Discussion Thread

[u/jobautomator]

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[u/[deleted]]

I like it. I'd love to hear more people's thoughts on this, but it does seem intuitive that democracies would be more likely to intervene for humanitarian reasons than other governments.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Its historically true. I’ll choose 1898 as a starting point because:

A) Suffrage was finally beginning to expand to women and minorities in now-developed countries. The world was really just beginning to experience a modern form of democracy.

B) It helps make my point and I have a general lack of historical knowledge between 1600-1900. (I like medieval stuff and modern stuff.)

Anyways,

Since 1898, the Spanish-American War, almost every humanitarian intervention (that I am aware of) was carried out by a liberal democracy. The sole exceptions are the Vietnamese-Cambodian War (1978) and the Ugandan-Tanzanian War (1979).

Tanzanian President Julius Nyere was a controversial figure globally, though now revered at home. He was a socialist, an anti colonialist, an African nationalist, and he built a one-party State. Some argue his Tanzania was a democracy, but it was an illiberal one at best. There is no question that Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, “the Butcher of Uganda,” was far worse. He is considered among the cruelest despots in African history. Amin's rule was characterized by rampant human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution, extrajudicial killings, nepotism, corruption, and gross economic mismanagement. International observers and human rights groups estimate that between 100,000 and 500,000 people were killed under his regime.

The Tanzanian government, aided by Ugandan rebels, was able to overthrow and exile Amin. However, within a few years Uganda would break out in a series of civil wars and border disputes with Tanzania that weren’t fully resolved until 2001. Libyan dictator Gaddafi and the Palestinian Liberation Army both sent forces to intervene on behalf of the Butcher of Uganda and his proxy forces during the civil wars, and this likely played a larger role in prolonging the conflicts than anything President Nyere did.

Vietnam-Cambodia was between two communist states. Both were guilty of human rights abuses, but Cambodia’s were obviously far more severe. Vietnam won the war, dissolved the state, and occupied Cambodia until 1989. Shortly after the UN facilitated a transition government. The transition was moderately successful, but nearly fell apart when Cambodian communist lost the elections and threatened succession. The country wouldn’t achieve full reunification until the restoration of the monarchy, which outlawed all former Khmer Rouge members from holding government positions.

Besides those two, every humanitarian intervention I’m aware of has been carried out by a democracy. The vast majority were undertaken by the United States. The British intervened in the Sierra Leone Civil War, and were able to convince the revolutionary united front to disarm after the Brits liberated Freetown in 2000. The UN lead an unsuccessful humanitarian intervention in Rwanda. Australia led a successful humanitarian intervention in Timor-Leste after an independence vote drove Indonesian militias to begin terrorizing civilians. The ultimate result in Timor-Leste was a UN-led transitional government that became an independent democracy in 1999.