The limits of humanitarian intervention : genocide in Rwanda

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Title:

Author:

Kuperman, Alan J.

ISBN:

9780815700869

9780815700852

Personal Author:

Kuperman, Alan J.

Publication Information:

Washington, D.C. : Brookings Institution Press, c2001.

Physical Description:

xii, 162 p. : ill., map ; 24 cm.

Contents:

1. The Common Wisdom -- 2. Roots of the Rwandan Tragedy -- 3. Mechanics of the Genocide -- 4. When Did We Know? -- 5. The Military Scene -- 6. Transporting Intervention Forces -- 7. Plausible Interventions -- 8. Contending Claims -- 9. Early Warning and Preventive Intervention -- 10. Lessons -- App. A. A Model of the Genocide's Progression -- App. B. Airlift in Some Previous U.S. Military Interventions -- App. C. Theater Airfield Capacity Based on Operation Support Hope.

Abstract:

"The 1994 genocide in Rwanda claimed the lives of at least 500,000 Tutsi. At the time, United Nations peacekeepers were withdrawn and the rest of the world stood aside. In the years since that unspeakable nightmare, it has been argued in many quarters that a military intervention of only 5,000 troops could have prevented most of those deaths. In The Limits of Humanitarian Intervention, Alan J. Kuperman exposes such conventional wisdom as myth.".

"Serving as a cautionary message about the limits of humanitarian intervention, the book presents lessons for the future. Policymakers, military leaders, and citizens must be realistic about the goals of such intervention, and they need to know how best to tackle the challenge. Kuperman makes clear that launching humanitarian interventions after the outbreak of massive ethnic violence often will fail to save most of the victims, because such violence can be perpetrated so rapidly. He concludes by offering innovative prescriptions to prevent the outbreak of such violence in the first place."--BOOK JACKET.

Corporate Subject:

United Nations -- Rwanda.

Subject Term:

Genocide -- Rwanda -- History -- 20th century.

Tutsi (African people) -- Crimes against -- Rwanda -- History -- 20th century.

Hutu (African people) -- Rwanda -- Politics and government -- 20th century.

Humanitarian intervention -- Rwanda -- History -- 20th century.

Geographic Term:

Rwanda -- History -- Civil War, 1994 -- Atrocities.

Rwanda -- Ethnic relations.

Added Corporate Author:

Brookings Institution.

Electronic Access:

Book review (H-Net) http://www.h-net.org/review/hrev-a0c9t8-aa

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168015696806	967.57104 K96L 2001	1	Searching... Unknown
Searching... 1:MAIN	1:UNKNOWN	28821-1002	NO CONFIGURATION	2	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

In 1994 genocide in Rwanda claimed the lives of at least 500,000 Tutsi--some three-quarters of their population--while UN peacekeepers were withdrawn and the rest of the world stood aside. Ever since, it has been argued that a small military intervention could have prevented most of the killing. In The Limits of Humanitarian Intervention, Alan J. Kuperman exposes such conventional wisdom as myth.

Combining unprecedented analyses of the genocide's progression and the logistical limitations of humanitarian military intervention, Kuperman reaches a startling conclusion: even if Western leaders had ordered an intervention as soon as they became aware of a nationwide genocide in Rwanda, the intervention forces would have arrived too late to save more than a quarter of the 500,000 Tutsi ultimately killed. Serving as a cautionary message about the limits of humanitarian intervention, the book's concluding chapters address lessons for the future.