How Humanitarian Intervention Can Succeed: Liberia’s Lessons for the R2P

Abstract

This article explores an unusually successful case of humanitarian intervention, in Liberia in 2003, to infer lessons for future implementation of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). Multilateral intervention succeeded by avoiding two common errors. First, the United States did not encourage the rebels, even though they were fighting a reviled autocrat, but instead threatened them, thereby averting escalation. Second, regional actors offered asylum to the president and power-sharing to his subordinates, despite the regime’s alleged war crimes, so they did not fight to the end. Thus, humanitarian outcomes were fostered by pursuing compromise and inclusivity rather than violent regime change.