POLSC402: Global Justice

In this video, Michael Ignatieff, a member of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, gives an overview of several humanitarian interventions in the past several decades, discussing successes and failures. He also lays out the case for interpreting sovereignty – not as a right for states to do whatever they wish within their borders, but as a responsibility they have to protect their citizens from atrocities. How do you think this argument changes the framework we use to determine whether intervention is legitimate?