Humanitarian Intervention: Preventing Or Prolonging Human Rights Violations

This thesis was written to redefine successful humanitarian intervention under my own criteria. By analyzing the course of action of two notable humanitarian intervention campaigns, Kosovo and Libya, I argue that both were humanitarian failures and did not prevent a further humanitarian crisis. My conclusion of failure in regards to intervention in Kosovo contradicts popular literature on the intervention, and I highlight the intervention in Libya as being the cause of the current humanitarian crisis in the region. My critiques and criteria present an alternative way of examining military campaigns in the name of humanitarian interventionand I propose relying on civilian organizations to conduct humanitarian aid.