SOURCE:

Faculty: Social Sciences
Department: Political Science

CONTRIBUTORS:

Okafor, U. C.
Oddih, M. C.

ABSTRACT:

This study examined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and violations of state sovereignty: An Analysis of the Libyan crisis. It primarily investigated (a) the causes of NATO’s intervention in the Libyan crisis; (b) the role of international conventions and regulations as guide to external interventions of states and (c) the impact of NATO’s intervention on the sovereignty of Libya. The study is a qualitative research and utilizes ex-post facto design, whereby recorded antecedents from history and archives on related issues were evaluated vis-a-vis the objectives of the study. The archival materials included in this analysis were UN Charter, Official documents on UN Resolutions and Report, AU documents and related local and International Journals etc. The data for analysis were presented in textual, tabular and chart forms. Realist paradigm of International Relations was adopted as the framework of analysis. The finding reveals that Gaddafi’s act of genocide against the inhabitants of Benghazi and neo-colonial interests were the major causes of NATO’s intervention in the Libyan crisis. It also discovers that UN has not been able to ensure that nations adhere strictly to the International Charter, Conventions and Regulations guiding external interventions. Thus, NATO’s involvement could better be described as an incursion on the sovereignty of Libya due to the fact that the polity lacks the major principles of sovereignty to include: permanence, exclusiveness, absoluteness, inalienability and originality. The study recommends that United Nations Organization especially, the Security Council should call for a defined role for NATO to avoid unwarranted interventions in the sovereignty of weaker states.