Fair-Weather Friend: A Critique of the Humanitarian Intervention Norm in U.S. Foreign Policy
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2013
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Haverford College. Department of Political Science
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Open Access
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Abstract
The purpose of my thesis was to evaluate the influence of the norm of humanitarian intervention and determine whether it has been internalized in U.S. foreign policy since the end of the Cold War. Using the framework of the norm life‐cycle proposed by Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink, I used a wide range of empirical data to provide a wholistic perspective on the competing interests in U.S. foreign policy, and offer insight into the agency of the humanitarian intervention norm. In the first chapter of this paper, I examine existing literature on norm development and the conditions required for the success and longevity of norms in an environment of competing interests. Using this theoretical foundation, the analysis of the internalization of the humanitarian intervention norm is based on four principle investigations of U.S. foreign policy. First, the institutionalization of the norm and the extent to which the U.S. has obligated itself to participate in humanitarian intervention through domestic and international legislation. Second, I use the U.S. policy towards the humanitarian crises in Kosovo (1999) and Darfur (2003‐2010) to ascertain the influence of the humanitarian intervention norm in U.S. decision‐making processes. Using the independent variables of public opinion, economic situation and international pressure, I make an epistemological argument with regards to the strength of this norm against the weight of these factors. Finally, I use the ongoing U.S. drone campaign in Pakistan as an extrinsic test case. This security intervention demonstrates the secondary of humanitarian concerns, which undermines the impetus of the humanitarian intervention norm considerably. The analysis of this paper shows that norm of humanitarian intervention has not developed in U.S. foreign policy to the point where it can decisively shape action. The process of internalization will be dependent on the work of norm entrepreneurs and domestic interest groups. Only through consistent and appropriate response to humanitarian crises will the norm will make the transition to customary law in U.S. foreign policy.