seek to impose , say , egalitarian economic rights in an illiberal country ( Caney , 2005 : 234 ). Unless necessary to remedy a humanitarian crisis , reformist intervention is not justified . Tesón argues that all “ nonoppressive political structures ” ( 2014 : 71 ) have a right to be upheld . Nevertheless , it does not follow that an intervention requires consent or legitimacy in the eyes of affected citizens . Caney argues that “ we should not simply assume that the currently ruling authorities have the right to rule there ” ( 2005 : 238 ). A state committing humanitarian abuses will very often be an authoritarian one , and as such its citizens have not explicitly consented to its rule . As the overwhelming priority of an intervention is crisis prevention , consent , insofar as it is morally valuable , is not a moral priority ( Frowe , 2014 : 110-1 ). It is not unreasonable to argue that in cases of humanitarian crises , the only group whose consent matters is the victims ( Tesón , 2014 : 70 ). Otherwise , one is implying that an intervention to prevent the Srebrenica massacre would first have to pass the consent of Bosnian
Phil302 Serbs .
Conduct
Finally , foreign intervention in cases of humanitarian crisis are only moral if they are conducted morally . In Walzer ’ s historical study of humanitarian intervention , he identified India ’ s intervention in Bangladesh in 1971 as possibly the only moral model : it was effectively an act of “ law enforcement ” ( 2015 : 104-6 ). Recent history has prompted a backlash against claims of humanitarian intervention . The USA ’ s foreign wars since 2001 have often been justified on humanitarian grounds , despite this being what Farer describes as a mere “ cosmetic applied to counter-terrorist operations ” ( 2003 : 84-5 ). A genuinely humanitarian intervention acts only in ways that are necessary to end and prevent crisis .
In terms of cost , the human welfare of victims should be prioritised over the economic welfare of governments . Perhaps an international fund for humanitarian intervention could take cost out of the decision-making calculations
PHILOSOPHY
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