Foreign Intervention Research Articles

If we cooperate together, we intervene together: Defense cooperation agreements and support to conflict parties

As governments increasingly turn to defense cooperation agreements (DCAs) to institutionalize defense relations, there is little scholarly knowledge of the impact of these agreements in civil wars. Are DCA partners more likely to militarily intervene in civil conflicts together compared with countries without DCAs? While studies show that formal alliance commitments impact the likelihood of parties participating in foreign interventions, DCAs have received little attention in the literature even though DCAs between partner states are signed frequently and subject to change. This study argues that partners in DCAs are likely to provide external military support to the same conflict parties. Our theoretical model suggests that DCAs provide an arena for socialization where governments and military organizations that are DCA partners have repeated interactions. As a result of socialization, their foreign policy goals increasingly align, including their approach to military intervention in foreign conflicts. With access to similar weapons material, military training, and information, DCAs facilitate joint interventions between partner states. Examining the probability of intervention in civil conflicts during the period of 1980–2009, we find that countries that are DCA partners are more likely to provide military assistance to the same warring parties compared with countries without DCAs.

Religio-political and economic backdrops of constitutionalism in Iran in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

The article aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the dynamics that influenced the emergence of constitutionalism and the constitutional revolution in Iran in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It examines the complex interplay between religious, political and economic factors, elucidating their roles in shaping Iran's constitutional landscape. Through an examination of historical sources and scholarly analysis, the article reveals the significant influence wielded by religious institutions, particularly religious leaders, in either supporting or challenging constitutional reforms. This reflects the complex relationship between traditional religious authority and the emerging demands for secular governance. This article, therefore, explores complicated power struggles among political elites, consisting of a diverse groups of aristocrats, bureaucrats and intellectuals. These factions engaged in intricate maneuvers that often determined the course of constitutionalism in Iran. In addition, the economic backdrop of the late Qajar period, characterized by foreign intervention, economic disparity and social unrest, provided fertile ground for political reform and greater representation. By highlighting the multifaceted interactions between these forces, the article offers valuable insights into the evolution of constitutionalism in Iran. It reveals that understanding these historical dynamics is crucial for comprehending Iran’s contemporary political landscape and the ongoing quest for democratic governance amidst complex religio-political and economic realities.

The geography of corporate fake news.

Although a rich academic literature examines the use of fake news by foreign actors for political manipulation, there is limited research on potential foreign intervention in capital markets. To address this gap, we construct a comprehensive database of (negative) fake news regarding U.S. firms by scraping prominent fact-checking sites. We identify the accounts that spread the news on Twitter (now X) and use machine-learning techniques to infer the geographic locations of these fake news spreaders. Our analysis reveals that corporate fake news is more likely than corporate non-fake news to be spread by foreign accounts. At the country level, corporate fake news is more likely to originate from African and Middle Eastern countries and tends to increase during periods of high geopolitical tension. At the firm level, firms operating in uncertain information environments and strategic industries are more likely to be targeted by foreign accounts. Overall, our findings provide initial evidence of foreign-originating misinformation in capital markets and thus have important policy implications.

The Bosnian House: Trajectories of (Non‐)Return Among Bosnian Roma in a Roman Shanty

This article draws on materials collected during ethnographic fieldwork among Bosnian Roma refugees who reconstructed homes in an urban shanty at the periphery of Rome (Italy). In the last two decades, many of these Roma started building or refurbishing houses in villages in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, close to the Serbian Republic (where their former home village is now situated). The construction, refurbishing, and maintenance of these houses played (and still play) a role in the local economy; they also changed the local landscape and became the mark of a new but intermittent presence in post‐Dayton Bosnia. The houses and the transnational practices connected to them have become tokens of economic success and aspirations that revolve around both the Bosnian context and the Roman one. They also express nostalgic attachments to a lost homeland radically transformed by war, foreign interventions, and the advent of the market economy and eventually turned into an unfamiliar place. This article builds on the literature on transnational migration and material culture and explores the ambivalence and complexity of transnational trajectories that stretch between an urban context in the EU and a rural one in non‐EU and reveals complex scenarios of identity, movements, and unlikely returns.

