Humanitarian Interventions: Saving Close and Distant Strangers

Why do Western countries intervene with military force in some cases of war-related human
suffering but not in others? Drawing on the constructivist argument that humanitarian interventions depend on normative concerns and compassionate feelings among the societal constituencies of Western states, we claim that the morally motivated pressure to act does not simply reflect the severity of human suffering, but also the extent to which Western countries’ societies identify with the victims of war.