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Military Intervention After The Cold War: The Evolution of Theory and Practice

1) The document summarizes a book that examines how military intervention has evolved since the end of the Cold War, driven by changes in views of security, sovereignty, and human rights. 2) It discusses several post-Cold War interventions - in Somalia in 1992, Haiti in 1994, Bosnia in 1995, Sierra Leone, and Kosovo - as case studies that highlight emerging trends toward conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and nation-building rather than coercive occupation. 3) While the book focuses on how the evolution shaped intervention approaches, the review notes it could also have examined how failures in Somalia and successes in Bosnia informed later interventions like the prolonged US presence in Iraq.

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89 views

Military Intervention After The Cold War: The Evolution of Theory and Practice

1) The document summarizes a book that examines how military intervention has evolved since the end of the Cold War, driven by changes in views of security, sovereignty, and human rights. 2) It discusses several post-Cold War interventions - in Somalia in 1992, Haiti in 1994, Bosnia in 1995, Sierra Leone, and Kosovo - as case studies that highlight emerging trends toward conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and nation-building rather than coercive occupation. 3) While the book focuses on how the evolution shaped intervention approaches, the review notes it could also have examined how failures in Somalia and successes in Bosnia informed later interventions like the prolonged US presence in Iraq.

Uploaded by

JoOrgeAndrade
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Scientia Militaria, South African Journal of Military Studies, Vol 35, Nr 1, 2007. doi: 10.

5787/35-1-34

138

MILITARY INTERVENTION AFTER THE


COLD WAR: THE EVOLUTION OF THEORY
AND PRACTICE
__________________________________________________

Andrea Kathryn Talentino

Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2005


364 pages
Illustrated
ISBN 9780896802452
R368, 06

The 1992 United States-led international military operation into Somalia


was a multilateral effort persuaded by and under the aegis of the United Nations
(UN) to thwart a humanitarian crisis as a result of political cataclysm, civil unrest
and natural disaster. The Unified Task Force (UNITAF) was mandated to create an
environment conducive for the distribution of emergency aid against earlier
attempts, which were derailed by warlords and the marauding gangs. The
achievements on the humanitarian objectives were ephemeral because when the
mission ended in 1993, an operation to make possible the political imperatives
commenced, but all these efforts ended in violence. The ensuing withdrawal of its
forces by the United States prompted the demise of UN operations and eventually
the intervention was concluded with the political impasse unresolved.

Given the above backdrop, the introductory chapter of the publication


focuses on how the fundamental changes in the understanding of security,
governance, human rights and the gist of sovereignty have taken root since the
demise of the Cold War. The author attests to the fact that the development of
intervention has been an incessant process of trials and miscalculations.
Notwithstanding the fact that the outcomes of interventions do not yet match the
ideals, intervention as well as post-conflict reconstruction became prominent
features in the international system. How that came about and its significance for
the future of state activity becomes the subject of the book. The relentless
evolutionary process directing contemporary intervention, has been a result of a
myriad of unceremonious changes. Among these changes are those of globalisation,
technology and liberal ideas which were brought about by innovation and diffusion.
Scientia Militaria, South African Journal of Military Studies, Vol 35, Nr 1, 2007. doi: 10.5787/35-1-34

139
To give essence to and bolster the argument of two emerging trends in the
international system, Talentino presents these trends as follows: the first has to do
with more practical inclinations which culminated in the transformation of
intervention from a product of power politics to that of conflict resolution, and the
second relates to more theoretical underpinnings which led to the conceptual
redefinition of security, sovereignty and the emergent human right issues. In the
third chapter, Talentino suggests that the first litmus test for post-Cold War
interventions and the ensuing evolution were set in Somalia in 1992. This was
followed by the intervention in Haiti in 1994 that, amidst lingering criticism
surrounding the Somalian ignominy, presented a degree of optimism with regard to
intervention. The intervention in Bosnia in 1992 spanned the critical era in which
intervention and security began to change with peace-building and nation-building
as the fundamentals of intervention mandates. In this sense, intervention became
synonymous with constructive means of resolution and reconstruction as opposed to
occupation through coercive means.

The distinction between a diversity of intervention efforts such as


Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Sierra Leone and Kosovo by means of different chapters,
epitomises a comparative approach to depict the global changes and the emergent
trends on security issues. It is, however, not clear whether this book attempts at
prescribing intervention within this new security landscape. If post-conflict
reconstruction and nation-building form the foundation of any intervention, given
the “successes” in Bosnia, the Americans should have been out of Iraq sooner than
anticipated. On the other hand, the failures in Somalia and other foiled interventions
should have prompted such interventions to be revisited.

The chapter on intervention in Somalia as a case study elucidates the


failures of the traditional methods of intervention through the use of force only, with
humanitarian issues the primary concern. The chapter on Haiti presents a rather
sanguine view of intervention with its rationalisation stemming from principles
rather than people as the Haitian intervention took place to re-establish democracy.
Bosnia on the other hand is symbolic of the post-Cold War changes in the
international system. Even though humanitarian issues played a role in the
intervention, self-interest by states can also be found given that some had to deal
with refugee problems; thus the response and credibility of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation (NATO) to stabilise Europe. The international intervention in Sierra
Leone exhibits the relevance of contemporary norms on the partnership between a
regional entity and an international organisation like the UN. The chapter on
Kosovo, in turn, marked the advent of yet another change in intervention; that of a
Scientia Militaria, South African Journal of Military Studies, Vol 35, Nr 1, 2007. doi: 10.5787/35-1-34

140
regional organisation waging war with a state and in this instance, NATO battled it
out with Serbia.
Albeit a comparative case study approach on the evolution of intervention,
this book focuses exclusively on how such an evolution helped shape intervention.
A look at Africa in general, and Somalia and Sierra Leone in particular, helps
explain the complexities that lie in understanding the roots of conflict as an
impediment to conflict resolution efforts and intervention. This book serves as a
constant reminder to the powers in being within the military establishment and their
civilian counterparts on how intervention has evolved to the extent that traditional
methods are rendered somewhat obsolete. Military Intervention After The Cold
War: The Evolution Of Theory And Practice is a remarkable reader for
humanitarians, historians, strategists and security studies scholars alike. The
publication informs scholars and practitioners about the shifting nature of
intervention as a result of the new security landscape, globalisation and the diffusion
of liberal ideas after the Cold War.

Capt Godfrey Ramuhala, Department of Military Strategy, Faculty of Military


Science, Stellenbosch University

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