Embracing Humanitarian Intervention: Atlanticism and the UK Interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo

David Mccourt

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This article employs the interpretive approach to show that Britain's embrace of humanitarian intervention in Kosovo in 1999 was less a result of the election of New Labour or the psychology of Tony Blair, as conventional wisdom suggests, and more a consequence of a change in belief among policy-makers in the UK and beyond regarding the use of force for humanitarian ends, which originated prior to 1997 in American intervention in Bosnia in the summer of 1995. The effects of the moralism of the new government and its leader must therefore be viewed within a wider transatlantic context and against the background of the continued importance of the 'Atlanticist' tradition in UK foreign policy, with important implications for the study of UK foreign policy beyond the Balkans.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)246-262
Number of pages17
JournalBritish Journal of Politics and International Relations
Volume15
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2013

Keywords

  • Atlanticism
  • British foreign policy
  • Humanitarian intervention
  • Interpretivism

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Political Science and International Relations
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

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