Twenty-First Century Military Multilateralism: “Messy” and With Unintended Consequences

The current century has witnessed several high-profile Western military interventions in developing countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, and Mali/West Africa are well-known examples. All three were initiated unilaterally by the US or France but were soon supplemented with multilateral missions which operat...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inPolitics and governance Vol. 10; no. 2; pp. 15 - 24
Main Author Olsen, Gorm Rye
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Lisbon Cogitatio Press 01.06.2022
Cogitatio
Subjects
afghanistan
Conflict management
Cooperation
Decision makers
Developing countries
Elites
Foreign policy
International relations
Intervention
iraq
LDCs
Legitimacy
mali
Military engagements
Multilateralism
Political change
Prospects
Reforms
Revenge
September 11 terrorist attacks-2001
terrorism
Unilateralism
west africa
France
United States > US
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The current century has witnessed several high-profile Western military interventions in developing countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, and Mali/West Africa are well-known examples. All three were initiated unilaterally by the US or France but were soon supplemented with multilateral missions which operated in parallel with the unilateral intervention force, giving them a “messy” appearance. In the three cases, the foreign policy decision-makers in the US and France reacted mainly to domestic stimuli, most evidently in the case of the US, where revenge for 9/11 was a strong motive. Like-minded partners in NATO and troops from developing countries shared the burdens of the US and France and gave legitimacy to the military interventions. The consequences of the interventions were not that they contributed to stability. Rather they supported the incumbent elites, as they were able to avoid launching economic and political reform. The lack of reform undermined the prospects for stability.
ISSN:2183-2463
2183-2463
DOI:10.17645/pag.v10i2.4886