Black Hawk Down and International Norms
The film Black Hawk Down illustrates the series of events that transpired during the notoriously gruesome “Battle of Mogadishu” in 1993. It provides a bloody picture of the clash between the U.S military and militiamen in Somalia, during the former’s attempt to capture the latter’s leader, Mohamed Farrah Aidid. Throughout the course of the encounter, a total of 19 American soldiers and about 1,500 – 3, 000 Somalis died. From the depiction of the incident, we can derive some insights regarding the normative parameters around “military intervention” and how these interact with the domestic (US and Somalia) and international factors. In terms of the normative parameters around military intervention, I think that two dimensions must be considered. Firstly, there is the discussion on when, why and how states intervene in the affairs of other states. One thing that is highlighted in the beginning of the movie was the rationale of U.S. military intervention. Initially, the reaso...