Non-intervention, self-determination and the ‘new world order’

Abstract

Has the Kurdish crisis changed the rules of the game on non-interference in the domestic affairs of sovereign states? No, writes James Mayall. The Western allies were forced to intervene to protect the Kurds because Western media attention to their plight threatened the political dividends they had secured from the Gulf War. But though the New World Order rhetoric promising new support for human rights is without substance, the Kurdish situation will stand as a precedent of a kind for international protection of oppressed national minorities, if a similar situation recurs. However, the principle of self-determination is still unwelcome in the International community.