Home rule for the Balkans? : the idea of international control in Ottoman Macedonia in the writings of the Balkan Committee (1903-1908)

Humanitarian intervention is a relatively new concept in international relations. Although the origins of interventionism can be traced back well in history, its humanitarian aspect had been gradually formulated during the course of the 19th century. In my paper I focus on the ideas and proposals of the London-based Balkan Committee to solve the "Gordian Knot of the Balkans": the Macedonian Question. In 1903, after the abortive Ilinden Uprising, the European Great Powers concerted to pacify Ottoman Macedonia and to implement reforms in the judiciary and administrative systems, which became known as the Mürzsteg Program. The representatives of the Committee such as its founder Noel Buxton or the well-known journalist at the time, Henry N. Brailsford, suggested international control for Macedonia "by establishing a Government responsible to the Powers." I argue that their ideas were influenced by the notions of contemporary international law which deeply internalized the period’s European perception of civilizational hierarchies of the world.