Humanitarian Intervention and Conflict Resolution

Running head: HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Humanitarian Intervention and Conflict Resolution
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Introduction
In the beginning of the inception of human civilization, it was fraught with conflicts and
wars. The institution of the state was yet to come in to existence and as a result, there was a huge
vacuum in the position of leadership of the agency of the state (Betts 2017). This position was
widely contested for by the powerful individuals of the society which resulted in conflicts and
bloodshed. Every individual was of the idea that he or she was the best person suited for the job
of leading the state and its citizens in to glory. Slowly, the organization of the state came in to
existence and now, the state leaders moved their focus from the internal working of the state to
the external opportunities available outside of the state. They realized that for the proper
functioning of the state and for its citizens to enjoy a quality standard of living, possession of the
natural resources of the earth is essential. For this purpose, the power of the state had to extend
much beyond its territorial boundary (Barash and Webel 2017). Such a thought process resulted
in to outbreaks of war and violence amongst the various nation states of the world. Each country
was looking out for the fulfillment of its own national interest. As a result, the world was
plunged in to more violence and bloodshed. Situation reached its zenith with the outbreak of the
First World War in the year 1914. This War engaged almost all the nation states in the region of
Europe and even that of Asia and United States of America. When the War came to an end in
1918, the horrors of the War were finally taken in to account (Jeong 2017). The world was yet to
learn its lesson in the need for peace and harmony. The Second World War broke out which was
much larger in scale and more intense and destructive. It nearly resulted in the annihilation of
almost half the population living in the European continent. The end of the War made the leaders
of the various states realize the importance of peace in the world, even if it is forced peace. As a
consequence, the organization of the United Nation came in to existence. This essay seeks to

2HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION
discuss the nature of various types of conflict that occur between nations. The main purpose of
the essay is to analyze the importance of peace keeping and peace building among the nation-
states of the world. For this reason, the idea of humanitarian intervention took birth. To provide
evidence to all these concepts and ideas, the essay takes the case study of Timor Leste. The essay
concludes with the implication of war on the people of the world and the inevitable desire for
peace and harmony.
Nature of conflict
The nature of conflict has changed to a considerable extent in the present times. Earlier,
the leaders of the various states used to fight for the possession of the natural resources and more
territories (Grossman and Christensen 2017). However, the end of the Second World War
brought about new changes in the ordering of the states. States are now prohibited upon
encroaching the territorial boundary of other states. Moreover, they are required to respect the
internal and external sovereignty of the other states, failing to do which will attract international
condemnation and consequences. All these new rules and orders are backed by the power and
legal authority as entrusted to the organ of the United Nations. The United Nations is an
international organization where almost all the nation states of the world are represented
(Goodhand 2016). The main purpose of this organization is to ensure the preponderance of peace
and stability in the world order and to ensure that there are no more outbreaks of war and
violence. For this purpose, the member states of the United Nations have been given the power to
find out solutions to any conflict of international standard. All the powers of the United Nations
are clearly elaborated in its Charter which was signed and came in to existence in the year 1945.
Preventing the outbreaks of conflict and violence in all the parts of the world is very
ambitious and unrealistic as the very nature of human being is to possess and covet material

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things. Moreover, for all the state leaders of the world the protection and promotion of their
national interest is of utmost necessity. This national interest often comes in conflict with that of
other states and this unfortunately results in the outbreak of war and violence. The agency of the
United Nations tries to prevent such conflicts with the help of several mechanisms and
instruments. Everything depends upon the timing of the conflict (Cohrs, Vollhardt and
McKeown 2018). If the conflict has been in existence for a long period of time then the
mechanisms of peace building, confidence building among others are required. However, if the
conflict has occurred in the recent past, then the activities of the peace keeping forces should
prove to be enough. The nature of the conflict also depends upon the intensity of the conflict.
Particular style of intervention are required in different stages of the conflict. For instance, if the
conflicts are widely pervasive in nature, there is a need to change the very ordering of the
political structure of the concerned country. Moreover, the civil society and the economic
foundation also needs to be modified. This is the job of the peace building forces (Mac Ginty
2016). However, if the situation is not very intense and there is a scope of containing the spread
of violence, the mechanism of the peace keeping forces prove to be sufficient.
Various conflict resolution mechanisms
Concept of Peace Keeping
First and foremost, is its mechanism of peace keeping. The United Nations has classified
its utilization of peace keeping forces under two different chapters, depending upon the types of
missions. The missions mentioned in the Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter, the peace
keeping forces have to take the permission and consent of the countries where they will be
required to go in order to prevent conflict and establish peace (Pugh, Cooper and Turner 2016).
Even upon entering the respective country where violence is occurring, if the government of the