Non-intervention

Obligating all states not to interfere in any way in the internal affairs of other states.

Non-intervention came into being after the French Revolution when the new government was attempting to establish a non-royal form of government and did not want the interference of royalist sympathizing countries. The USA at the same time used non-intervention as the rationale for the Monroe Doctrine which was directed against intervention by imperial Europe in the Americas. The UN supports this principle.

The strategy for non-intervention requires stable national states that can function independently.

1. International intervention often undermines existing local structures, which weakens local capacity upon withdrawal. Non-intervention positions national states to treat each other as equals by allowing each state to decide its own destiny.

1. Non-intervention presupposes that all national states are autonomous from one another, and that each state has the capacity to function in a oil crisis illustrated that the use and pricing of resources affects the entire world. The internal affairs of one national state do affect other states and national states are not autonomous but inter-related.

1. Intervening

1. Peace-keeping
2. Intervening in government of another country

1. Vulnerability of small nations to foreign intervention
2. Misuse of non-interference principle
3. Foreign military intervention
4. Foreign government intervention