Public lecture by Associate Professor Alan J. Kuperman, University of Texas at Austin.

Western media and politicians typically praise NATO’s 2011 intervention in Libya as a humanitarian success for averting a bloodbath and helping replace the dictatorial regime of Muammar Qaddafi with a transitional council pledged to democracy.

Based on this ostensible success, experts cite Libya as a model for implementing the emerging international norm of the “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P).  Before embracing such conclusions, however, it is important to conduct a more rigorous assessment of the intervention’s impact.

In this lecture, Prof. Alan J. Kuperman compares the actual outcome in Libya to the likely outcome without intervention, based on the best available documentary evidence.  He reaches the disturbing but unavoidable conclusion that NATO intervention significantly exacerbated the duration and human toll of violence in Libya.

Accordingly, Kuperman concludes with lessons to help ensure that any future humanitarian intervention does more good than harm.

Datum:
Dinsdag 29 May 2012, 16:00 uur – 18.00
Locatie:
Aula A
Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam