The Thin Blue Line: How Humanitarianism Went to WarThe idea that we should ‘do something’ to help those suffering in far-off places is the main impulse driving those who care about human rights. Yet from Kosovo to Iraq, military interventions have gone disastrously wrong. The Thin Blue Line describes how in the last twenty years humanitarianism has emerged as a multibillion-dollar industry that has played a leading role in defining humanitarian crises, and shaping the foreign policy of Western governments and the United Nations. Drawing on his own experience of working in over a dozen conflict and post-conflict zones, Foley shows how the growing influence of international law has been used to override the sovereignty of the poorest countries in the world. |
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Aceh Afghan Afghanistan Africa aid agencies aid organizations aid workers Albanian Amnesty International areas argued attacks bombing Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosnian British campaign Chapter civil civilians conflict Court crimes crisis Darfur decision displaced donors East Timor ethnic forces former genocide human rights violations Human Rights Watch humanitarian agencies humanitarian aid humanitarian intervention humanitarian law humanitarian organizations Ibid ICRC ICTY impact increasingly international community International Criminal international human rights international law invasion Iraq justice killed Kosovan Kosovo LTTE military action military intervention militias million Milošević mission Mozambique NATO's neutrality NGOs operation Oxfam peace peacekeeping political humanitarianism population President programme prosecutions protect rebel refugees relief response rights and humanitarian Rwanda Security Council Resolution Serbian Serbs Sierra Leone soldiers Somalia sovereignty Sri Lanka staff Taliban tion torture troops tsunami Uganda UN Security Council UN's UNHCR United Nations warlords