International Military Intervention Research Articles

A paradigm shift in international security as a consequence of the Russia-Ukraine war

This article presents the main features of the historical genesis of the international security paradigm shift from its institutionalisation to the present day. It is shown that such genesis is sinusoidal in nature and related to the well-known 'Kondratiev waves', except that, unlike the latter, it is not economic in nature, but security in nature. In a historical and geopolitical context, five successive shifts in the international security paradigm (Pre-Systemic, Westphalian, Vienna, Versailles, Yalta-Potsdam, Unipolar) are distinguished as a normatively recognised system of international relations of war and peace, based on all countries' adherence to universally recognised principles and norms of international law, as enshrined in relevant international treaties. The main factors of the end of the era of the unipolar world and the growing role of 'fragile' states in the international security environment as potential objects of international military interventions and spaces for the deployment of local conflicts and wars were characterised. It was concluded that the war in Ukraine is a key trigger for a new paradigm shift in international security and the emergence of a new system of international relations, and that the outcome of the Russian-Ukrainian war will determine the 'starting positions' and strong arguments in the hands of the United States of America and its allies against China and its allies during the inevitable new global security conference on the creation of a new world order.

The space of permanent and state-level exceptional security measures: Formative years of Israel and Turkey

Studies examining the spatial patterns of exceptional security measures focus on constructed spaces or national territories exposed to international military intervention. Contemporary literature defines these spaces as zones of lawlessness where the exception prevails. By examining the security policies in the historical homelands of the Palestinians in Israel and the Kurds in Turkey, this article shows how exceptional security and the law co-constitute each other. Through a comparative historical analysis of the formative years of the Israeli and Turkish states, we argue that permanent exceptional security measures in territories inhabited by minority citizens are relevant to the political context in which the constituent power frames the political characteristics of the nation. In the process, exceptional security measures coexisting with the law become instrumental in maintaining and reproducing the distinction between the ‘legitimate members’ of the nation and the ‘enemies’ of the nation/state. The coexistence of exceptional security measures with the legal system challenges the conventional understanding of the exception and its dichotomous relationship with the norm, as outlined by Schmitt and Agamben. Instead, the conceptual framework of ‘legal violence,’ as articulated by Benjamin, offers a more comprehensive perspective for understanding the early years of the Israeli and Turkish states.

Visual Narratives of Boxer-era China: Two German Photo Albums of the Early 1900s

Abstract In this article, I examine two ‘semi-public’ German photo albums composed in the immediate aftermath of the international military intervention in China in 1900–01 known as the Boxer War. One was compiled by two members of the German East Asian Expeditionary Corps, Dr Wang and Lieutenant Freiherr von Meerscheidt-Hüllessem, the other by the incoming German minister to Beijing, Alfred von Mumm. I will begin by developing a narrative theory of the photo album. I will use this to demonstrate how the two albums visually (re-)construct a multifaceted journey through space and time in which political and military themes blend with a cultural gaze on China’s architecture as well as its people. The albums are thus situated at the intersection between imperialist intervention, cultural ethnography and modern (foreign) tourism in China. And they reflect various power differentials: not just the one between imperialist agents and victims but equally that between ethnographers and the people they study, as well as the one that characterises modern tourism.

Dangerous Gifts: Imperialism, Security, and Civil Wars in the Levant, 1798–1864

Dangerous Gifts: Imperialism, Security, and Civil Wars in the Levant, 1798–1864

Republika Włoska wobec przemian politycznych na Bałkanach Zachodnich na przełomie Xx i Xxi wieku (1991–2001). Interesy narodowe i polityka euroatlantycka

The Italian Republic Toward Political Changes in the Western Balkans Region at the Turn of 20th and 21st Centuries (1991–2001). National Interests and Euro-Atlantic Policy The article aims to show the main circumstances influencing the evolution of the Italian diplomatic attitude towards the post-Yugoslav and Albanian area from 1991 through 2001. Both the international and internal contexts are included (the change of international order after the collapse of communist regimes, relations with NATO and the European Union, and the weakening of the international position of Italy as the result of its internal political crisis in 1992–1994). Two mutually supportive elements can be distinguished within the Italian policy toward the Balkans. Traditionally, Italian diplomats were focused on bilateral and multilateral activities aiming at the protection of territorial security and economic interests, primarily in the Adriatic region. They criticized all international military intervention in the post-Yugoslav area. This attitude was partially changed in 1999, when Italy decided to take part in NATO’s air operation Allied Force against Yugoslavia, although many controversies regarding this action arose on the Italian political scene. The article is based on published diplomatic documents, scientific publications and the press.

