Introduction to armed humanitarian intervention

The phrase "armed humanitarian intervention" (AHI) denotes a military intervention into the jurisdiction of a state by outside forces for humanitarian purposes. The Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) rationale was implemented in 2011 when the UN Security Council approved military intervention in Libya, and this intervention again spurred debates about AHIs. In more recent times, military interventions have been justified as a way of overthrowing a noxious regime, promoting communism, installing an Islamic theocracy, or supporting a democratic form of government. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it became apparent that unlimited sovereignty in the international arena was incompatible with any hope of a world free from the devastations of war. International law began to become more prominent in international relations. Establishing a legal right to militarily intervene in another state must require authorization from some legal authority.