Harm to What Others? J. S. Mill's Ambivalence Regarding Third-Party Harm

abstract: John Stuart Mill's harm principle holds that an individual's freedom can only be restricted to prevent harm to others. However, there is an important ambiguity between a strong version, which limits legitimate interference to self-defense and therefore prohibits society from protecting third parties (those who are not its members), and a narrow version, which grants any society universal jurisdiction to prevent nonconsensual harms, no matter who is harmed. Mill sometimes appeals to the strong harm principle to preclude interference, but elsewhere endorses measures (including humanitarian foreign intervention and animal cruelty laws) to protect third parties, suggesting that he subscribes only to the weak harm principle. This ambiguity regarding who it is that society has standing to protect has important implications for the scope of individual freedom.

Resolving Secessionist Wars in the Horn of Africa: A Call for a Critical Discourse

ABSTRACT This article examines how superpower mediation affects the negotiations, and the resolution, of secessionist wars. The negative role of superpower leverage in mediation, it’s argued, is neglected, and depoliticized in the literature which, consequently, legitimizes foreign intervention and exploitation and perpetuates the imposition of ready-made resolutions. Fostering an indigenous end to secessionist wars by promoting subaltern ontologies and epistemologies in order to challenge the theoretical disposition of superpower hegemony in mediation theory, will, positively, strengthen local ownership of peace processes and foster consensus on indigenous resolutions. Superpower intervention in Sudan’s 2005 peace agreement validates the main arguments of the article.

The Saavedra Lamas Peace: How a Norm Complex Evolved and Crystallized to Eliminate War in the Americas

Abstracts After the Napoleonic Wars interstate war regularly occurred throughout the Western Hemisphere—until in matter of decades it disappeared. After the 1930s even low-level militarized interstate conflict became less frequent, shorter, and less severe over time. What explains the change in this specific region and historical jucture? We argue that leaders in the Americas identified territorial disputes and foreign intervention as interrelated problems that frequently caused the interstate war. In response, they developed a unique regional norm-complex that bundled together the norms of territorial integrity and non-intervention with the principle of peaceful conflict resolution. This norm complex emerged via Latin American entrepreneurship shortly after independence, cascaded with Pan-Americanism, and crystallized around the signature of the Saavedra Lamas Treaty in the early 1930s. We explain how, why, and when norm complexes develop. We then investigate the evolution and effects of the Latin American norm complex via statistics and within-case counterfactuals. We conclude that interstate war disappeared from the Americas with the acceptance and codification of this norm-complex.

Between Fundamentalist Anvil and Red Hammer: How the 1980s Sculpted Afghan Women Movement

The 1980s proved critical not merely for contemporary Afghan history but also for the women’s struggle in Afghanistan. Showcasing Afghan women’s struggles, this article argues that the 1980s proved crucial in shaping feminist debates in Afghanistan. Arguably, Afghan women’s lived experience from the 1980s drove home the conclusion that foreign occupation does not bring women freedoms, while religious tapestries to sugarcoat secular women’s demands reinforce patriarchy. They learnt in the 1980s that their struggles antecede and should succeed foreign interventions. It was, therefore, understandable that the first demonstration against the Taliban, when they re-entered Kabul in August 2021, was held by women.

Greece’s Debt Crisis (2008-2019): An Analysis

The Greek crisis began in November 2009, triggered by the turmoil of the global Great Recession, structural weaknesses in the Greek economy, and a lack of monetary policy flexibility as a member of the Eurozone. Since that time, Greece's economy has started to deteriorate due to a growing debt load and an unmanageable deficit are having an impact on national security. Thus, this study examined the impact of the debt crisis on Greece’s national security by using secondary data from 2009 to 2018.This study has three objectives, namely examining (1) the factor that contributed to Greece’s debt crisis; (2) the impacts of Greece’s debt crisis on its security; and (3) the Greece's approach to overcome its debt crisis. By using a qualitative approach, secondary data from scientific material such as thesis, journal papers and online data were collected. The findings revealed (1) there are four factors that led to the debt crisis in Greece such as political, government expenditure and revenue, social and EU enforcement regulations; (2) other countries, including the US and the Eurozone, as well as Greece itself, have been impacted by the crisis' repercussions on social, economic, political, and security aspects; and (3) Greece had to go through a series of restructuring to be free of this debt crisis. This study concludes, due to poor administration, Greece's debt crisis has a negative impact on security, the economy, politics, and society. Even though there were numerous foreign interventions in the crisis, it didn't just affect Greece; it also impacted other countries like EU members and the US.

