Libertarian Perspectives On Foreign Intervention

Libertarian perspectives on foreign intervention started as a reaction to the Cold War mentality of military interventionism promoted by conservatives like William F. Buckley which had supplanted Old Right non-interventionism. The Vietnam War split the uneasy alliance between growing numbers of self-identified libertarians and the Cold War conservatives. Libertarians opposed to the war joined the draft resistance and peace movements and created organizations such as Students for a Democratic Society. The split was aggravated at the 1969 Young Americans for Freedom convention where the burning of a draft card sparked physical confrontations among convention attendees, a walkout by a large number of libertarians, and the creation of antiwar libertarian organizations.

Antiwar and non-interventionist libertarians were highly influenced by libertarian scholar Murray Rothbard and author/activist Karl Hess. Rothbard criticized imperialism and the rise of the American empire which needed war to sustain itself and to expand its global control. Rothbard held that knowledge of history was important because “Our entry into World War II was the crucial act in foisting a permanent militarization upon the economy and society, in bringing to the country a permanent garrison state, an overweening military-industrial complex, a permanent system of conscription." This tradition is continued in the non-interventionist analysis of those like the Cato Institute's David Boaz and of U.S. Representative Ron Paul.

Libertarians have criticized conservatives and those libertarian conservatives who supported the United States' 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupations. In 2010 the United States Libertarian Party criticized conservatives for supporting a "trillion-dollar foreign war."

Some libertarians also criticize from a libertarian perspective the actions of foreign governments, like Saudi Arabia and Israel. In "War Guilt in the Middle East" libertarian scholar Murray Rothbard details Israel's "aggression against Middle East Arabs," confiscatory policies and its "refusal to let these refugees return and reclaim the property taken from them." Rothbard also criticized the “organized Anti-Anti-Semitism” that critics of the state of Israel have to suffer. In "Property Rights and the 'Right of Return'" professor Richard Ebeling writes: "If a settlement is reached between the Israelis and the Palestinians, justice would suggest that all legitimate property should be returned to its rightful owners and that residence by those owners on their property should be once again permitted." Attorney Stephen P. Halbrook in "The Alienation of a Homeland: How Palestine Became Israel" writes: “Palestinian Arabs have the rights to return to their homes and estates taken over by Israelis, to receive just compensation for loss of life and property, and to exercise national self-determination.”