Military humanism is the term used to describe a situation whereby force and violence are used to further a humanitarian cause. Although it can easily be disputed whether or not furthering a humanitarian cause is the real intention behind such an action, the theoretical descriptive guideline still applies. The U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intervention in the Balkans

Balkans

The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

 is the most well-known case, and brought the term to prominence.

The term is most widely explored in Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...

's book The new Military Humanism: Lessons from Kosovo (1999) in which he argues that NATO's 1999 bombing of Kosovo

Kosovo

Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

 was not conducted for humanitarian reasons but to further the military hegemony of western democratic powers such as the United States.
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The term may also refer to humanist

Humanism

Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....

s in the military, including the Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers, a US organization supporting humanists in the military around the world.