Non-governmental Organizations, Prevention, and Intervention in Internal Conflict: Though the Lens of Darfur

This Note argues that cases like the humanitarian crisis and the conflict in Darfur, Sudan, present an intrastate collective action problem that has not been satisfactorily addressed by a traditional multilateral approach. Instead, the Darfur crisis demonstrates the need for an expanded view of modern international law in the face of intrastate conflict that includes systematic intervention procedures and preventive aid, as well as a multifaceted approach that recognizes and integrates NGOs and NGO alliances. This Note asserts that the Sudan crisis has posed a collective action problem requiring not only multilateral state collective action, but also multifaceted, coordinated action between states and the proliferation of nonstate actors that have emerged from globalization. Part I provides background on the genocide in Sudan and demonstrates that this conflict is one of a number of recent intrastate conflicts. It argues that intrastate conflicts and humanitarian crises are collective action problems. Part II argues that humanitarian crises and internal wars require new international law that encourages collective, preventive aid and systemized preemptive intervention procedures. Part III argues that these newer “collective actions” under international law should involve coordinated action between states and NGOs.