8.7A - Types of Interventions
There is a wide range of geopolitical interventions to address development and human rights issues: development aid, trade embargoes, military aid, direct and indirect military action.
Interference by one sovereign state in the affairs of another is not new. In 1827 Great Britain, Russia and France intervened in Greece to force the Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey) to give Greece its independence. This intervention was justified on humanitarian grounds in order to end Ottoman brutality and free the Greeks from Ottoman rule.
Intervention is an action taken by one or more sovereign states, within the territory of another, in order to change the political and social conditions in that place.
Interventions take a variety of forms, some of which are high risk because they involve the use of force.
Development Aid
- Money, technical help or physical supplies (equipment, food and medicine) provided from one country to another, often involving IGOs such as the UN and/or NGOs
- Aid aims to improve quality of life by meeting basic needs (food, clean water, education and healthcare)
- Otherwise known as economic sanctions, they prevent a country from undertaking international trade in the normal way
- By preventing exports, or banning imports, pressure is placed on the leaders of a sovereign state to change policy because their economy suffers.
- Money provided from one sovereign state to another to buy military equipment
- Military equipment, or military advisers, are provided from one sovereign state to another. (or another military group within it)
- This is usually done in support of one side in a civil conflict.
- Armed forces from one sovereign state engaging in conflict in another sovereign state
- This is often done as part of a coalition, i.e. several countries acting collectively.