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The intervention taboo(s): Strategy and normative invalidation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2017

Michelle Bentley
Michelle Bentley*
Affiliation:
Senior Lecturer, International Relations, Royal Holloway, University of London
*
*Correspondence to: Dr Michelle Bentley, Department of Politics and International Relations, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, TW20 0EX. Author’s email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Intervention comprises one of the most contentious issues in International Relations. This controversy results from the way normative understanding is structured around two key, but mutually exclusive, taboos: the moral expectation to respond in cases of humanitarian need and the protection of state sovereignty. In examining this dilemma, this article asks: what happens to the construction of rhetorical strategy, where that strategy seeks to justify intervention (or not), within a binary normative environment? It is argued that actors can only successfully construct a rhetorical case by engaging in, what is termed here, normative invalidation. In a binary situation, actors cannot adhere to both taboos. These taboos are so compelling, however, that actors must necessarily invalidate or neutralise any taboo not adhered to. This is discussed in relation to the Strategic Narratives paradigm and comparative case studies on the presidential rhetoric of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Keywords

Normative TheoryStrategic NarrativesInterventionUS Foreign Policy
Type
Articles
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 43 , Issue 3 , July 2017 , pp. 557 - 580
Copyright
© British International Studies Association 2017 

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117 Barack Obama, ‘Remarks With Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India in New Delhi, India and an Exchange With Reporters: January 25’, CPD (2015), available at: {www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/DCPD-201500051/pdf/DCPD-201500051.pdf}.

118 Barack Obama, ‘Remarks on the Situation in Iraq and an Exchange With Reporters: June 13’, CPD (2014), available at: {www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/DCPD-201400454/pdf/DCPD-201400454.pdf}. See also Barack Obama, ‘Remarks on the Situation in Iraq: August 7’, CPD (2014), available at: {www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/DCPD-201400602/pdf/DCPD-201400602.pdf}; Barack Obama, ‘Address to the Nation on United States Strategy to Combat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Terrorist Organization (ISIL): September 10’, CPD (2014), available at: {www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/DCPD-201400654/pdf/DCPD-201400654.pdf}; Barack Obama, ‘Remarks on the Situation in Iraq and an Exchange With Reporters: June 19’, CPD (2014), available at: {www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/DCPD-201400470/pdf/DCPD-201400470.pdf}.

119 Alkopher, Tal Dingott, ‘From Kosovo to Syria: the transformation of NATO Secretaries General’s discourse on military humanitarian intervention’, European Security, 25:1 (2016), pp. 49–71 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

120 Widmaier, Wesley W. and Glanville, Luke, ‘The benefits of norm ambiguity: Constructing the wider responsibility to protect across Rwanda, Iraq and Libya’, Contemporary Politics, 21:4 (2015), p. 376 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

121 Obama, ‘Remarks: June 13’.

122 Obama, ‘Weekly Address: September 13’.

123 Barack Obama, ‘Remarks at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida: September 17’, CPD (2014), available at: {www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/DCPD-201400669/pdf/DCPD-201400669.pdf}.

124 Obama, ‘Remarks: June 19’.

125 Obama, ‘Remarks: August 9’.

126 Barack Obama, ‘Remarks at the American Legion National Conventional in Charlotte, North Carolina: August 26’, CPD (2014), available at: {www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/DCPD-201400621/pdf/DCPD-201400621.pdf}.