La “Prueba del esfuerzo personal” en la teoría de la intervención militar de Michael Walzer

Abstract

This paper analyzes the importance of Michael Walzer’s self-help test and discusses its importance as a link between a community’s internal con-flict and foreign military intervention. After a brief intro-duction to self-determination theory in Walzer’s philosophical thought describing selfdetermination and nonintervention principles within the presumption of state legitimacy, the paper examines the concept of selfhelp. Also, it addresses the particular features of this mechanism, examining the two le-vels of this test as well as the consequences of passing both. Then, the study discusses the importance of military intervention either counterintervention or intervention in contexts of secession as a guarantor of selfdetermination in the international realm. Finally, the paper challenges the philosophical connection established by Walzer between military victory and national representativeness through the study of the Syrian Civil War. The article concludes that the selfhelp test is a controversial yet interesting proposal combining the respect for selfdetermination commitment with military intervention in the protection of international stability.

Keywords

• self-help test
• secession
• military intervention
• michael walzer
• just war theory