Human Rights in the Discourse on Sovereignty: The United States, Russia and NATO's Intervention in Kosovo

The concept of sovereignty has been a contestable idea throughout history, and its meaning has oftentimes transformed to reflect prevailing systemic conditions and political priorities of major actors in each historical period. In this study, I argue that the social construction of state sovereignty is at the beginning stages of another major redefinition. In an era of globalization and regional integration, discourse on sovereignty has become increasingly prolific as the rhetoric of sovereignty moves away from Westphalian principles that were based exclusively on the agency of independent states. Furthermore, multinational campaigns to promote international human rights engender a discourse that suggests the idea of sovereignty is changing. Does this emerging discourse confirm the growing legitimacy of humanitarian intervention, or is it merely a discursive trend in international relations that does not indicate significant change in state perception and behavior? The purpose of this work is to address this question.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Political Science

Department dc:contributor.department

Political Science

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2001

Author dc:creator

• Heinze, Eric Alan

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Borer, Douglas A.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Taylor, Charles L.
• White, Stephen K.

• Kosovo
• humanitarian intervention
• human rights
• sovereignty

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-05022001-221335
etd-05042001-132107

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/42380