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Agonising choices: Tragedy and International Relations – a tragic vision of humanitarian intervention in the Bosnian War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2020

Catherine Van Offelen  and
M. L. R. Smith Open the ORCID record for M. L. R. Smith [Opens in a new window]
Catherine Van Offelen
Affiliation:
University of Bruxelles (ULB) and Sorbonne University in Paris
M. L. R. Smith*
Affiliation:
University of Pretoria, South Africa and King's College London
*
*Corresponding author. Email: michael.rainsborough@kcl.ac.uk
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Abstract

Tragedy is one of the oldest metaphorical lenses of International Relations. The tragic vision of politics, from Thucydides to contemporary realist theorists, lies at the core of classical realism. However, it is striking how rarely the concept of tragedy has been applied to the discourse of humanitarian intervention. This lacuna is a weakness on both the intellectual and political levels, as nowhere are clashes between competing ethical perspectives more glaring. An examination of the concept of tragedy, as conceived from its Greek origins, can illuminate an understanding of the morally contradictory imperatives created by armed intervention. Using the Bosnian War as a case study, Greek classical tragedy provides a framework to grasp the agonising choices and insoluble ethical dilemmas brought about by humanitarian intervention, in contrast to mere narratives of salvation. The argument conveyed in this article seeks to reconcile a tragic vision with the idea of progress and political action. It concludes by suggesting that the fundamental lessons that lie at the heart of tragedy should be associated with another major concept in Greek culture, namely, the Aristotelian idea of phronesis or ‘practical wisdom’.

Keywords

TragedyHumanitarian InterventionAncient GreeceBosniaClassical RealismPractical Wisdom
Type
Research Article
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 46 , Issue 4 , October 2020 , pp. 495 - 513
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 2020

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