Institut de Recherche Stratégique de l'École Militaire
Recent Western military interventions, e.g. Iraq (2003) or Libya (2011), as well as non-interventions, e.g. in the Syrian Civil War, are directly responsible for some of the main security and humanitarian challenges facing Europe these days. The rise of ISIS, waves of refugees arriving to Europe, animosity towards European citizens of Muslim origin, and resulting societal tensions are partly attributed to western decisions to intervene militarily abroad, or not.
These issues take a central place in political debates in Europe, as could be witnessed with the “Brexit” vote in the UK, and electoral campaigns in France, Germany, or even the United States. In particular, interventionism and non-interventionism are objects of discussion. However, arguments on the motives of military interventions are often ill-informed. In order to contribute to the debate, this roundtable will investigate the actual motivations behind interventions (and non-interventions). Are “humanitarian” interventions really what they are called, or do governments use moral argument as a disguise for other motivations? For example, such interventions could be motivated by economic interests, post-colonial attitudes, domestic politics or even the desire to boost international status. When the main motivations are not portrayed as “humanitarian”, can interventions promote a humanitarian cause, and why? How can we seize and explain other motivations behind interventions and non-interventions, for example, alliance logics, learning from past experiences, or institutional quagmires.
Jeudi 1er décembre 2016
École militaire - 17h30 à 19h30
Amphithéâtre Lacoste
Table ronde animée par :
- Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer, Directeur, IRSEM
Intervenants :
- Peter Viggo Jakobsen, Associate Professor, Royal Danish Defence College
- Nadav Kedem, Chercheur postdoctorant, CERI, Sciences Po
- Alice Pannier, Chercheuse postdoctorante, IRSEM
- Stefano Recchia, Lecturer, University of Cambridge
- Olivier Schmitt, Associate Professor, Center for War Studies, University of Southern Denmark
Droits : IRSEM
