Under what circumstances can forcible external intervention in the affairs of states be justified? Did 'Operation Allied Force' in Kosovo meet the appropriate criteria?

Under what circumstances can forcible external intervention in the affairs of states be justified? Did 'Operation Allied Force' in Kosovo meet the appropriate criteria?

The intervention and resulting conflict between Allied and Serb forces which took place in Kosovo (1999), can be viewed as a key event in which twentieth century international relations were tested within the newly formed notion of world globalisation. The notion of world globalisation has brought with it the increasing consensus of interdependence within international relations. Isolationism no longer has a practical reason to exist and it is only by co-operating that we can hope to solve many of our domestic and international problems . This theory can be illustrated by looking at how recent financial instability in Asia destroyed jobs in America and the United Kingdom. With more relevance to the above question, the displacement of thousands of refugees in to Europe and North America during the Balkan conflict (in Kosovo) caused economic strain and tension within the native populations.

"The Dogs of War" - a Punch cartoon from June 17, ...

The Balkan peninsula as defined by the Soča-Krka-...

NATO Summit in Riga, November 2006

Globalisation has been dramatically facilitated with the advent of modern mass media (Digital Satellite Television, Internet etc),which has led to 24 hour world-wide news coverage. The significance of this is that no longer can certain pockets of the globe remain isolated. The resulting consequence is that any State's internal affairs can be watched and scrutinised by almost the entire world's population.

Both Serb and Albanian nationalists claim Kosovo on grounds of history, demography and military conquest. The centre of Serbia's medieval empire, Kosovo fell under Ottoman rule in the 14th century and remained part of the Ottoman Empire until the Balkan wars early in the 20th century. The by then predominantly Albanian province was conquered by Serbia and, with the exception of the two world wars, remained part of what became Yugoslavia. A process of...