Intervention in Libya. (c2014)

Abstract

This thesis describes the new approach to the Arab Uprising through the case of Libya and the international intervention that had taken place. It entertains competing propositions and implements a rational choice analysis approach to analyze decisions of key actors, namely France and the US in their rapprochement towards military interventionism. It examines the idealist v/s realist theses regarding the nature of interventionism in Libya through the lens of Carnegie’s commission on preventing Deadly Conflict. Evidence points to a growing interventionism prescribed by United Nations’ Responsibility to Protect (R2P) that breaches state sovereignty while serving the interests of major powers through humanitarian pretexts. The thesis draws the conclusion that although the intervention in Libya is of a humanitarian face, critical power motives can be revealed through the lens of Realpolitik.