Lecture 7 Flashcards
Definition foreign military intervention
Definition: The use of military force to intervene in the domestic
affairs of another state.
Dimensions fmi
Dimensions of intervention
Type of military force
e.g. air strike; special operations; arming proxy forces; own ground troops
Extent of involvement in the other country’s domestic affairs
e.g. support minority group; peacekeeping; counterinsurgency; regime change
Presence of alliance
e.g. unilateral; multilateral
Why do states intervene militarily?
To improve (national) security
What is security?
Territorial integrity vs. human security vs. ….
What counts as a security issue?
Military threats; state and non-state threats
Whose security?
States; allies; citizens in target country
How can security be achieved?
Use of force
Potential goals of military intervention
- (Geo-) Political
Resolve (territorial) disputes; foreign policy reversal; regime change;
democratization; support ally - Strategic
Show resolve; demonstrates capability - Humanitarian
Protect civilians and human rights
Factors enabling intervention
- System-level
E.g. power transition theory, power cycles - International environment
E.g. proximity, territorial disputes, capabilities, alliances, economic
interdependence, IO membership, and colonial history - Domestic politics
E.g. regime type; checks on leaders’ power; diversionary force;
characteristics of the target state - Leadership
E.g. how leaders perceive threats, the location of the source of insecurity
Varieties of national interest
- Humanitarian interests
Linked to promoting national values around the world - Important interests
Survival not at stake, but affect “national well-being and character of
the world in which we live” - Vital interests
“of broad, overriding importance to… survival, security, territorial
integrity
Realist approaches to sources of interest
National and security interests determined by
Anarchic structure of the international system
Uncertainty and security dilemma logic
Security competition between states
States seeking to maximize power / ensure survival
Interests shaped by distribution of material capabilities
Constructivist approaches to sources of interest
Social construction of states’ interests
- Interests are not simply the result of the structure of the international
system
- States shape the content of structure through the way they act
For example, it is possible to transform interstate relationships from
security dilemma to security community: Britain-US, France-Germany
States’ interactions under anarchy create threats and interests;
interests are not fixed but are socially constructed
Liberal approaches to sources of interest
States as such do not have interests
States are political institutions
Political institutions “represent” (some) political actors
States define their interests based on the preferences of individuals
and interest groups
Context of Iraq war
US Foreign Policy Choices after the September 11, 2001
attacks
Immediate response: attack al-Qaida, Taliban
Assess what went wrong?
Intelligence failures (9-11 Commission Report)? Airline security?
Intelligence cooperation with others?
Broad policies (counter the origins of Islamic extremism?)
Go after regimes that might support terrorism in the future?
“Axis of Evil” – Iran, Iraq, North Korea
Develop doctrine of preventive war; differs from
preemptive war
Criteria to consider when assessing explanations for war
Criteria to consider
1. Logic of the case
2. Strength of the link to U.S. national security
3. Evidence supporting the case
4. Regional implications of action/inaction based on the case
Case for war as presented in 2002-3
Multiple rationales: WMD; terrorism; human rights; democratization;
deterrence; oil…
Multiple motivations
9/11 changed everything
Regional balance of power
“Because we can” (the Revolution in Military Affairs)
“Because we should” (neoconservative theory)
Multiple audiences
International coalition partners
UN as international legal cover
US Congress
The American Public
Operation Iraqi freedom
Coalition invasion strategy
Motivated by U.S. Secretary of
Defense Rumsfeld’s desire to show US
military could be effective with smaller
numbers of ground troops, reliance on
technology
Goal of leadership decapitation
Relatively small military force
(150,000 troops vs. 600,000 in 1991
Gulf War)
Saddam’s response
Iraqi Army and Republican
Guard fail to materialize as
significant opponents
Fedayeen Saddam mount
resistance in urban areas
against rear and supply lines of
advancing U.S. columns
Occupation of Iraq
The Coalition Provisional Authority as government
Transforming Iraq’s political landscape
De-Ba‘thification
New political structures through a new constitution
Elections
Reconstruction
Insurgency and sectarian war
