The U.S. use of military intervention to promote democracy: Evaluating the record

Abstract

Given the foreign policy priority that the Clinton administration has placed on the “enlargement” of the democratic community, a relevant question is whether military intervention is an effective instrument for achieving such a purpose. This research explores the impact of American interventions since 1945 on the political systems of the targets. What happens when U.S. presidents pursue “pro‐liberalization policies” through military interventions? Merging several inventories of interventionary actions, we examine what sorts of interventions are associated with liberal changes in the nature of the targets’ political regimes.