A Few Words on Non-Intervention

"A Few Words on Non-Intervention" is a short essay by the philosopher, politician and economist, John Stuart Mill. It was written in 1859 in the context of the construction of the Suez Canal and the recent Crimean War. The essay addresses the question of under what circumstances states should be allowed to intervene in the sovereign affairs of another country.

Mill's argument begins with a discussion of Britain's place in the world. Writing for a contemporary British middle and upper class audience, Mill gives an overview of some world events that were important for that particular time. The main arguments for and against non-intervention are found in the second half of the script.

There seems to be no little need that the whole doctrine of non-interference with foreign nations should be reconsidered, if it can be said to have as yet been considered as a really moral question at all... To go to war for an idea, if the war is aggressive, not defensive, is as criminal as to go to war for territory or revenue; for it is as little justifiable to force our ideas on other people, as to compel them to submit to our will in any other respect. But there assuredly are cases in which it is allowable to go to war, without having been ourselves attacked, or threatened with attack; and it is very important that nations should make up their minds in time, as to what these cases are... To suppose that the same international customs, and the same rules of international morality, can obtain between one civilized nation and another, and between civilized nations and barbarians, is a grave error...

According to Mill's opinion (in 1859) barbarous peoples were found in Algeria and India where the French and British armies had been involved. First, he argued that with "barbarians" there is no hope for "reciprocity", an international fundamental. Second, barbarians are apt to benefit from civilised intervenors, said Mill, citing Roman conquests of Gaul, Spain, Numidia and Dacia. Barbarians,

have no rights as a nation, except a right to such treatment as may, at the earliest possible period, fit them for becoming one. The only moral laws for the relation between a civilized and a barbarous government, are the universal rules of morality between man and man.

Similar arguments can today be found in theory on intervention in failed states. Of more widespread relevance, Mill discussed the position between "civilized peoples".

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