Disentangling the “War on Terror”: Present Pasts and Possible Futures

As the US-led global “War on Terror” enters its third decade, the structural, physical, and epistemological violence it has wrought continues to shape lives and landscapes in Afghanistan and Iraq. At present, the scholarship of an entire generation of Middle Eastern Studies has been embedded in the geopolitical realities of this indefinite war, even those whose work does not directly confront it. Yet despite the war's enduring presence, scholars working on Afghanistan and Iraq rarely find the opportunity to reflect with one another on how the global assemblage of international military intervention and the creation of a shifting target of terrorism has narrowed our foci. Instead, these geographies are yoked together in often destructive and superficial ways, erasing older forms of interregional connectivity and longer genealogies of violence.

Military Interventions in International Law and Practices: Objectives, Legality and Legitimacy

Military intervention is defined as forcible meddling in state affairs. This intervention can take many different forms, including political or military action, as well as direct or indirect intervention. International law is largely concerned with the prohibition of dictatorial or coercive meddling in state affairs. Military intervention has piqued scholarly attention since the Cold War's conclusion, and it has been proven that various cases of the usage of force or the menace to apply force were lawful in the lack of a Security Council resolution. Nonetheless, since the Cold War's end, issues of dominance and non-intervention have been called into question by the emerging human rights rhetoric, which has used the benefit of the big powers to engage in the concerns of weaker nations. Through the Charter of the UN, it is clear that the international military intervention under Chapter VII is not an advantage to the Security Council Rather; it is a legal obligation subject to international law to attain safety and harmony for all the peoples in this world. Through the Charter of the UN also, must respect the aims and rules of international law when deciding military intervention against a state or entity in the international community away from the political objectives that achieve the interests of powerful countries. The decision to engage in military intervention against a non-state entity or another state is a tough and complex one that involves a plethora of moral, political, legal, economical, and logistical concerns for a state to measure. Therefore, this research focused on the military intervention in international law and practices, study provided a comprehensive and specialized legal study on military intervention subject, in which study provides analysis on the historical background, types, objectives, legality and legitimacy of military intervention in international law comparable with international practice and make proposals to develop a clear legal framework for military intervention to ensure the realization of the main objectives of military intervention that set in UN Charter and international law away from the influence of the majors' powers that aim to achieve their own goals through military intervention within the framework of the UNSC. Keywords: Military Intervention, International Law, International Practice, UN Charter, International Peace and Security. DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/117-04 Publication date: January 31 st 2022

Military Psychology: Time to embrace a front-line diplomatic role

The weapon systems created for the purpose of fighting the enemy in World War I caused terrible losses of human life on all sides of the conflict. However, World War I was also the event that gave birth to what became the field of Military Psychology. This position article, briefly tracing the development of the field, encourages the development of an expanded scope for this sub-discipline of Psychology. In its infancy, the role of Military Psychology was the selection and placement of soldiers based on a series of cognitive tests. After World War II, the scope of Military Psychology quickly expanded exponentially into areas such as leadership development, psychological warfare, and the enhancement of morale, motivation, resilience, and human , as Military Psychology with its sub-disciplines became integrated into national military forces to enhance the capabilities of the modern fighting soldier psychologically, physically and technologically. As the discipline matured, its present role can be described as to create soldiers whose skills sets greatly surpass those of their predecessors in meeting the ever-increasing complex demands of the modern battlefield. In recent years, Afghanistan and Iraq that conventional warfare tactics are rendered all but obsolete by small numbers of militia fighters with improvised devices and even outdated weapons in a demonstration of human ingenuity trumping advanced technology and well-equipped, superior military forces that inevitably failed dismally to subdue insurgent opposition forces. Even the destruction of the forces serves to emphasise that the world can no longer afford to continue armed conflict as a means to settle territorial and international disagreements because these eventually become the rationalisation for ongoing, unnecessary conflict. In its contribution to the defence role, alternatives to engagement in ill-advised military options must involve the strategic deployment of Military Psychology in a front-line capacity to research, comprehend and then, through diplomatic means, counter the psychological and ideological factors at play in creating the world’s current conflict areas. If not, an even greater catastrophe will arise from ongoing ill-informed, ideology-driven international military interventions around the world.

The Infrastructure of Peace: Civil–Military Urban Planning in Mali

ABSTRACT In the context of the current UN-led stabilization efforts in Mali, the United Nations peacekeeping mission undertakes significant investments in small-scale infrastructure development. The projects not only point to the spatial imprint of peacebuilding on the post-war landscape, but to the imagined performative power of infrastructure. Based on a survey of policy document and official communications, I investigate UN peacekeepers’ narratives of reconstruction, development, and peace promoted through this infrastructure building, and essentially, their role as urban planners in the context of the international military intervention. The account of peacebuilding through infrastructure projects and development resonates with the liberal peace paradigm but also problematizes the practice of civil–military intervention and its focus on infrastructure as device to achieving peace goals.

