314 CHAPTER EigHT ■ War and Strife
interstate rivalries but from failures of their own government to protect life, property,
and ideas? The idea that states and the international community have the obligation,
indeed the responsibility, to protect human beings, even if it means intervention in the
affairs of another state, is the norm of humanitarian intervention.
But what should the individual be protected against? Should protection include
more than that against the physical vio lence typically associated with interstate con-
flict, civil war, genocide, nuclear weapons, and terrorism, as discussed in this chapter?
Should the concept of security be broadened? In 2004, the UN High- Level Panel
on Threats, Challenges, and Change identified additional threats to what it labeled
human security, a term that has increasingly been used since the early 1990s. Should
individuals be protected from infectious diseases and environmental degradation?
Should they be protected from the harmful effects of economic globalization or from
poverty? We now turn to these economic issues.
d iscussion Questions
- How can we identify an aggressor in international conflicts? Is such identifi-
cation impor tant? Why or why not? - Before World War II, Eu ro pean colonial powers had relatively little difficulty
controlling their large overseas empires with few troops. After World War II,
this situation changed dramatically. What explains the change? - An American decision maker charged with U.S.– Russian Federation policy
requests policy memos from realists (an offensive realist and a defensive real-
ist), a liberal, a radical, and a constructivist. How might their respective rec-
ommendations differ? - North Korea has challenged the norm of nonproliferation, embodied in the
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Is Iran’s nuclear development also a challenge
to the NPT? Or is it within the treaty’s bounds? What are the legal issues? The
po liti cal issues?
Key te r m s
arms control (p. 307)
asymmetric conflict (p. 283)
disarmament (p. 307)
diversionary war (p. 274)
guerrilla warfare (p. 281)
humanitarian intervention (p. 293)
interstate war (p. 264)
intrastate war (p. 264)