Intervention in the post- Cold War era: evaluating humanitarianism, democratization and intervention- The Kosovo case.

Abstract

This paper aims to present to the reader a general imaging of the intentions, purposes, failures and successes of intervention guided and applied by world’s superpower, the United States, as well as the European Union, the United Nations and of course the North Atlantic Alliance or else NATO since the Berlin Wall crumbled. More specifically, its intention is to simply illustrate whether and under which circumstances interventions take place, and what are the results in terms of promoting democratization and humanitarianism. This is going to be achieved through the following ways. Initially, a small historical presentation of the current realities is going to be given. These regard the collapse of the bi- polar system and the Soviet colossus, the reconstruction of Central and SE Europe, the reunification of Germany, the concerns about Soviet nuclear arms, the challenges of economic globalization and most importantly the undertaking of humanitarian operations. Following familiarization with one of the world’s greater transitions periods, the concept of intervention will be introduced. More precisely, intervention is going to be defined and be displayed in all of its forms. Next, it will be projected through the International Theories’ context so as to be well understood and explained. Moreover, a small assessment of the main means of conducting intervention, NATO, will be displayed with regards to its formation and evolution, focusing mostly on its role in the post- Cold War period along with other intervention networks such is this of the United Nations.

After the theoretical background concerning intervention is provided, there will be a presentation of operations during this time worldwide with a focus in the Balkans and one of the two most significant interventions of the 1990’s, taking place in Kosovo at the closure of the decade. Joining theory and practice together, we will be able to estimate the positive and negative outcomes of the above mentioned operations along with several others based not only in theoretical critiques given by both supporters and adversaries of intervention but on empirical studies undertaken through the years trying to answer the following questions: “Does intervention fulfill its democratic and humanitarian purpose after all?” and “is it worth taking it?”