The responsibility to protect and its limits: Transnational intervention in The Honourable Woman

The horrors of September 11, 2001 gave us two powerful notions: international terrorism as a form of foreign intervention, on one hand, and the phrase ‘responsibility to protect’, on the other. But ‘responsibility to protect’ is a slippery ethical notion that can easily fall into interventionism, the latter linked with forms of terrorism. Thus, it is not by chance that TV shows and films revolving around important, powerful CEO decisions impacting upon the entire world have flourished like never before since September 11. One of the most important shows about global responsibility and shadowy conspiracies has been The Honourable Woman (2014), which revolves about a woman and a company trying their best to ensure global betterment. However, as a British miniseries, it cannot escape the implicit topic of intervention. The conspiracy here illustrates current fears about global interventionism and the state responsibility to protect: the possibility of the latter as a mere excuse for personal gain. Behind the façade of ‘responsibility to protect’ lies the possibility of a global conspiracy to only want to augment capitalist power.

Changing strategy and foreign policy of the United States regarding Afghanistan and the new interim government of the Taliban

The history of Afghanistan has always been accompanied by insecurity, military occupation, intra-sectarian and religious differences, foreign interventions and poverty of the society, which did not turn this country into a field to protect the interests of foreign powers. The relationship between Afghanistan and other countries such as Russia, China and Iran has always been considered in the foreign policy equations of the American governments. Occurrences subsequent to the incidents of September 11 and the military occupation of Afghanistan in 2001 removed the Taliban from power until 2021, simultaneously as the withdrawal of American troops and the fall of Afghan cities. The Taliban put the power at their disposal after two decades. The main question is how can the US foreign policy approach be explained prior to the establishment of the Taliban group? The current research, with the explanatory method according to the theory of realism, seeks to test this hypothesis that the domination of the Taliban at the top of Afghanistan's power did not mean the complete withdrawal of America from that country, but rather for various reasons such as concern about the growing power of China, heavy military expenditures, the presence of regional powers. Like Russia, China, and Iran, the failure to destroy terrorism, disagreement with the Afghan government and agreement with the Taliban can be explained.

The Role of External Actors in the Arab Spring

This study critically analyzes the multifaceted roles played by foreign entities in the Arab Spring, illuminating the intricate interplay between external actors and historic political upheavals. The investigation meticulously examines the engagement of foreign actors, revealing the complexities and contradictions inherent in their involvement. While the Arab Spring initially emerged as a grassroots movement, it became intertwined with geopolitical motives, laying bare inconsistencies in external support. The intervention in the Libyan case serves as a poignant example of the repercussions of unchecked involvement, highlighting the importance of adhering to international norms and comprehensive post-conflict planning. Russia's role in the Syrian war illustrates the prevalence of power politics over human rights considerations. The post-Arab Spring period in Egypt and Tunisia exposes the vulnerability of democratic transitions, emphasizing the imperative of sustained institution-building. Recommendations for future engagements advocate for the prioritization of self-determination, multilateral collaboration, and long-term strategies. The Arab Spring experience underscores the compelling need for principled foreign interventions.

Propagating a permanent war economy? U.S. FDI in warring host countries

PurposeConventional wisdom suggests that war in the host country makes it unattractive for foreign firms to invest. To see if this is true for US firms on the aggregate, this paper aims to examine the veracity of a “permanent war economy” hypothesis, that foreign direct investment (FDI) may, in fact, increase in the host country not despite, but because of, war, i.e. one that lends credence to the idea that, in the USA, “defense [has] become one of constant preparation for future wars and foreign interventions rather than an exercise in response to one-off threats.”Design/methodology/approachThe authors test the hypotheses using Generalized Method of Moments estimation, with Heckman Selection, on US FDI data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and war data from the Correlates of War2 Project, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program/International Peace Research Institute data set, the International Crisis Behavior Project and the Center for Systemic Peace Major Episodes of Political Violence data set. The final sample consists of 351 country-year observations in 55 host countries from 1982 to 2006.FindingsThe findings indicate that overall US FDI in a host country in a given year decreases if the host country is engaged in wars with multiple countries and if the US Government is involved in the war. Most notably, the results show that US involvement in multiple host country wars is actually correlated with increased US FDI into the host country, providing empirical support for the “permanent war economy” hypothesis.Originality/valueWhile other studies have focused on war and FDI, the authors have sought to show the impact of the involvement of arguably the most influential country, i.e. the USA, in the sovereign matters of a focal host country. By studying FDI from the USA as a function of US involvement in wars overseas, over the years with the greatest use of private military companies by the USA and the largest portion of global FDI accounted for by the USA, this work motivates a research agenda on home-host-"other” relations in the context of war and FDI, with the “other” being the supranational “elephant in the room.”

