Publication

This dissertation shows how the interplay of fear and compassion shapes policy responses to crises. It is based on an analysis of the German public discourse surrounding Kosovo's refugees in the 1990s. The author argues that Germany's involvement in Kosovo was both a means of appeasing the demands of civil society and addressing the nation's non-military security concerns. Germany's decision to intervene and the strategies deployed therefore demonstrate that humanitarian interventions are neither merely the results of thinly veiled imperialism nor pure cosmopolitanism.