During the post--World War II era, American foreign policy
prominently featured direct U.S. military intervention in the Third
World. Yet the cold war placed restraints on where and how
Washington could intervene until the collapse of the former Soviet
Union removed many of the barriers to -- and ideological
justifications for -- American intervention. Since the end of the
cold war, the United States has completed several military
interventions that may be guided by motives very different from
those invoked before the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Likewise,
such operations, now free from the threat of counterintervention by
any other superpower, seem governed by a new set of rules.
In this readily accessible study, political scientist Glenn J.
Antizzo identifies fifteen factors critical to the success of
contemporary U.S. military intervention and evaluates the likely
efficacy of direct U.S. military involvement today -- when it will
work, when it will not, and how to undertake such action in a
manner that will bring rapid victory at an acceptable political
cost. He lays out the preconditions that portend success, among
them a clear and attainable goal; a mission that is neither for
"peacekeeping" nor for "humanitarian aid within a war zone"; a
strong probability the American public will support or at least be
indifferent to the effort; a willingness to utilize ground forces
if necessary; an operation limited in geographic scope; and a
theater commander permitted discretion in the course of the
operation.
Antizzo then tests his abstract criteria by using real-world
case studies of the most recent fully completed U.S. military
interventions -- in Panama in 1989, Iraq in 1991, Somalia in
1992--94, and Kosovo in 1999 -- with Panama, Iraq, and Kosovo
representing generally successful interventions and Somalia an
unsuccessful one. Finally, he considers how the development of a
"Somalia Syndrome" affected U.S. foreign policy and how the
politics and practice of military intervention have continued to
evolve since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, giving
specific attention to the current war in Afghanistan and the larger
War on Terror.
U.S. Military Intervention in the Post--Cold War Era exemplifies
political science at its best: the positing of a hypothetical model
followed by a close examination of relevant cases in an effort to
provide meaningful insights for future American international
policy.
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