a set of vague, half-formed, ad hoc principles can be dangerous. Untested rules may have unexpected consequences, and justice formed on the fly may come to be resented. The failings of the old system were so disastrous, however, that little will be lost in the attempt to forge a new one.
