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23 Stan. J. Int'l L. 547 (1987)
Reexamining the Doctrine of Humanitarian Intervention in Light of the Atrocities in Kampuchea and Ethiopia

handle is hein.journals/stanit23 and id is 559 raw text is: Reexamining the Doctrine of
Humanitarian Intervention in
Light of the Atrocities in
Kampuchea and Ethiopia
MICHAEL J. BAZYLER*
The international law doctrine of humanitarian intervention'
* Michael J. Bazyler is Professor of Law at Whittier College School of Law. He
received his A.B. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his J.D. from the
University of Southern California Law Center.
The author gratefully acknowledges the comments of Michael Cane, Scott Wellman
and Jeanne Wilson, and the research assistance of Karon Arnold, Margo Migatz and
Richard Roane.
1 As this article will demonstrate, there is little use in defining the doctrine of hu-
manitarian intervention. As one writer has stated, intervention may be anything from a
speech of Lord Palmerston's in the House of Commons to the partition of Poland.
Winfield, The History of Intervention in International Law, 1922-1923 BRIT. Y.B. INT'L L.
130, quoted in Franck & Rodley, After Bangladesh: The Law of Humanitarian Intervention by
Military Force, 67 AM. J. INT'L. L. 275, 277 n. 11 (1973). For a recent definition of the
term intervention, see Bull, Introduction to INTERVENTION IN WORLD POLITICS 1 (H.
Bull ed. 1985) [hereinafter INTERVENTION]. The term humanitarian has also been mis-
used. Thus, President Reagan has labeled military supplies sent to the Nicaraguan con-
tras as humanitarian aid. L.A. Times, Oct. 11, 1986, at 12, col. 4.
Professors Franck & Rodley accept the following definition of the doctrine: The
theory of intervention on the ground of humanity is properly that which recognizes the
right of one state to exercise an international control by military force over the acts of
another in regard to its internal sovereignty when contrary to the laws of humanity.
Franck & Rodley, supra, at 277 n.12 (emphasis in original). This definition is based upon
a 1910 definition formulated by the French legal scholar Antoine Rougier. See infra note
117. Franck & Rodley themselves conclude: [A] usable general definition of 'humani-
tarian intervention' would be extremely difficult to formulate and virtually impossible to
apply rigorously .... Franck & Rodley, supra, at 305.
Humanitarian intervention for the protection of another state's citizens from inhu-
mane and cruel treatment should be distinguished from intervention for the protection
of citizens abroad. This latter doctrine is not discussed in this article. For a comparison
of the two doctrines, see N. RONzrrl, RESCUING NATIONALS ABROAD THROUGH MILITARY
COERCION AND INTERVENTION ON GROUNDS OF HUMANITY (1985). See generally RESTATE-
MENT (REVISED) OF FOREIGN RELATIONS LAW OF THE UNITED STATES § 711 (Tent. Draft
No. 3, 1982).
For other definitions of the doctrine, see sources cited infra note 3. Fonteyne pro-
vides separate definitions for the terms unilateral, humanitarian, and interven-

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