Bosnia, gender and the ethics of intervention in civil wars

This article interprets the ethics of intervention as applied by the international community to the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and particularly to the Bosnian conflict which began in 1992. The criteria for intervention by international organisations such as the United Nations, European Union and NATO are based on gendered assumptions and practices, which this article calls into question. It is argued that intervention could be more effective, for all parties, if some gender‐specific issues were taken into account, and ways in which interventionist policies could be de‐gendered are therefore proposed.