Tugging on Superman’s Cape: Why Some Insurgencies Are Targets of Foreign Militaries

Why do foreign militaries attack some insurgencies and not others? Although foreign involvement in civil conflicts is on the rise, many insurgencies are not targeted militarily by external powers. Current research suggests organizations that are lethal or that attack democracies should be targeted more often. We argue that organizations that have vital markers of capabilities, such as alliances with other violent non-state actors (VNSAs) and territorial control, and the ability to attack members of a powerful country, in this case, U.S. citizens at home or abroad, are more likely to be targeted. Our empirical analysis supports this contention: we use a logistic regression model and, in post-estimation, predicted probabilities and a Classification and Regression Tree (CART) model to understand the effect of potential factors on international military interventions.

The Failure to Protect in Myanmar: A Reflection on National Protection of Rohingya against Mass Atrocity Crimes and Prospects for the Responsibility to Protect

Abstract Impunity has been a major cause of the atrocity crimes committed by the Myanmar military, and accountability is generally seen as a central component of R2P. This article traces the changes of attitudes towards R2P-related measures in Myanmar. After 2017, voices gradually emerged from within Myanmar civil society in support of R2P, influenced by international efforts to ensure accountability and documentation. However, this support mostly came from ethnic minority groups. In the broader population and political leadership, calls for R2P were met with general hostility. Since the February 2021 coup, there has been a dramatic change of attitudes towards R2P, at least within the protest movement. However, the growing calls for R2P often reflect a desire for international military intervention that is unlikely to happen. Moreover, domestic efforts to hold the military accountable are now even more unlikely. International action to push for accountability is therefore still needed.

International Humanitarian Law and Military Intervention: Reflections on Operation Allied Forces in the Former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999

Military intervention is a crucial tool used to compel nation states to abide by the principles of international law. The United Nations, through its Charter (Chapter VII) authorises the use of force by the UN and or regional organisations as a legitimate scheme of settling international disputes. A closer look on the majority of these interventions, however, shows that the conduct of the forces taking part in these interventions turn to violate some crucial principles of international law. Additional Protocol 1 of 1977 to the 1949 Geneva protocols provides for the regulations in terms of the conduct of forces in an armed conflict to minimise civilian carnage and injuries as well as damage on civilian objects. This paper assessed the effectiveness of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in cases of a military intervention. The study was a case study focusing on the experiences of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) forces that intervened in the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) in 1999. The study depended on secondary sources of information. The paper reveals that forces taking part in these operations normally harm civilian population and objects beyond reasonable proportion if they do not pay attention to the details on the ground. The paper then recommends that more should be done to uphold and adhere to the provisions of Chapter VI of the UN Charter while ensuring that forces taking part in military interventions are parties to key international legislations that govern their conduct to prevent states from purposefully violate the law.

Conflict Settlement and Outcomes of Post‐Cold War International Military Interventions

Scholars noted a remarkable shift in the pattern and motives of international military intervention with the end of the Cold War, namely toward more multilateral and humanitarian missions, often leading to more negotiated conflict settlement. Yet just twenty years later, counter‐trends had already begun to emerge, with renewed major power competition, more complicated multi‐factional civil wars, and cross‐border insurgent/terrorist networks. Using aggregate intervention data from 1989 to 2006 and case study analysis since 2010, we examine the question of continuity versus change in international security and humanitarian policy, in general, and regarding military intervention and outcomes, in particular. Based on patterns of pro‐ and anti‐government interventions and their effects on conflict duration and outcome, appropriate policy approaches are suggested.