Foreign Intervention and Internal Displacement: Urban Politics in Postwar Beirut

Abstract Uneven democratization is a common yet poorly understood legacy of civil war. In the aftermath of the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), wartime processes of displacement interacted with Syria's intervention to transform local postwar political orders. In Beirut's suburbs, the bonds built between armed actors and displaced populations created opportunities for displaced people to extract responsiveness from local institutions, despite their vulnerability. But the power of displaced populations in their host community hinges on the fate of the locally dominant armed actor. If the armed actor is an ally of the intervening power, it can maintain political control over its strongholds, marginalizing traditional local elites while empowering its core constituents, displaced people. By contrast, if an armed actor is repressed by the intervening power, the ensuing power vacuum creates an opportunity for pluralistic party politics to emerge. Traditional prewar elites reassert their role in local political life, empowering their core constituents, the prewar residents. Drawing on dozens of in-depth interviews with key informants in the suburbs of postwar Beirut, the findings show how displacement transformed localities in ways that transcend religious identity. Over 80,000 people have been displaced from southern Lebanon because of fighting since October 7, 2023. If Hezbollah provides services and security to these displaced persons, the current conflict will strengthen Hezbollah's grip on the south of Lebanon when the displaced populations return, or further consolidate its influence in those localities in south Lebanon where displaced populations settle.

Hotel enterprises in Nizhny Novgorod in 1918-1939.

The market reforms that began in the late Soviet period and continued after the collapse of the USSR radically changed the country's hotel industry. The changes have affected literally all aspects of the industry. Similar large-scale changes were already taking place in the hospitality industry at the beginning of the twentieth century, after the socialist revolution of 1917. Therefore, it is interesting to find out how the young Soviet state, in the most difficult conditions of the civil war and foreign intervention, was able to practically rebuild the country's hotel industry. Because of this, the experience of hotel construction in the first two decades of Soviet power can be useful. The subject of the research in this article was the development of hotel enterprises in Nizhny Novgorod, such as communal hotels, "Peasant Houses", night shelters during this period. The paper provides an analysis of the main directions of development of the Nizhny Novgorod hotel industry from 1918 to 1939. The article is based on materials from regional archives (TSANO and GOP NO), periodicals, and scientific literature. The article uses historical-systemic and historical-comparative methods, as well as general scientific methods such as description and comparison. The conducted research showed that the hotel industry of the city was in a difficult situation by 1918. The change in the social system in the state, the decline in the standard of living of the population, and the refugees provoked a crisis in the hotel industry of Nizhny Novgorod. The mass closure of enterprises was avoided only by nationalization and municipalization of enterprises. The opening of the Peasant's House in 1925 was able to alleviate the acute shortage of hotel stock for a short period. But in the 1930s, due to the growth of foreign tourism, the problem of a shortage of high-class hotels worsened. The construction of the Volna, Rossiya and Intourist hotels partially solved this problem. But for ordinary Soviet citizens, hotels are still inaccessible. At the same time, the level of service was at an extremely low level.

The United States’ Intervention in Afghanistan: the Dysfunction of a Centralized Authority in a Diverse Nation

This article reviews the US-led nation-building strategy effort in Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The history of the nation-building efforts is retraced from the creation of the Republic to its ultimate collapse. The central argument of the paper stresses the dysfunctionality of the centralization approach adopted by several successive administrations in Kabul with the backing of the United States. The inquiry reveals the problems of implementation of this strategy as well as the failure of this idea in general. In terms of implementation, centralization efforts were met with widespread corruption and cronyism. A more important aspect of the problem is that the centralization strategy did not account for the diversity of the Afghan society. Ethnic coalitions struggled for power inside the country, countering the efforts of the central administration headed by the president to extend its influence beyond Kabul. These processes transformed Afghan politics into a zero-sum game rendering the whole nation-building effort ineffective. In the end, the Republic collapsed with withdrawal of the foreign presence essentially confirming the dysfunctionality of centralization approach. Currently, the Taliban relies on essentially the same strategy although being deprived of foreign aid. Whether this effort to re-assert Pashtun dominance in the absence of foreign intervention will succeed remains to be seen.

