ABSTRACT
Intervention into violent conflicts has increasingly been discussed within academia and has been practiced in international affairs. The evolution of sovereignty from absolute to a responsible version irreversibly introduced the question of how and when to intervene in conflicts for easing the sufferings of civilians. In the early 1990s, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) appeared as a regional sub-systemic actor that filled the need of a local actor with leadership skills in conflict response. The intervention discussion in international relations today reaches beyond these classical and limited conceptualization of intervention. World politics has witnessed intervention incidents in the post–Second World War era with various pretexts and normative agendas. The scope of recent peacebuilding operations is also shaped by the interactions between the actors representing the international community and local authorities. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was established in 1975 as a regional organization to promote the West African states’ economic integration.
