Military Intervention in International Law
Author: Philip Yang
Abstract / Chinese PDF Download
Military intervention means that state intervenes or involves other state’s internal affairs by military means. UN Charter prohibits state’s any use of force or threat of force in its relations with other nations. However, ever since the establishment of the United Nations, due to the Cold War and power politics between major countries, the Security Council is not very effective in dealing with cases affecting international and regional peace and security. Some major powers therefore made use of various forms of military intervention to implement their foreign policies. Sometimes those cases of military intervention were legal excuses of power politics, but sometimes there were certain legitimate reasons. The paper will discuss military intervention in international law, including international regulations concerning military actions, principle of non-intervention, and state practices related to military intervention. UN military actions is also a major discussion focus of the research, together with the analysis of the principle of non-intervention. Three different forms of military intervention will be addressed as follows: military intervention in civil war, military intervention in supporting self-determination, and military intervention to protect nationals.