NATO and Liberal Interventionism: Don’t Back Off
NATO and Liberal Interventionism: Don’t Back Off

Author(s): Lenka Filípková, Jan Kužvart, Tomáš Karásek, Jakub Záhora
Subject(s): Diplomatic history, Security and defense, Military policy
Published by: AMO – Asociace pro mezinárodní otázky
Keywords: liberal interventionism; Responsibility to Protect; out-of-area military operations;
Summary/Abstract: In the sphere of international politics, the doctrine of liberal interventionism, as practiced by the Euro-Atlantic community, is a peculiar hybrid, being both underpinned by certain (largely Western) values on one hand, and guided, as often pointed by its virulent critics, by material interests on the other. As for the former, calls for intervention in foreign countries are rooted in a conviction that state sovereignty, and state interests in general, should not overshadow pressing humanitarian issues like mass murder or large-scale human suffering. Some acts are said to be simply too appalling to be ignored, and in such cases even the sacrosanct principles of international order can be legitimately breached. The international community as a whole has largely accepted this logic, albeit in a muted fashion, through the concept of Responsibility to Protect (R2P).

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