Western Interventions in Current Wars: Political Justification and Civil Society´s Response

On the one hand, it seems to be an agreement in Western countries in favor of values included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On the other hand, Western countries initiate or intervene in armed conflicts outside their territories, which implies actions contrary to such values. This art...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Noelia Bueno Gómez
Format: Article
Language:Spanish
Published: Universidad Pontificia Comillas 2017-01-01
Series:Pensamiento. Revista de Investigación e Información Filosófica
Subjects:
Online Access:https://revistas.upcomillas.es/index.php/pensamiento/article/view/7647
Description
Summary:On the one hand, it seems to be an agreement in Western countries in favor of values included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On the other hand, Western countries initiate or intervene in armed conflicts outside their territories, which implies actions contrary to such values. This article examines this apparent contradiction: it describes briefly the international context of contemporary conflicts and it refers to the just-war tradition in order to analyze both the position of the Charter of the United Nations and the justifications given by Western countries. Moreover, the arguments used by the US and the Spanish Governments to justify their interventions in the Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2008) wars, and the responses of civil society are considered.
ISSN:0031-4749
2386-5822