Humanitarian and Military Intervention in Libya and Syria: Parliamentary Debate and Policy Failure.

• Author: Sehitoglu, Recep

Humanitarian and Military Intervention in Libya and Syria: Parliamentary Debate and Policy Failure

By Aran M. Lewis

Routledge, 2023, 220 pages, [pounds sterling]120.00, ISBN: 9781003317630

In recent years, the literature on Libya and Syria has significantly expanded. Aran M. Lewis's Humanitarian and Military Intervention in Libya and Syria: Parliamentary Debate and Policy Failure is valuable work in this field in terms of examining the complexities and challenges surrounding humanitarian and military interventions in the conflicts in Libya and Syria. In the book, the author discusses the parliamentary debates and policy decisions that shaped the international response to these crises and the contradictions that emerged as a result.

The book consists of nine chapters, including an introduction and a conclusion. The methodology chosen to divide the chapters into headings and analyze them separately is influential. The author used thematic analysis, which is a qualitative data analysis system, as a research method since the study is supported by large data sets. In this respect, the study strengthens its claim of being original. Based on the thematic analysis method, dozens of themes related to humanitarian intervention are listed according to the number of repetitions by the speakers selected from the British Parliament and this serves as a data source for the study. On the other hand, the contradictions between the good intentions mentioned in these themes and the actions taken and the negative consequences caused by these actions are investigated.

Considering the debates on Libya and Syria in general, as an example, the themes in the Libya debates section of the study stand out as follows: The humanitarian theme encouraging humanitarian and military intervention, regime change, the protection of lives, the theme of lost/misdirected weapons, commercial opportunities for the United Kingdom.

On the other hand, the five main themes under the other pillar of the study, the Syria debate, can be listed as follows: The theme of killing civilians as an act requiring regime change, oppressive government, humanitarian aid, weapons of mass destruction, the theme of supporting the opposition.

The author argues that the P3 members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) (Britain, the U.S., and France), who were ambivalent about the intervention in Syria but acted swiftly in the military intervention in Libya, caused violations in the NATO-led...