Planning Humanitarian Intervention - Summer School Problems, Prospects, Pitfalls

From Afghanistan to Libya, Humanitarian Intervention (be it based on civilian or military means) has become one of the main conceptual and political preoccu- pations of the international community. In the traditional Westphalian interna- tional state system, intervention was a function of political expediency; in the society of states moulded by the United Nations, intervention was a function of Great Power interest aggregation in the Security Council; in the developing global community of supranational, international, regional, and local state and civil society actors intervention is often seen as a function of the Respon- sibility to Protect (R2P) principle.

Changes in the definition of intervention not only open questions regarding the legitimacy, normatively justifyable aims and agenda, and necessary and successful means of such a policy, but equally importantly formulate questions referring to the status, content, and direction of Civil-Military Cooperation, and to the individual sequence of steps necessary to plan for, implement, and justify interventions under concrete circumstances.

The seminar endeavours to clarify the practical planning and implementation problems of humanitarian intervention in the context of a role game exercise, combining official civilian, NGO, and military actors to be held in September. The role game is preceded by a summer school at the end of June; also, there were already two Friday seminar blocks laying the conceptual, procedural, and problem content grounds for the September exercise.

Time Table June 27 to July 01

Monday, June 27 Interventions thrown into cold water – Afghanistan as an example Tuesday, June 28 Interventions – the context, place, function, and political analysis from the point of view of Inter- national, decision-making, and organisational theory Wednesday, June 29 Disaster Relief Operations – Planning Processes and Implementation Problems Thursday, June 30 Civil – Military Cooperation: what is it, what can it provide, where do we go from here ? Friday, July 1, – round-up, assessment & manoeuvre critique

Monday, June 27 Interventions thrown into cold water – Afghanistan as an example ISAF mission, German engagement, experiences - BG Vollmer COS 1 GNC Afghanistan History: from crisis to conflict. - Camelia Ratiu, IfPol Student working parties – subjects: „Exit from Afghanistan - the earlier the better?“ „To secure final success of Afghani state buil- ding: an intensification of the international commitments ?"