ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to distinguish the moral political commitments and principles of liberal internationalism on the one side and military intervention – which is a method of enforcing these commitments – on the other. This distinction will help allay concerns that liberal internationalism is an interventionistic doctrine in virtue of its fundamental commitments. The chapter also tries to assuage worries that liberal internationalism implies a kind of moral imperialism, by noting the possibility and necessity for liberal internationalists to engage in reasonable deliberation with opposing viewpoints and to adopt an attitude of moral fallibilism in international moral dialogue. This does not mean that liberal internationalists do not take a moral stance, which of course they must. It means, however, that even as they stand by their values, they should be aware of their own moral blind spots and the limitations of their perspective. On this matter of moral modesty, there are useful reminders or lessons that the liberal internationalist can learn from the perspectivalism of the Zhuangzi.