UNITED STATES FOREIGN INTERVENTIONS IN ITALY AND KOREA

The Communist victory in the Italian elections of April 1948, prompted fear to the American administration and U.S. foreign policy makers. The first numbered document issued by the National Security Council, NSC 1/1 of November 14th, 1947 warned that “The Italian Government, ideologically inclined toward Western democracy, is weak and is being subjected to continuous attack by a strong Communist Party.” The NSC recommended, in addition to public support for the beleaguered Italian government, a programme to “actively combat Communist propaganda in Italy by an effective U.S. information programme and by all other practicable means, including the use of undeclared funds.” President Truman approved NSC 1/1 on November 24th. On December 14th, the President signed NSC 4/A giving responsibility for “psychological warfare” to the CIA. A week later, the agency set up the Special Procedures Group (SPG), which laundered over $10 million from captured Axis funds for use in the Italian election campaign. This paper examines the United States foreign interventions in Italy and Korea dictated by the fear of the spread of Communism in Italy and Korea during the cold war.

Rethinking the bounds of politics: a symposium on Lucia Rafanelli’s promoting justice across borders: the ethics of reform intervention (Oxford University Press, 2021)

ABSTRACT This essay introduces the main arguments in Lucia Rafanelli’s Promoting Justice Across Borders: The Ethics of Reform Intervention (Oxford University Press, 2021). I place the book within the context of literatures on foreign intervention and global justice more broadly, review the major arguments Rafanelli develops in her book, and foreshadow some of the main points of critique and appreciation put forth by four engaging responses from: Paulina Ochoa Espejo, David Owen, Jennifer Rubenstein, and Arash Abizadeh.

The Impact of Foreign Intervention in the Yemeni Crisis (2015-2020)

Objectives: The research reviews the complications and effects of regional and international external interventions on the Yemeni crisis and determines its role in the crisis. Methods: For this purpose, the study relied on collecting data in a detailed manner through interviews with influential figures in the Yemeni issue, which helped to have a comprehensive understanding of the research questions and answer them in a scientific, objective, and accurate manner. Furthermore, the study outlined all factors influencing the conflict in Yemen, detailing their roles in shaping the situation. Results: The results indicated that the Saudi leadership showed greater resolve towards the Yemeni issue, while the Russian policy towards the Yemeni crisis was neutral. The UAE was the most active party in the Yemeni crisis, as it supported the loyal factions, and strongly supported the military formations it established. The study highlighted the danger of Iranian intervention in Yemen's internal affairs and its impact on the stability and security of the region's countries. The study highlighted the Saudi leadership's more decisive role in addressing the Yemeni issue compared to other critical foreign policy matters like those in Syria and Iraq. Conclusions: The study found that the objectives of Saudi Arabia's military intervention in its southern neighbor, Yemen, remain unclear. Despite initially announced goals of altering the emergency, supporting President Hadi, and consolidating control, there seems to be a shift toward fostering a loosely unified state that accommodates various factions, including temporary support for separatists in the south without complete appeasement.

The Kurdish Conflict in Turkey: The Central Role of Identity Recognition (or Lack Thereof)

Academics and state officials over the years have put forth a host of factors to explain armed insurrections in Turkey since the 1920s. From ‘religious reactionaries’ and ‘underdevelopment’ to ‘foreign intervention,’ ‘economic inequality’ and ‘identity-based grievances.’ What sort of explanation one subscribes to generally seems to depend on either one’s politics or simply which analysis sounds most plausible and convincing. This study looks for evidence from the insurrections in Turkey to help shed more light on the issue. We examine the stated demands and grievances of the rebels fighting the Turkish state in the major uprisings of the twentieth century (1925, 1927–1930, 1937 and 1978 onwards). Judging from their own statements, the recognition of Kurdish identity was central to all these episodes. No other issue appears so prominently in all the uprisings. The study then turns to theoretical work on protracted conflicts and ethnic conflicts to explain why identity recognition is of such importance. Following this analysis, parameters to resolve the Kurdish conflict in Turkey are examined in light of these observations. Solutions to end the conflict need to begin first and foremost with official identity recognition and acceptance of the Kurds, as Kurds. The rest consists of issues to be negotiated.