OPERATIONS “ODYSSEY. DAWN” AND “UNIFIED PROTECTOR”: CAUSES, PROCESS, CONSEQUENCES

International military intervention in Libya in 2011 was caused, first of all, by the threat to the civilian population from the regime of M. Gaddafi. During the massive popular protests the dictator used police and army forces leading to numerous casualties. The UN Security Council authorized the implementation of a military operation to protect the Libyan civilian population. The conceptual framework for international intervention was the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine. The aim of the article is to analyze the causes, course and outcomes of the international military operation in Libya in the context of the doctrine “Responsibility to Protect” and its enforcement tools - preventive humanitarian intervention. The grounds for application, eligibility and especially the outcome of large-scale military intervention in the event in Libya need serious analysis. After all, the current situation in this country where the civil war is in full swing is far from stable. The main issues that have arisen as a result of preventive humanitarian intervention in Libya, part of which was a multinational military operation, are the following: what criteria should determine the degree of success of international intervention? Was the answer of the international community proportional to the threat posed by the regime of Gaddafi? Can we separate the strategy involved in the activities concerning the protection of Libyan civilians from acts of own interests’ defence from the side of external actors? How viable is the R2P doctrine in general? The results of international intervention cannot be assessed unambiguously. On the one hand, the authoritarian regime of M. Gaddafi was destroyed; on the other hand, the creation of a democratic state did not take place. Libya today is in a state of civil war and Libya is a source of tension in the region. As a result of the analysis, it can be concluded that the Libyan operation raised the question of the advisability of using humanitarian intervention in the future. The cornerstone test of any humanitarian initiative must be proportionality between potential threats and actual losses. The invasion of Libya has not passed the test of humanitarian intervention.

Civilian victimization and international military intervention in civil wars

Civil wars are particularly destructive and asymmetric in nature. As a result, humanitarian crises and episodes of one-sided violence against civilians are likely to emerge. In the post-Cold War era, human rights norms have been strengthened by a global commitment stating that nations have a responsibility to protect people against war crimes. Although the doctrine does not require military responses, as episodes of one-sided violence increase dramatically in the midst of civil conflict, we would expect those cases to experience relatively swift foreign response, including military intervention; a growing trend of at least purportedly humanitarian interventions should be observable. Expectations relating to the responsibility to protect are tested on all civil conflicts occurring between 1989 and 2006. Findings indicate that there is little evidence that one-sided violence leads to military intervention, suggesting that the internationally community does not use its most powerful tool to protect civilians in trouble.

Hybrid Peace: Ethnographies of War

This article reviews recent ethnographies of war that shed light on interconnected states of security at home, international military interventions, and hybrid or rhizomic warfare doctrines. I suggest the notion of hybrid peace to explore global implications of these ethnographic perspectives and to ask what it means to inhabit spaces that are constituted by such hybrid warfare. I argue for the usefulness of Schmitt's “nomos of the earth” and his theory of the partisan to conceptualize this condition and bring together different approaches to warfare.

International Military Interventions and Transnational Terrorist Backlash

International Military Interventions and Transnational Terrorist Backlash

Learning in the chaos: A political economy analysis of education in Afghanistan

Afghanistan is often characterised as a ‘failed’ or ‘fragile’ state in terms of state ‘functionality’, lacking in capacity to provide security and wellbeing to its citizens and failing to prevent violent conflict and terrorism. Since 2001, education has become a major victim of Afghanistan’s protracted crisis that involves international military interventions, fragile democracy and growing radicalisation. Drawing upon qualitative interviews with educational officials and practitioners in Afghanistan and critically examining the literature in education and conflict, we argue that Afghanistan’s education is caught in the nexus between deteriorating security conditions, weak governance and widespread corruption, resulting in rebel capture of educational spaces for radicalisation and violent extremism. More broadly, we contend that education faces the risk of capture for radicalisation in contexts where state fragility and fundamentalism intersect. Finally, we highlight some critical issues relating to educational programming in conflict-affected contexts.

Mazzini and Gramsci on international politics: an Italian approach?

Commentators attempting to explain Italy often see many contradictions and peculiarities. Looking in particular at Italian political thought, they find personalities and rarely schools. Nonetheless, this essay will focus on the legacies of Mazzini and Gramsci. They are the most distinguished Italian personalities in the debate about modern international relations. They diverge on most arguments concerning the international as a political category and are rarely discussed together. Today’s Mazzini is included in the debate about the conditions that justify international military interventions, while Gramsci is mainly discussed during considerations of the empowerment of subordinate workers. However, what unites them is the peculiarity of Italy placed halfway between the developed and underdeveloped worlds. In addition, the social and territorial amorphousness of Italy gave rise to the necessity of a process of remodelling and rethinking the role and form of politics beyond conventional institutional frameworks.

Pro-government international military intervention during genocide and politicide

Why do states intervene militarily to support regimes that are committing genocide or politicide? Previous literature examines why states intervene to stop such atrocities, but overlooks why some states support murderous regimes. I argue that states support lethal regimes when such support is militarily and strategically beneficial. In particular, I posit that third-parties are likely to support their allies in time of civil war, despite murderous policies. Statistical analysis of all genocides and politicides between 1955 and 2005 supports this argument. Importantly, I also find that third-parties are no less likely to support lethal regimes in the post-Cold War era. These findings question whether normative change in the international environment is influencing state decision-making on important military calculations.