Zeitschrift für Massenkommunikation und Journalismus

Foreign Military Intervention in Libya: An Analysis of the Just War Principles of Jus Ad Bellum and Jus in Bello

Abstract

Chuka Enuka and Nwambu Chiemela

Conflicts in the post-cold war era have taken new dimensions. Unlike the preceding periods, most of the postcold war conflicts are intra-state in nature giving rise to large scale killings and humanitarian abuses of the extent that shock the conscience of mankind. These situations have equally led to new responses in the form of armed humanitarian interventions. The Libyan crisis of 2011 represents one among the many intra-state conflicts that define the character of the post-cold war world. The acclaimed political emergencies occasioned by the Libyan violent eruption, necessitated the imperative for the NATO-led foreign military intervention to quell the crisis and restore order in the country. Both the NATO led intervention in Libya and the principle on which it was executed have continued to generate varied interpretations and controversies. Adopting the just war theory which features the principles of jus in bello and jus ad bellum, this paper investigates the NATO-led intervention in the 2011 civil war in Libya. The paper concludes that the intervention in Libya was far from being just, and was a departure from the just war principles of humanitarianism.