Jonathan Chu - International Organizations and Public Opinion on Humanitarian Intervention

How do NATO and the UN Security Council shape public opinion on armed humanitarian intervention? Data from a pair of survey experiments conducted in the U.S. and Japan show that when NATO endorses intervention, both domestic and international support for intervention increase, regardless of the UNSC’s policy position. The reverse, however, is not true: controlling for NATO, the UNSC has a negligible impact on support for intervention. Among Americans, a NATO endorsement increases people’s belief that a U.S. intervention will met with international assistance and produce positive reputation returns. Among Japanese, a NATO endorsement increases people’s belief that a U.S. intervention is indeed motivate by humanitarian concerns, raising support for intervention especially among skeptics of U.S. military force. These findings shed new light on historical cases of humanitarian intervention (or a lack thereof). More generally, these findings have important implications on forum shopping in international relations and the politics of humanitarian intervention.