ABSTRACT
I N RECENT years the traditional, prevailing, state-centric view of the world with its emphasis on the importance of territorial integrity, state sovereignty and non-interference in the domestic affairs of other states has been increasingly challenged. The activities of international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and multinational corporations in the Cold War era had already led analysts to question increasingly the validity of an exclusively state-centric approach. The end of the Cold War has resulted in a much less rigid but at the same time more unstable and volatile international environment. The communist multinational entities of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia have fragmented. But the tragedy in the former Yugoslavia, and the civil strife in Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia and Iraq have led to heightened international concern over the fate of oppressed minority groups. This has even resulted in outside intervention on humanitarian grounds - initially at least - in order to protect minority rights and prevent the gross violation of human rights.
