Event Title

Reluctant Interveners: America’s Failed Responses to Genocide, from Bosnia to Darfur

Submission Type

Paper

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the significance of domestic politics in dominant states to international failures to respond effectively to ongoing or threatened situations of 'genocide’. Focusing on the role of public opinion in the US, it investigates the complex relationships between the citizenry, media, political elites, and institutions in the most dominant power in the international system. An adapted framing analysis is employed to explore the processes that have turned the promise of 'never again' to a recurring reality of ever again and the dynamics which have transformed moral concerns for the lives of faraway 'others' into cold calculations about the political implications of intervention. Relying on findings from 12 years of research, the paper examines the interactions between the governing and the governed and the potential for a greater role for the citizenry in decision making on responses to genocide.

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Reluctant Interveners: America’s Failed Responses to Genocide, from Bosnia to Darfur

This paper is concerned with the significance of domestic politics in dominant states to international failures to respond effectively to ongoing or threatened situations of 'genocide’. Focusing on the role of public opinion in the US, it investigates the complex relationships between the citizenry, media, political elites, and institutions in the most dominant power in the international system. An adapted framing analysis is employed to explore the processes that have turned the promise of 'never again' to a recurring reality of ever again and the dynamics which have transformed moral concerns for the lives of faraway 'others' into cold calculations about the political implications of intervention. Relying on findings from 12 years of research, the paper examines the interactions between the governing and the governed and the potential for a greater role for the citizenry in decision making on responses to genocide.