Issue ? 35. December 2012

Communication Aspects of the Humanitarian Intervention in the Conditions of the Arab Spring

Ph.D., professor, Moscow City Teachers’ Training University; professor, Lomonosov Moscow State University; Head of Communication Management Centre, Russian-German Graduate School of Management, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
E-mail: icspsc@mail.ru

Humanitarian intervention or humanitarian war is generally understood as the use of military force against a foreign state or any other forces for the prevention of humanitarian catastrophe or genocide. Though there are essential differences in how the concept has been defined, humanitarian intervention should not be used as a cover for foreign aggression for the sake of self-serving, imperialist interests. This requirement also fully applies to the events of the Arab Spring. People caught up in grave sociopolitical conflicts are especially vulnerable to psychological manipulation that is custom-made to produce a pseudo-reality loaded with graphic, emotion-laden, “authentic” appeals and images, which include close-up pictures of dead women, children, or other civilians (including militants turned civilians post mortem), or even staged “battle” scenes and etc. As of now, there is unfortunately no international accountability for such manipulative use of human suffering and inadmissibly broad interpretations of what constitutes a humanitarian intervention. Such continued practices could lead to an extremely dangerous international situation.

Keywords

Arab Spring, humanitarian intervention, national and international security, information warfare, international relations, foreign policy.