Should We Think Before We Leap? A Rejoinder

The controversial international intervention in Kosovo needs examination in the context of establishing human security. Its stated goal was diplomatic and political; the actual goal was human security. The related UN Security Council resolution created an international protectorate over Kosovo after large-scale physical destruction caused by a military operation, which did little to further human security. Where does this leave human security as a foreign policy vision? Intervention needs victims as an excuse, and these fall into many different categories. Human rights can be guaranteed only by functioning governments. There can be no choice between the security of states and that of persons.